Winter Blues

It's Sunday morning and I'm getting ready to cross train in the form of shoveling snow. Spring riding seems a long way off today. More snow, high temperatures of 13, and the fact that I'm wearing my Bianchi beanie (purchased at Revolution Cycles and a great Christmas gift) in doors while I write this are all subtle reminders that I may have to ride the trainer again today. No, please no!!!

To take my mind off the weather I've been checking out the WSBA and OBRA calendars, and charting the racing season. I'm planning to kick off the season as usual with the Jack Frost Time Trial in Vancouver on February 22nd. They've added a circuit race the day before, maybe I'll jump in on that so I don't have to do a training ride that day. The following weekend is the first of Mason Lake and the ice breaker time trial. If you are interested in racing this year please let me know. We'll be scheduling a gathering of racers to go over the calendar and set some team priorities.

Until the roads clear enjoy the snow, we just don't have a choice.

Yakima Canyon Time Trial

We are planning to hold the Yakima River Canyon Time Trial on Sunday, July 12th. This will be a full 40K Time Trial with shorter distances for junior riders. We came close to getting the state time trial this year, and if we put on a good event, which we will, I'm very confident we will get the state championship event next year. The course will go from Roza Dam north 12.4 miles and return.

We will be holding a club meeting to discuss the race on Friday, November 21st at 6:00 PM at North Town Coffeehouse next to the Barrel House. If you can't make the meeting but still want to be involved email me at dgrcycling@clearwire.net. At the meeting I'm hoping to set up a race committee with volunteers filling the below positions:

Assistant Race director (future race director)
Timing coordinator
Race Day set up and control coordinator
Race day check in
volunteer coordinator
Someone to help set up online registration
Perhaps someone to help get us some xtra prize money

I'm planning to set this up as a WSBA points race. I think it is a great course, and riders will enjoy it. I'm also hoping to see a number of local riders in this race. We will not need a lot of race day volunteers for this course, so let's get out and race.

Thanks,
Damon

See you soon

Tour de Heights

We had a good turn out for the Tour de Heights and some great weather. Despite some miss-communication regarding who was supposed to get the food we all managed to survive. Pete was able to grab some grub in the RV on his way out to the rest stop. Cory and I rode the tandem, so we knew we would not be with the group for too long.

Donna and Suzanne were nice enough to wait for us after the Summitview climb.

We were able to catch on with the group by taking a few short cuts. That's Mark Cleaver on the vespa. He was apparently on a recovery ride that day.

Donna hitching a ride with the vespa. It's a sad sad site, the rainbow jersey hitching a ride with the vespa. Being fair to Donna this was more of an endurance ride, not a sprint. Mark never did come back and pull us along. And I say that thankfully, it probably would have ended with a vespa-tandem pile up in the middle of the road. The day just got better as we road. Cory and I skipped the small loop past Tieton and headed straight back. We got back first so technically we won. True, we didn't do the whole ride, but I just think of that as the tandem handicap. The day ended with a BBQ at the Revolution and the inauguration of Troy as club president.

Tour De Lacs

Chinook made their annual trip to the Tour De Lacs this year with a few different riders from the past. The Tour de Lacs is one of the best supported rides in the area. This year a group of us opted for the short route on the bike path from Spokane straight to Coeur d'Alene. This was our longest ride on the tandem at that point (~50miles). Jeff, Mindy and Sean and Sherolyn joined us on the short loop. I was happy with the decision on the short loop. We were in the hotel and I was in the hot tub by 11:30.

Only a few miles into the ride Cory and I had the first of our two flats on the day. Since Jeff was on vacation he preferred to watch instead of help. Actually, I think he did most of the work. I took care of the hard part of pumping the tire with CO2, I don't really like upper body workouts of hand pumps.







The hardcore group of Donna, Troy, Dave, and Erin did the 100 mile loop on the first day. An important fact was confirmed on this day, Troy can pull 100 miles by himself. That was his promise to Donna if she did the long route and he kept it. With the exception of Dave's clothes being temporarily misplaced for a while their ride was a success. Dinner, included in the cost, was pizza and pasta at the brewery. The line was long when Cory and I arrived so Donna grabbed us a beer to consume in line during the wait, Donna just has a way of knowing what a person wants.



Day 2 was rainy and cold so everyone opted for the trail route back to Spokane. Although cold at first it turned out to be a decent day. The ride is capped off with a potato bar with all the fixings. We all started with a hot cup of coffee contemplating whether or not there was a dry way to get back to Spokane.

Elite Track Nationals

The 250 meter wood track at the LA Velodrome

Donna and I spent four days in LA at the elite national track championships. The racing was fast and furious with plenty of excitement. We knew it was going to be a great trip when I was hanging out at the Seattle airport waiting to board and saw Sean and Sherolyn walking down the concourse. They were headed back east for a vacation. We all had enough time to sit down and have a great conversation over breakfast. I hate flying, so seeing Sean and Sherolyn was a sign that all was going to be good. When you have irrational fears you have to deal with them any way you can. Now on to the racing!

For those of you unfamiliar with track racing check out the ATRA site for a description of the races. For me one of the big highlights was watching Taylor Phinney win the Pursuit Championships. Taylor's parents are Davis Phinney and Connie Carpenter-Phinney, both former olympic medalists in the 1984 LA olympics. The individual pursuit is not one of Donna's favorite events, she likes the full contact events like match sprinting and the keiren. But for me watching the pursuit was incredible, Taylor is definitely a work of art on the bike. Outside of his legs I don't think any other part if his body moved for the entire 4,000 meters of his run. He caught both of his pursuit challengers very quickly.

The above photo is his championship run. It was hard to get a good photo he was moving really fast.

Gamin-Chipotle with Colby Pearce and Danial Holloway dominated the endurance races getting first in the points race, scratch, and the Madison. Kirk O'bee in my opinion would have won the scratch race but crashed after lapping the field. Colby Pearce also lapped the field (maybe twice) for the win. The points race and the Madison are both endurance races with sprints every ten laps or so. So, just imagine being at or a bit above your lactic threshold for most of the race and then having to sprint every ten laps, and constantly throughout the race while people are attacking. Unlike Rock Racing, Pearce and Holloway road very while as a team. Often it was to the detriment of Kenny Williams out of Seattle. Kenny finished second in the scratch race, after lapping the field, and fourth in the points race. Once Pearce locked up 1st in the points race he helped Holloway get away and knock Kenny off the podium. Kenny is definitely a marked rider in the mass events, and he didn't have any team mates to help him out.

The fast man of the event was Jimmy Watkins who won the men's sprint and keiren. Apparently he's only been racing about a year and no one was even close to his sprint. In the match sprint final Watkins started sprinting around Stephen Hill who was lower on the track. Hill hooked up the track to try to push Watkins up but Watkins didn't budge and had all the momentum. When they bumped Hill went down hard.

The Metro Volkswagen women's team dominated the women's races winning a number of races, but my favorite was Shelley Olds who won the scratch race, and was very aggressive in all the races. To look at her you would never imagine the fury she unleashes on the track.

You can read more about the event and check out the photos on cyclingnews.com

The above photo is take from the top of the track in turn 1 straight down the track. It shows you just how steep the banking is in the turns. Thanks to Camille, Amelia, Nate, and Matt (Donna's Portland friends) for letting me crash in the house for the races, and wishing a speedy recovery to Jen Featheringill after her crash so she can get ready for next year. Another highlight, I was also able to meet world champions Jennie Reed and Sarah Hammer. Recovering after the olympics they were not their to race but showed up to sign some autographs and proomote OUCH cycling.

Hard to enjoy the Tour

I'm sitting here this morning watching live coverage of the Tour. Riccardo Ricco is putting the hurt on everyone. Ten years ago It would have been much more enjoyable, but now I'm just wondering if he is doping. Apparently there are rumours about him being a targeted rider of doping controls due to suspicion for whatever reason. And another former Armstrong teammate (Manuel Beltran) was busted on stage 1.

Former Armstrong teammates busted for doping or admitted to doping:

Floyd Landis
Tyler Hamilton
Roberto Heras
Manual Beltran
Frankie Andreau
Anonymous U.S. Postal Teammate

These are the ones I can remember. It's sad but time to move on. Cycling has a more comprehensive testing program than any other sport in the world. So, unless Riccardo tests positive I'm going to enjoy watching him destroy people on this climb and hope for a great quote afterwards.

Ironman Coeur d'Alene from Jodee Peterson

Ironman Coeur d'Alene (Idaho)June 22, 2008

2.4 Mile Swim, 112 Mile Bike, 26.2 Mile Run

Sean Cleary - 10:54:47 211 overall 17 age group
Elisabeth (ET) Tutsch – 11:24:04 354 overall 15 age group (3:40 marathon)
JoDee Peterson – 13:14:47 1091 overall 20 age group



What an experience of a life time! I’ll never forget it. The best part of the day was seeing the finish line. Thousands of people were cheering for you and little kids held out their hands to high five you as you went by. As I crossed the line the announcer said “JoDee Peterson first time finisher, you are an Ironman”. They held out the tape so it was like I had won the race. It was really awesome! We took our trailer over and stayed at an RV park just across the river from the race finish and you could hear the announcer all night long say "You are an Ironman!"

The worst part of the day was leaving the trailer. The nerves set in and I knew it was a matter of time I would be in the cold water with 2,000 others. The water temp was 56 degrees that morning and it had rained the night before. Sean Cleary had given me some good advice on where to line up for the swim so I got in the back on the far right hand side. It wasn’t too bad of a start but as you got close to the first turn it was crazy. Something I had never experienced before. It reminded me of the titanic with arms and legs flying all around you. I tried to keep calm and stay as wide as possible but it felt like I was getting sandwiched in. The second loop I thought I was going to freeze to death. I had thoughts of not finishing. My left hand and feet started to go numb. I decide to count my stokes and focus on my form and somehow I made it through. As you got out of the water they had volunteers to help you get out of your wetsuit. Wetsuit pullers is what they were called. Wow that was amazing and fast! The changing tents had heaters in them and hot tubs were just outside the men’s tent. It took me awhile to warm up and I put on every stitch of clothing I had with me for the bike ride. As soon as I was ready to head out of the tent the sun came out! :-)

The bike ride went well. I kept my heart rate at the low end of where I was supposed to be and let everyone pass me and just tried to keep an easy pace. I ate gels every 30 min like I was supposed to and drank plenty of fluids. Matter of fact I drank so much Gatorade and water I had to stop and pee like 7 times. Guess I win the award for staying hydrated! The last 10 miles into town we had a strong head wind and I was feeling wonderful. I picked up the pace and found myself passing others all the way in. I knew I was ready for the run. The first half of the run I felt really good. Although at mile 6 I felt like I was getting a blister so I stopped at the medic tent to get some band aids. It took the gal awhile to find them and time was ticking away but I knew if I didn’t take the time now it could cost me a lot more later on. Half way through the run I was surprised to see my time and I thought I was going to finish under 13 hrs. Everything was going as planned. I was worried about mile 18 and how I would feel. It seemed forever to get there but finally I was there and it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I was still running right? :-) I knew at this point I was going to finish even though my pace was getting slower and I was taking more time at the aid stations. I decided to break up the run. It was only 3 miles out to the turnaround then 3 miles back and then just 2 to the finish. The last five miles were dreadfully slow. Crowds of people were everywhere cheering you on. Parties, bands, loud music, lots of encouragement all throughout the race. I kept going and ran the entire run! I’m still in shock that I ran a marathon after all that.

That night I didn’t get to sleep until after midnight and I woke up at 4:30 am. I asked Tucker if he was awake? He said no not really… so I tried to go back to sleep but couldn’t. After 30 min or so I said “can we get up and eat breakfast?” What a trooper he is. No complaining ever. Couldn’t ask for a better husband. He supported me all though out my training and he was there for me all day long on race day. He even said I can do it again next year! I placed 1092 overall and 20th out of 72 in my age division. What fun!JoDee Peterson