thechemist

I will know better after august. Several big races and from there should decide things.

Stas87

my road season wrap on Aug 22 (CCAP Kermis) then I will take a few weeks off or start track cycling. I'm trying not to think about 2015 till September at the earliest

shovelhd

I may do the Donut Derby in October.

mike868y

this season never really materialized. injury, depression, major life changes kind of all created a perfect storm. i'm actually going to do some of the remaining races this fall (racing today, actually), but have no expectations of results, i just miss racing my bike! also planning on racing cross, but I've got to build a damn bike first. idk, next season seems so far off, it's not really on my mind, beyond the fact that I'm not planning to be in racing shape in early march.

Racer Ex 

I won like 3 races all year and they were s***small. I've had three back procedures, walking pneumonia, will have moved 3 times and my TSS for the month of July was 400. April was 600. I did have a decent race in Mexico despite little training but got knocked off the podium on the last day.

Yeah, looking forward.

Next season I turn 55. I will be training at 5500 feet all winter; have full time access to a gym, a bunch of cross training options, and a plan. My goal is to make the 55 races like this:


You know who am.

gsteinb

high plains drifter

Reel Pizza Cinerama - Bar Harbor, Maine, movie theater.

Grumpy McTrumpy

nice 70s score

island rider

Does anyone take that seriously, or is it really just supposed to be a fun fundraiser? I was thinking I could do it and not be in violation of my "no racing this year" agreement. Looks like a fun event for kids too.

gsteinb

pick a something and there's someone who takes it seriously.

grolby

Come do Wells. I'm planning on doing as many as I can until 'cross season starts. And definitely try to keep a long view, though I know it's hard to do, sometimes. Life changes like a big move are much more challenging and exhausting than we typically give them credit for beforehand. For cyclocross, focus on having fun and short workouts with hard efforts. The nice thing about 'cross is that you don't need huge amounts of time on the bike to have fun racing, so if you don't feel like training one week, just don't. Get the mind and body fresh for the coming year. Incidentally, my team is starting Wednesday morning CX practices this week - drop me a line to get the low-down.

I have to say that I felt very encouraged by how things went with the training crit I did yesterday, and it makes me more optimistic about next season. I may even enter some road races; I ended up only doing one this year, and DNF'd it.

carpediemracing 

Definitely a fun ride. I didn't bother checking my gearing before the ride, realized halfway up the big hill that my small ring was a 44T. Then after another half I realized my big cog was a 23T. At some point I realized that the climb wasn't just a little bump, it was pretty long, and I finally got to the top of it.

The descent is really fun, twisty, curvy, fast, you actually get to throw your weight around the bike.

I think I stopped after 5 laps (7 lap event). I ate a donut but gave the straw stuck in it (that's what you hand in to prove you ate a donut) back to the folks serving the donuts.

I rode some of the ride with a local Masters racer dressed in Daisy Dukes. That's funny and all that but it was 32 degrees or something at the start and I was freezing in thermal knickers and a jacket. He was in short shorts and must have been frozen.



Mid race (technically I think this was the end of the first lap) - people stopped to eat donuts. I just rolled through, but, after thinking about it, I would have been better off eating a donut here and there. I stopped because I bonked, ironic that it happened in the Donut Derby.


Spectators that walked up the hill. Note kid in costume. I'm pretty sure that the women in blue passed me on the hill. I only passed one or two people, they were walking, and at least one of them passed me back after remounting.

TMonk

Def. looking forward next season! Currently sidelined with back issues, which are getting better, but I will wait 2-4 weeks before I start riding and training how I would like to.

My goal next year is to get to upgrade to cat2 by racing criteriums. I have the PM, have been educating myself and reading, and plan on utilizing a coach's services starting late Sept or early Oct.

My plan:
*Upgrade to cat2 by earning points in cat3 criteriums. I don't want to plan to peak for one or two "A" races, but rather be in great shape for a couple months in Spring when there is tons of socalcycling racing. There is an opportunity for me to race every weekend in March, for example.

My contingencies:
*<10hrs/week during season, willing to go more during base if coach suggests
*Incorporate gym work - frequency and intensity as dictated by coach
*Ride only 1 day per weekend for most weekends. I like to have one day per weekend when I can take care of my other "selves", but am willing to ride both days during base, to race, or occasionally as needed.

There's a seasoned cat 1 road/track cyclist around here who coaches some friends of mine to great success. I think I will plan to meet with him in a month or so.

shovelhd

I did it the first year. A 50+ Master took off at the *** and won. I started at the back and was a bit surprised that it was all lined out right away. He was obviously taking it seriously. The second place team was two of CDR's teammates, one of which ate 13 donuts. I'm pretty sure I was third, and I stopped for two donuts. If I do it this year I was thinking of getting a set of file tread clinchers for the cross bike and riding it instead of the road bike. I had trouble with traction on the hill.

carpediemracing 

haha I forgot about that. Yeah, one of my teammates ate a boatload of donuts. Donuts are I think a minute a donut? It's pretty significant time-wise.

I didn't have problems with traction but the road was totally frozen. If it were a bit warmer I could see it being problematic. Also I don't recommend a 44x23 as a bottom gear. 34x25 maybe.

Depending on how it is I may do it on a mountain bike pulling Junior in a trailer, if that's legal. If we get really adventurous it might be the family, tandem + trailer.

revchuck 

I'd be all over that!

Next year's schedule will be pretty much like this year's, hopefully minus the broken collarbone. There aren't many options in my local association's (LAMBRA) schedule. I might head to Texas for a few races, but that's a bunch of miles, >300 each way other than the crits in Houston...and they're still like 140 each way.

The bigger question for me is the off season...looks like strength training combined with time off the bike. Need to get with my coach on that, but we're currently focused on my last two races for this year.

globecanvas

I think I'll bring my team down for the Donut Derby. There's a donut shop across the street from the sponsor LBS and we go through a couple dozen after Saturday AM team rides. So we may have some natural adaptations.

gsteinb

I can out eat anyone. I bet I can win without even leaving to donut tent.

globecanvas

Yeah, well we plow through these bad boys, which is like training on a 50 lb bike. Those puny race day Dunkin Donuts will be like popcorn.

gsteinb

tell you how serious we are…our LBS has a donut shop in it. Bacon donuts as well. We don't **** around.

carpediemracing 

There is a team category - one person eats, the other person rides. Seems like the eating limit is in the 18-20 donut range.

Many of the donuts are not DD, they're local ones.

island rider

Oooh. Do I smell a challenge? This may my only chance to win in my career...

shovelhd

You get three minutes per donut. Most are cake donuts. You must consume the whole donut before leaving the donut "pit". Needless to say there was some ejection splatter on the hill.

If anyone wants to get lunch afterwards I'm down with that.

I used a 39/27 and while it was enough gear I couldn't get my cadence up high enough to avoid slippage. The cross bike has a 36/46 which with the proper tires could make me more competitive. It is all for fun and a good cause and all but it is a race.

globecanvas

People eat lunch after an event like that?

How steep is that hill anyway? Is this it? https://app.strava.com/segments/801760

shovelhd

You don't have to eat any donuts. I ate two and felt fine afterwards. Needless to say I would not want to have a beer afterwards with Mr. 13.

The course should be on bikereg. It's steep at the start then levels a bit before the summit. I think we climbed it 5 times.

Creatre

I'm so jealous. I would destroy a doughnut race. I even train for this by making Krispy Kreme stops routinely on rides.