Carl Buchanan - Mountain Bike Racer

May 2008 - Posts

So it begins...

Monday marked the first day of actual purpose directed training for me outside of the group road rides. Heading out of the house at around 5:15pm to pick up a Fulcrum spoke wrench from Bike Tech and then proceeded to finish my 20 minute warm-up before heading over towards Lookout Park hill for a few uphill intervals. As I crossed over the river from George Wyth and made the turn to the river trail, I saw Super Saul heading my way so I slowed my pace just a touch for him to catch up. He decided to join me for my intervals, only had five of them on the schedule for the first session, and so away we went climbing, then descending, then repeat. It's always good to have company for things like this not only for conversation but, to keep yourself motivated to do it all right. After the intervals were done we rolled through George Wyth and over near the Cattle Congress before going back home. Good workout that opened up the legs as well as got them ready for some longer intervals later this week.

Speaking of the Cattle Congress, the Federal Government had set up shop there about a week ago although no one in town really knew why. Well, today everyone found out why when over 300 people were arrested in Postville, IA for "...criminal and civil charges including identity theft, improper use of Social Security data and other crimes". It's being referenced as the largest raid in the history of the state.

The large crash in Sydney Australia last week has found it's moron culprit. Small blurb here about it if you scroll to the bottom. The guy is an idiot, period.

For those of you that love (or hate) the "paintball" or "bubble" style long sleeve Cannondale jerseys that I wear, the short sleeve versions arrived a few days ago from The Smackdown so I'll be able to provide you all with plenty of color year round now. Smackdown Rules!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted May 13 2008, 07:08 AM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

Rested

I ended up taking the entire weekend (Fri-Sun) off the bike, although not entirely by choice, which has left me fairly well rested. Amy was busy with work all day Saturday and it was raining off and on all day so I never really had the chance to get out for a ride. Sunday was of course Mother's Day so my riding was not a priority. We did go to the quarry in Shell Rock to pick up some landscaping bricks to clean up the nastiness in the front of our house. 52 bricks that had to be transported across my neighbor's yard to my house since our road is still torn up gave me plenty of opportunity to tork my back just a wee-bit. Now I need to get it stretched back out sometime today.

The 2008 Giro 'd-Italia is currently in session in Italy. The Giro is my personal favorite of the Grand Tours so I follow it pretty close each day. It's a little disappointing that they can't have daily coverage on Versus since they do a great job with their once-a-week coverage and have the best English-speaking commentators. Too much bull-riding coverage for me.

Liquigas rider Marco Pellizotti rode a very cool race and followed Ricco, Di Luca, and Rebellin to the finish line for a fourth place finish on the day and took the maglia rosa by one second. Way too early to be wearing it permanently but, it's good to see the Liquigas team up front early and ready to pounce.

Posted May 12 2008, 07:24 AM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

Tension

I read an article yesterday concerning some pretty bad road rage between a car driver and about 50 cyclists yesterday from Sydney, Australia and was blown away that anyone in a car would take it that far. Well, we got a little taste of that last night during our group ride although, it was no where near as bad as the incident in Sydney.

We started out with eight riders heading West on 27th street at around 28mph and rolling through the draft lines really smooth. Speeds were good, comfort level was good, and overall I was feeling that I might be getting the snap back in my legs. We were nearing the point where the group usually picks up the pace and I of course found myself on the front pulling. As soon as we crested a hill, I heard the attacking tires of J. Fry and he was dragging four other guys with him. I tried to latch on but didn't quite have it. Bullerman, Houlihan, and I continued to cruise along and caught back up within the mile when the rest of the group went for the sprint and then regrouped before heading North towards New Hartford. We only made it about 300 meters or so down the road when a gentleman in a gold car, such as a Toyota Camry or such, flew around us, honking his horn, and yelling something that I did not catch. We did the right thing and politely waved at him as he drove away. To our amazement he slammed on his brakes, leaving matching black marks on the pavement, and skidded off the road onto the gravel shoulder. I continued around him and on my way North at a whooping 13mph while the rest of the group had a short discussion with him. One of the riders in the group was even heard reciting the Iowa law concerning bicyclists and their rights on the roadways of Iowa. After about five minutes or so of the car driving down the shoulder while having this discussion, my fellow riders began to catch back up to me and we proceeded to pick up the pace on the way to New Hartford. The guy in the car followed us most of the way but must have turned around sometime after we kicked it up to the 30 mph mark again. It was just a reminder that as a cyclist, you need to keep your eyes peeled for the psychos behind the wheels of cars. Some of them still think that they own the roads more than we do.

Anyway....after arriving in New Hartford and having a short discussion about our recent event the group of seven, Houlihan turned back for Cedar Falls right before the incident, began the section back to Cedar Falls on Beaver Valley Rd. Everything was clipping along really well and I was feeling like having a go at the next sprint. We all made it over Three-Tier hill pretty much together and the pace was in the 28mph range with a slight head wind. There were only about three of us that were actually taking pulls and I found myself on the front WAY TOO MUCH so I slowed down to about 19mph and then the group finally came around and four of them went off the front, go figure. I was alone again and giving chase. I started to pull R. Fry back in and after catching him, the two of us started to reel in Mike J. too. We were getting pretty close to the sprint and almost had Mike so I went for it about 200 meters out and was able to catch him right as I crossed the line. A little bit of satisfaction after that one. A quick regroup and we were heading back to Cedar Falls at speed again with the one last hill left before the final sprint. I hate the final hill but, Bullerman pulled me to the top and I stayed with the front riders. Approaching the final sprint I was in the back and waiting for someone to jump so that I could follow them instead. Finally, J. Fry went and I jumped on his wheel waiting for the chance to get around him. He moved back to the right towards the center of the lane and away I went around him on the left. It was a short lived sprint for me as Doug came around the right side and beat me to the line but, I was definitely feeling a lot better by the end.

Legs are pretty heavy today so I'll probably take the day off for some rest. I put in 200 miles this week so I think that I deserve it.

Posted May 09 2008, 07:17 AM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

Throttle out-of-control

We had another small group make it's presence for the Thursday Night Pain Fest including J. Fry, Mike J., Mike F., Craig, Finn, Bullerman, Carey, and myself of course.

Surprised J. Fry with my camera that he loves so much

This was the view that I had of the group a couple of times last night.
The wind was coming from the SSE so we opted for the Dike-Hudson loop and the pain that it provides with it's rolling hills and head/crosswinds. It did not take too long before I fell off the back a wee bit but Bullerman and I fought to stay in touch rolling West out of Cedar Falls on 27th St. With a quick regroup we began to head South into the wind towards Dike. The wind was playing havoc on our group and it seemed like the organization was a little on the sloppy side so I decided to launch myself off the front a couple of times to jump-start things and get the group working together to break through the wind. Eventually J. Fry, Mike J., and I were off the front and heading for the sprint into Dike. J. Fry had a touch too much of a lead for me to fully bridge so I let him go with around 50 meters to the sprint.

Another regroup in Dike before taking it pretty easy for a couple more Southern miles towards Reinbeck still took their toll on me. I pulled up a hill with J. Fry and sure enough was attacked at the top which shot me out the back yet again. Lucky for me Mike F. and Carey soon came up behind me and were able to help me get to the next turn headed for Hudson.

Things were ticking along pretty well with the pace steadily climbing and then J. Fry., Mike J., and I were off the front again and pulling a nice gap. I could only hang on for a few miles before J. Fry pulled hard up one of the larger rollers and spit me out into no-man's-land. I did what I could to keep going while Bullerman, Mike F., and Finn came up behind me and I latched on. Our group was struggling though and it didn't take long until it was just Bullerman and me sharing time on the front and trying to chase down the two leaders. The two of us were actually making really good time and as we approached the final bend before Hudson, Craig motored back into our group and helped to up the pace for the last few miles. We made up some good ground but, not quite enough to get back with the lead two.

Great ride of suffering which was exactly what I was looking for. My total ride was about 58 miles of torture so I am quite happy with that. Cruising back into town along the bike trail on Hwy 63 allowed us to see some of the results of all of the recent rains and flooding that we have had. This is part of the trail near the defunct Greyhound Park at the corner of Hwy 63 and Hwy 20 in Waterloo. The water did a number on a fairly large chunk of the trail here by washing out the ground under and around the trail. The picture is not a good one but, it shows my point.