Much of what you said is like a foreign language to me, yet I get you.

I know you'll make that connection. If I can parallel real estate to cycling, surely you can find the connection, the personal growth, the personal attachment, etc., with your flying.

I don't have the benefit of a power meter but I do recognise the experience. Obviously I could do with more power, but I'm sure I am wasting my strength by not getting as much protection as I could if I were sharper. I guess it'll come if I keep working at it



I simply can't imagine racing at 106*. I remember when riding in Tanzania I got gapped because of a herd of cattle (!) and tried to chase down a couple of the guys in temperatures of about 109F. I was a slightly nauseated dishrag within about five minutes.

Keep at it. Think of this period as learning to hover.

Warrants were non events for us. Really easy to work with. All of the guys who had spent time "in country" were awesome. Every once in a while we had a new officer pilot come in who had to learn the power of the red x. After a few of those they stopped having my crew carry their luggage around ;)

I went in as an aviation mech for fixed wing. Spent 11 months at AIT learning U series planes and the OV-1 Mowhawk, which they were still using as an SLR spook in Korea and Germany. Got out, got to my unit, and we had one T-42 and 18 Hueys. Guess what I ended up crewing? Ended up as a Chief for 2 star and the NBC guy for our unit chucking fake gas grenades and running MOP training. Was seriously considering WOC but started to have some success racing motorcycles and made a choice.

And yes, boring is really good in aviation. There's nothing like being woken up from your nap by a low RPM alarm.

That's a very cool list of seats. You had to be one of the pioneers...I might have seen one female pilot the entire time I served.

Wow. Lots of memories buried around there.

An absolutely incredible list. I'm familiar with about half of them. I know a few fixed wing commercial pilots. They've flown maybe a half dozen different types of planes in their lives, and they are some of the most experienced, senior guys.

Army WO pilots rock!. My wife's cousin retired after being General Frank's pilot when he was serving. He was in the first group of W-5 officers the army promoted. Flew in Nam and more places than I can remember. Sara, thanks for serving our country. Now back to training and racing.

Bill

Hellyer Women's Team Pursuit Development Program
 

Hellyer Velodrome has started a program for women with the goal of sending a couple of pursuit teams to compete in Elite Track Nationals in September. The program has about 38 women participating with a wide range of track experience. MEA is participating and I am helping out. On Monday, I was a photographer, holder, lap counter and bell ringer. I am the best bell ringer for the final lap.:thumb:

Here is a pic of MEA and one of her team mates. Cute matching Cervelos.:D

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3490.jpg

Finally recovered from the graduation vacation. Three track races plus motorpaced burnout last night. Did 8 of the 10 laps: Slowball, pack finish in the 15 lap Scratch and finished with the pack in the 35 lap Points race. Lots of primes in the Scratch and Points race had to dig deep to respond to all the attacks. Was a bit dizzy :twitchy: after the Points race, boy that post race beer tasted good :thumb:

Trackies can definitely Party Rock.

Hermes, my club G.S. Adams Avenue Bicycles motto is "Win the Party" it's even stitched on our team socks.
https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=723926839

We need a dang track in Arizona!

fify

I've been thinking, not yet seriously, of trying to put together support for an Arizona track. Sort of a retirement gig. Of course the economic climate is pretty tough right now, and I think the key is finding the right mix of activities, not all of them cycling, to support the facility.

Bill, thank you! So do marine pilots!

Back to training and racing. I can't make Pleasanton for the crit this weekend, just too much on the plate with too short notice. Oh, I wish I could. It looks like it's going to be the Strawberry Criterium in Watsonville for my first crit.

I've been doing a LOT of climbing/hill training hill repeats. My hip plexors, my injury to my left hip (from that damn crash last summer), the insides of my thighs, and the upper part of my glutes are really talking to me right now. Now, that's good stuff! I'm finding that I can carry through to about the third of five 10 or 20 second intervals before I start to run out of gas. Still, I push as hard as I can on that last one, and OMG, does it hurt. My heartrate is still low/mid 150's, it doesn't get any higher. I can feel the lack of lung capacity now, too - but I'm sure I'll get used to that. In short, I'm working harder and in ways I never have, and it's even visible to others. A girlfriend said to me in spin this morning - "Sara, you waist is really getting tiny!" I NEVER thought I'd hear that again!

I'm going to try to hang with the A Group on the local group's Saturday "Damn Right You'll Get Dropped" Ride this weekend. That'll be fun, no matter what!

AzT - if ANYONE can get the ball rolling on a Velodrome in Phoenix, you can. Go for it!

One local guy had the same idea about 4 years ago. I remember the concept boards being displayed at a cross race and thought "yea right". Now we are building it piece by piece. I have volunteered 4 days so far. It looks like a late June or early July soft opening for those who worked on the velodrome and a grand opening shortly after.

http://clevelandvelodrome.org/

This image was taken on Monday when we were putting the top rib on.
http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/r...5/af185282.jpg

AZT, A way to get started in track racing from your locale is to accept your situation and drive or fly to SD or Carson and use those tracks. You can buy a track bike with a fork that has provision for a front brake and set it up with track gearing and use it on flat roads for efforts. Take off the brake and track bikes pack easily so you can fly to the track and spend a couple of days training and racing.

For example, MEA and I are flying to Orange County Airport tomorrow and doing the 4PM and 7PM training sessions at VSP. Friday, we will be on our road bikes but there is a Friday evening session at VSP. Saturday is LAVRA racing with all the races timed events (no mass start). Once you have a track bike and are certified (very easy) at VSP, you can race.

This is not cheap but it is guaranteed to be a blast to do. Plus you get to hang out with generally cool guys such as MEA, Cleave, Racer Ex, VanceMac and myself plus a cadre of others that we can introduce you to. And it does not matter if you suck (most likely you will) because we all suck in some way and misery likes company.

I am good friends with the guy who does the certification and can set it up for you. It is a two hour session that I think is valuable. And the first time you are in the place, you will wonder if it is possible to ride on the banking.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...667881_4-1.jpg

Both of those pic's; yours and Jet's; kinda make me swallow hard. Makes me think of circus acts, with the motorcylce in the globe shaped cage.

I wish Hellyer were a bit closer to Sonoma County, since I plan to be spending a fair amount of time there with my son, but 2 hours isn't too bad.

Sarals, if you want to have the best chance of sticking with the A group on Saturday, make tomorrow a taper day, no intervals, just a fun ride, and either do an hour Z2 or take Friday off. Warm up before the ride starts.

Since I am doing team sprint and starting on Saturday, I will be watching this video a lot over the next 48 hours.

Great short hill interval practice tonight. On a really steep hill that took 3:30-3:39 to climb I set PP records for 1', 3' and 4'. I set the 1' PPR on interval #1 and had to weather the storm the rest of the effort. Set the 3' and 4' PPR on interval #3. I'm on recovery this week and this was my only hard day as I was assigned to do only 1/2 the 6 intervals the rest of the group did.

Shovel, thanks! I'm starting to think like you guys do - my plan, exactly! The A Group ride will be short, at least compared to what that group actually does. There is a three mile give or take warm up, then the fun starts. I'm going to hit the first climb near the front then try to stay near the front when the pace comes up. If I can hang there for a couple of miles, it will be worth it and it will tell me a lot.

Hi,

First, congratulations to Velo Diva for getting it done when she had to perform. I think it's harder to perform when expectations are high. I also know that having dedicated support to take care of things the way you want is a tremendous help so kudos to Hermes for that (as if he had a choice ;)).

Sara, with everything else that you've accomplished in your life, anything you do with bike racing is just icing, not the cake. You should have come to SoCal on Memorial Day because veterans raced for free. Given the business I'm in, I thank you doubly for your service to our country.

Nice to see Racer Ex at this past weekend's races. I saw him a lot more warming up for and after than during the races. I did the 55+ race and rode OK but not quite as aggressively as I wanted. Took a casual approach to the start of the 50+ race and got caught in the back half of the pack with the pack lined out for the first 4 laps. :eek: The rubber band finally broke and who was in the break? Racer Ex of course. I get the feeling he's not comfortable riding in large (or small) pelotons. :rolleyes:

By the time I got myself together the break was gone. I hooked up with another racer and tried getting away towards the end of the race. We immediately got marked by one of Ex's teammates and all I did in my 1-3/4 laps off the front was get tired. :notamused: I did the 45+ race for training and managed to finish. BTW, I got placed in all 3 races and was DFL in two of them. :D The standings from the district road race never got updated to show my finish though. :mad:

This week has been kind of tough mentally as I've been using a lot of mental energy getting ready for a big meeting on Friday. So far I only road easy on Tuesday on my single-speed rain bike. I will be at the VSC on Thursday and hope to see Hermes and Velo Diva there. I won't be able to race on Saturday though as we are having some company over that day. On top of that I probably won't have the ability to concentrate for intense TT efforts by then.

cycledude555, as others have noted, the breakdown in race categories is highly dependent on turnout. For some reason the Baby Boom hump has produced a lot of bike racers in SoCal. Starting statistics from this past Sunday:
55+/60+: 32/14 racers (race together, scored separately)
50+: 71 racers
45+: 80 racers (2nd largest field of the day)

Note that the CBR races (this past weekend's promoter) tend to attract more racers since the courses are fairly easy so hanging in is not extraordinarily difficult. (Hint to Sara, build your race confidence and pack experience by racing on easy courses. Difficult courses can be more satisfying but easy courses give you a better opportunity to craft your racing skills.)

AJ, that looks and sounds like a pretty interesting facility. If it really is done by the National Summer Senior Games, it will be cool to try it out. The web site makes it sound like there will be rental bikes available.

Cleave. On my way to OC. Will see you tonight at cap.

Ditto.

Don't you guys up north know anything? You have to refer to that area as either "The OC", or "The Golden Orange". I thought the latter was a good read, at least way back when I read it. The author and I shared a hangout in Ocean Beach, but apparently never at the same time.

We had an uneventful flight to OC and arrived at the track at 2:15 PM. I had to gear two track bikes, change cockpits and wheels. Racer Ex and I plus a third racer were planning to do team sprint on Saturday. Our third racer shows up and informs me that he discovered the team sprint starts at 9AM and his other races at 1PM. So something about keeping a marriage together plus other dribble were his excuse for bowing out. MEA summed it up for him - wussy.

However, Roger Young talked with another racer and we had a third. Plus he was there for the afternoon session so we could at least practice on race. Most team sprints and team pursuits are formed the day of the race ad hoc. However, if one wants to actually do well, practice is a must.

Racer Ex shows up and i tell him the good news. We have a new racer for team sprint and he is an upgrade from the previous. We do the traditional 60 lap warmup but since there are over 30 racers at this session, Roger decides to break the warmup into two groups, those doing team pursuit on Saturday and the rest of us. The rest of us go behind the motor for a 30 lap motor burnout. I think 7 of us survived the burnout including MEA, Racer Ex and me.

Since there we a lot of teams practicing team pursuit, Racer Ex, MEA and I did a 4K team pursuit. MEA was a rock star riding with the boys. We did get to practice one team sprint.

MEA and I stayed for the 7PM session and did the warmup and the first interval. We saw Cleave at the 7PM session. Afterwards, we drove from Carson to Santa Monica for a Big Chill frozen yogurt and then back to Irvine. MEA loves the Big Chill.