The Sound of Sunshine

Current Song: The Sound of Sunshine, Michael Franti and Spearhead
What I did Today: Awesome ride on Jaracita
Energy: Way too much

Well, I got off work early. Thought I would jot down a quick, super optimistic blog. I heard this song the other day and had to immediately buy it. I know why, its because I can totally hear it. (Yes I am crazy). I have just felt very optimistic and cheerful the past few days. Everything just seems to fall in to place. Why shouldn't I feel happy?

Well this same thing held for the ride today. Ended up waking up and realizing, ride trail 121! So I jumped out of bed and did it. It is such an amazing trail and actually a lot shorter than I thought. Its great because it has almost no traffic and in fact the entrance is very well hidden. I took that up to the south boundary back to Garcia Park where my car was parked. A perfect ride. So much fun and probably added to the happiness.

Its a secret entrance..

Some really awesome singletrack on Jaracita.

Well it took like three days to finally post this. It has been a weird three days. I am on a rest week and really taking a rest week. I have hardly been riding at all. I have been really tired, probably from a lot of work and otherwise just don't feel like riding. Well, we leave for tulsa tomorrow and I am sure it will be a great trip to really relax and when I come back I will be ready to ride!

Good Vibes

Current Song: Learning to Fly
What I did Today: Had a great day
Energy:Feeling good

Thought I would name today's blog after the shirt I wore all day. It was just that kind of day. Everything seemed to work out and it seems, as though my car may be fixed. Yes no more charging it at night. Also a nice trip to some hot springs north of taos was great.

The main reason I wanted to write today's blog is so I can get my Frazer Mountain Madness Race report out! See the best part about Frazer, is that no matter how hard you train or how great you feel, It will always kick your butt. It is so amazing that I can race all year without ever going into my granny and I hit this race and can't even make it up half of the climbs without it. Well sounds like a great place to train.

The Hill Climb is the signature event. It climbs from the base of the ski valley (a mere 9,300 ft.) to the top of one of the highest peaks in New Mexico, Frazer Mountain at a grand total of 12,136 ft. So almost 4,000 feet of climbing. Oh did I mention it was done in just under 5.5 miles? The average grade is about 18% with a few climbs of 23%. Riding up something that steep makes my legs feel like they may fall off.

This is the elevation and heart rate data from the hill climb.

I had a fantastic race. I was able to jump into third behind Damian Calvert and John Searles. I had to battle with another pro, Jens Nielson to get there but I was there. I tried reeling in Searles but ended up getting a little bit too hasty and wearing myself out in which one of his team-mates caught me. I was able to hold Jens off, through the cloud covered, windy summit. I was fourth overall, three minutes off the leader. Man it was cold. At the top the winds were strong enough to blow people off the trail and the rain had us soaked. Long story short it was a long, cold ride down.

The next day was the cross country. My favorite part about this is that no loop is the same. So its almost like doing a new race everytime. Almost as much climbing but there is many more downhills in between. Overall another great race. I had another good start and sat in fourth behind Calvert, Cameron Brennaman and John Searles. Me and Jens had another great battle but I was able to pull away on the first lap and hold him off. Otherwise I raced the entire race alone. I ended up fourth again. I was really psyched with the way I was descending (especially with the arm) and everything seemed to really come together. It was another cold race. This race has been so different from all of my other races this year and I love it.

Well tomorrow should include some testing of my car, some work and of course a nice bike ride.
Until then, Good Vibes

Bounce Back

Current Song: Blitzrieg Bop, The Ramones
What I did Today: A very relaxed day! I even cleaned up a little
Energy: Starting to feel restless, I know I have had a good rest day if that happens by the end of the day.

The arm is healing up. Its nice to be healing up fast, but at the same time, if this healed up in one day it would not be fast enough. Well it has been another lovely rest day. On tuesday I rode my mountain and definitely felt sore. I think not cooling down after my short track greatly influenced this. So I took a nice easy spin. On top of that my arm was screaming every bump. Well, scratch mountain biking.. :( Yesterday I hopped on my road bike, not near as bad as I make it to be, and did a nice tempo workout. Tempo is like a 4-5 on a perceived exertion scale. So I did two 30 minute intervals. What was interesting was that the first one was so easy I was almost bored. The second one had me nearly crawling at the end. I can see why it would be so great to do in a base training phase! Well I race the infamous Frazer Mountain Madness in two days, and I am very excited. It will be nice after these super intense national races to have a local race where I try to beat the pros. Hopefully the arm heals up otherwise I may be riding to the top with one arm on the bars. Found some pictures from Nationals, Thought you would enjoy!

It was a packed start of about 40 riders.

Riding one of the pretty fun man-made berms!

Able to pull off a 7th place finish! Sweet!

In the short track, before the fall!
Well with those put up, I am planning on a nice pre-race ride tomorrow! Maybe I will even take my sister out, we will see. Until then, Over and out

Man of the Match.(Short Track Race Report)

Current Song: American Pie, Don Mclean
What I did Today: Unpacked
Energy: Exhausted
Well, Sunday was the last race for me at the 2010 National Championships. The Short track. I came into the race with a lot of confidence and was really excited to race. For those who don't know, a short track is a spectator friendly event. Basically, the field will complete as many laps as they can do in twenty minutes then do three more. The person to do the most in the least amount of time wins. Whats intersting is because the course is only two minutes people can get lapped and then pulled. Short track is a very intense workout as it really only lasts 25 minutes. Its known to be a suffer-fest, as the best short track racers are constantly pushing themselves into an inhuman zone.

So my account of the race. Well my warm-up went good. It was nice and long and I was able to keep the last bit pretty intense. So I got on the start, first I did the course a few times for practice. From the start it went up a gravel road to a turn in the grass. We went up the last few four-cross jumps then up a grass hill over a flat to a descent with some berms on to a gravel corner and to the finish. So here I am. I got into the second row and had a fair start. We were in a big pack so it was pretty scary. Around the first turn a guy went down and I was able to capitalize as it didn't slow me down and slowed others down. So the first few laps I fought my way to the front and actually settled in third. As I passed through the finish I realized I had ten minutes left. So I toned it down to ramp up the intensity later. I dropped to seventh but kept the guys in close. Two laps later I got the rest I needed and turned it on again. I went up to fifth, a podium spot and I was still passing people. Reeling the guy who ended up fourth in, I realized my seat sank like 4 inches. Well, it would be difficult. I would either have to stand the rest of the race or lose a lot of efficiency sitting down. Well no matter, I thought. I chased the guy down the descent and coming around to the finish I found myself on the ground sliding. I figured out later I hit at about twenty MPH. Enough to tear up my shorts and my chances at a podium spot. I got up as quickly as I could. At this point I could not sit and recover and the few guys that I was holding off all got by me. Despite the massive cheering from the crowd, my race was done. I spun waiting for the leaders to lap me so I could get pulled. They lapped me I didn't get pulled. I kept at it and was eventually pulled. As I went out, the announcer called me the "man of the match" like soccer just for getting back up. I talked to my coaches, who were super supportive which was so awesome. Then I knew I had to do it. I checked out the elbow. I knew my body took most of the blow, so I wasn't too worried about the bike. Well it was deep, real deep. I looked at my coach and he told me to go find someone to clean it. As I headed over to the medics, the adrenaline left and I was left with the pain. With the pain combined with disappointment I headed over to the medics extremely shakey. After they told me how awesome it was that I finished, I pointed to the elbow and asked for some help. As I went to the medical room I was told to wash it out. Well its one thing to crash, quite another to have to scrub out your own wound. I could not keep it together and cleaned it as well as I could. Afterwards the medic cleaned it a little more. It could not be stitched up because it was just a hole so they dressed it up nicely and got me on my way. What a world of pain. It was a bummer but oh well. Thats mountain biking.

There were a few points. One idea that I can't really get out of my head, is how I can get up to the top step. Maybe with a little better luck I would have gotten to where I wanted. But rather than being disappointed I find myself begging for a chance to race these guys again. I am really psyched that rather than regretting what happened (I do a little bit), I am actually thinking about how I could prevent what happened next time and hoping for some better luck. It shows me that I will only be happy if there is a next time. Speaking of a next time. After my race I chatted with Jeremiah Bishop a little bit. Talked about his race and my short track and when I told him that my race was pretty much over the second I crashed he told me, "Lewis, remember this, You should race every race like its your last race. You never know how many races you have ahead of you, but that shouldn't matter. You need to give every race you race, every ounce of energy you have got." I thought this was so cool. I had never really thought of that. Even now I regret not giving it a little more after I crashed because I believe there was a little more. I will always remember Jeremiah.

Nationals Race Report

Well, Its Saturday. My race was on Friday, the culmination of my entire year!! What a race man. I was so so so nervous to start things off. After a nice long warm-up I ended up in the second row of the start in the middle. First of all I don't like being in the middle, and second I really like fighting my way to the front but I was able to calm down. When the gun went off it was a little scary as everyone was rubbing with everyone but my pace was much faster than everybody else's. So I tried passing. I ended up getting sucked into some sand and running up the entire hill. This put me in a horrible position at the top, on top of that, my heart rate was so much higher as it was more difficult to run than to ride. Well, the part I was proud of came after this. I was able to stay positive and fight my way back. I passed people every lap, and if there was twenty or thirty minutes more (1 hour and twenty minutes is too short), I think I could have cracked the podium. Well I was able to finish seventh. Out of 37 finishers. Its really is cool to think that I was one of the ten fastest people in the country this year. Overall, this years events have paid off. And now tomorrow is short track, which I am entering with a whole new confidence. Should be fun.

CTS Race Report

Well this week has been a packed one. On thursday I headed up to Colorado Springs, for the final round of the Pro XCT which is the national cross country series. It was a super fun race! It was a time trial on Friday followed by a cross-country on saturday (short laps) and then a long lap cross country on sunday. 3 intense days of racing made for a very tired Lewis!

Friday. Well the time trial was going to take about fifteen minutes. I figured it wouldn't be too bad and seeing as it started at 6:30 I was going through a first time race. Well in the morning I decided to go out for a spin to loosen up the legs and really try to keep in shape all day, often on rest days my legs feel tired at the end of the day because they are so relaxed. So after a nice spin me and my dad went out to REI where I got a sweet new day pack. And then to the race. I warmed-up and went to grab a bottle and when I came around to the start, I was late by 36 seconds. In bike races they go off of what time you are scheduled to start so little did I know but I was racing for those 36 seconds so I started down thirty seconds right off the start. I was so mad throughout the first technical part I actually cleaned most of it! which was great. Through the rest of the course I had a pretty good race but ended up in 8th out of 11. Not too happy.

Saturday. I saw saturday as a day to redeem myself. It was a UCI style cross country so we had to do short laps but lots of them. It was a blast. I had a good start and settled into sixth for the next two laps I saw no one around me and finally on the fourth lap, after being 3 and a half minutes down on the guy at the bottom of the hill I saw someone as I crested the hill. He bobbled on a technical section that I did not and I was able to get past him. I absolutely went for it on the descent as I could not lose any time to this guy. Finally I passed another guy who had flatted. I was able to hold that position to the finish! It was exciting to finish in the top 5 in a National race. It was a fun race. I moved up to 5th in the Overall.

Sunday. We were all TIRED on Sunday. After two days of racing us cyclists are used to a nice easy day but no. we got the opposite. So the pack went pretty easy out of the start and I was able to stay in the lead group. They dropped me on the descent and I caught back up on the climb. But at the point the dehydration set in. My third lap was an absolute suffer fest. Well I was able to finish fifth and move up to fourth in the Overall. It was a great race all together and I was really excited with the way I was riding. I guess only time will tell between now and nationals.

Its been awhile

Here I am, sitting in the base lodge of the Sol Vista ski area. Personally I think the crappiest excuse for a ski resort ever, but its an ok bike park. Well The video above, I edited this morning, took a really long time and by the time I finished I was so sick of it I didn't do anything else. So sorry for not having a professional looking video. Well It is two days before National Championships, I am taking my usual rest day. I really like the courses up here. Still couldn't find all of it as of Tuesday but hey I got out and rode some of it so thats better than nothing. Its pretty nice weather here, it feels nice and cool. It was an entertaining week after CTS (Race Report soon to come). I stayed with the Franklins Sunday night at an Urban Campground. Then monday had a nice leisurely day with them. I drove up here and camped out monday night. Made some great pasta with pre-made marinara sauce some hamburger meat and bell peppers. It was delicious. After getting an easy 12 hours of sleep, I got up and put a good wash on my bike, got ready and rode the course. Right before starting the ride I heard that at the current time the course crew was actually working on making new trails as the current loop was too short, (JHK ran a 12 minute hot lap). Well I went out and rode part of it. Like 3 laps then decided to look for myself. I have been informed that the super fun berms and jumps are actually the amateur course but at least I got to do it once. The other parts of the pro course were super fun in my opinion. Really difficult and really fast. I find I do better on descents like this so I was happy. I guess I will find out what the real course is tomorrow. Well keep reading, a race report from the last Pro XCT is to follow.

Here We go again

Current Song: The General, Dispatch
What I did Today: Packed so far.
Energy:Feeling pretty good! Legs still a little sore.

Well, I thought I would offer some thoughts before I depart on my national trip. It has turned into a whole week of camping and racing. I will race tomorrow through sunday in Colorado Springs then head straight to Sol Vista and get some laps in on the course before my nationals race on Friday. It should be interesting trip and will be fun no matter what! I am very very excited.
I will have a computer so consider yourself up to date.

Rest Days are for Blogging

Current Song: Stairway To Heaven, Led Zeppelin
What I did Today: Rest, Rest, Rest
Energy: Completely wiped after yesterday's ride.

Well its been awhile, probably since its been like 5 or 6 days since my last rest day! Well it has been an interesting week back. From World Cup Soccer to the Tour to some new workouts, its been great.

Josh, a lifelong best friend got back from Germany on Thursday, we celebrated by my arrival at 8 to watch the World Cup match. We watched another one in the afternoon and then, I had to drive to taos for my sister's hair appointment, what a perfect time to do a workout! I started at the youth and family center and rode to Ktao on my road bike. I started my pain there. I did 30/30's which is an all-out effort for thirty seconds and then a thirty second recovery and all over again. I did these for ten minutes, or ten intervals. What a horrid workout. This killed me. I was done halfway through the first set. It was amazing how much my heart rate dropped from the first set to the second set. I was planning on doing three sets but after seeing the massive drop in numbers, I decided it was time to call it a day.

The next day saw a nice recovery ride, a very thoughtful one. I thought about why I think about racing the way I do and what I need to do to maybe think more positively. It was great fun. Earlier in the day we did get to see Germany KILL Argentina which was so awesome to see. And a narrow defeat by Spain over Paraguay.

On Sunday I was determined to really show myself what I am made of, by doing an almost fun workout! It started off early to take my sister to riding lessons this time. Got to see my english teacher which was a plus. While she was there I was planning on dropping off my bike for a nice tune-up before my next two races but it was closed so I went to the pump track and goofed off. I even jumped in the skate park for some berm practice! Then it was back to AF to help my parents with a barbeque stand at a 4th of july thing at the Country club, Then I got to do my workout. See whenever I climb Palo Flechado Pass on my road bike I always want to race up it but most of the time I am doing a warm-up so I can't. So I figured I would do something that would honor my wants. I started at my mom's clinic and warmed up and found myself at the bottom. Its about ten minutes to the top, so I figured it would be perfect for some lactate threshold work. Lactate threshold is the point that lactate starts to build in the muscles, so someone who can produce a lot of power at this point can ride fast for a very long time. I wanted to work on that so I did 4 time trial, race efforts up Palo flechado. I started with a 10:22 then to a 10:20 and then to a 10:18. The last one dropped to a 10:47. But Thats good because if I didn't drop off I would figure 4 is not enough. After this I cooled down and had a nice spin back to the car.

Well now I am almost glad gearing-up was closed because I got to make my front tire tubeless again. After a flat on my thoughtful recovery ride I had a tube in there. Now its off to work! Amazing that I have been back for so long and not worked at all! It also sounds like I will be staying, either with the franklins or just camping by myself between colorado springs and nationals! Like my own little camp! I can't wait!