Antelope Island RR

Travis' report: Guys I don't think I've been so cold on any of my winter rides! It was just a cold wet day. The race was a cool route and they had more support cars than any other race I can think of but it was just cold & wet. And cold. We were all eating road salt & brine shrimp from the causeway so I don't think there was any chance of cramping up.

We were supposed to go around the loop 3 times and then out to the ranch & back to the finish. My first time around the loop one of the volunteers told us to turn right too the ranch so I thought that was part of the loop. by the time I made it around the loop and to the ranch the second time I had about 48 miles so I was screwed. I ended up riding alone most of the way for a total of 61 miles. I got home, warmed up, and took a nap for the rest of the afternoon. Maybe next year will be better. :)

Higgins & Liam did much better. Liam got a late start but got a chance to race with the Cat3's for a while. Higgins kept up pretty well on the loops before heading out to the ranch. I'll let them give the rest of their report.

Here's Higgins kicking some butt in the rain: http://www.zazoosh.com/photos/203010471

Here's me on my solo tour of the island: http://www.zazoosh.com/photos/203010597

Liam's Report: The Antelope Island race was one of the most miserable sports related event that I have ever participated in. You missed nothing if you didn't go. I thought the route was interesting and deceptively hard, but it was organized poorly. The sand and salt in the road was really nasty, there were an unusually high number of flats during the race. The lap system around the island caused a great amount of confusion. I think the weather conditions were actually on the brink of being dangerous to the well-being of the riders, if it had been much colder I could have been in a lot of trouble.

Stephen's report: Cold, wet and miserable, and that was the good part. Liam later suggested that a kick in the nuts would have been a fair trade, but at least that wouldn't have lasted 2 hours. :-) The warmup ride across the causeway was too slow to warm up properly, I should have just ridden off the front and at least stayed warm, lesson learned. As it was I was soaked and shivering within 3 minutes, and I just got colder until we reached the island. It was hard to shift and brake because my hands were so cold, and my rims were so wet. The downhill curves by the beach were treacherous and scary. The race organization was terrible, with someone erroneously telling Liam he couldn't race the causeway to catch his pack, when I did exactly the same thing 10 seconds later (but I was out of touch with Liam by then). Plus someone telling Travis to turn too early.

However, we likely could have avoided the race confusion by getting there early enough to sit (and soak and freeze) in the pack before the start, assuming they gave instructions on the route. We arrived about 30 minutes before the start, but with the long walk to registration and gearing up in the rain, that wasn't enough time. We left the new IHC hospital at 7:00 and got to the race at 7:50 for a start time of 8:25, we really should have started 1/2 hour earlier. Again, lesson learned. As for the race itself, I managed almost 2 of the 3 loops before I was dropped by the lead pack on the rollers. A couple guys caught me after that, one of whom faded after another 20 miles, and the other I rode with (see photo) and beat me up the final hill. I'd love to see the results but they don't have Cat 5 posted on the UCA site.

News Flash: Army Depot attacked

Hundreds of cyclist decended upon the Tooele army depot this weekend to fight for bragging rights and suffer with fellow soldiers. There were 3 major battles. The first one was "The battle of TRUTH." 8.7 miles of solo sufferfest up and down the outskirts of Tooele. The troops from BCC Racing gave it their best shot. Eric, Liam, and Rogers finished with identical times of about 24:08. Don't be fooled by Liams time on the results page. He missed his start by about a minute. We teased him a little for that. Higgins was very nervous for some bet he had going with Todd. Mason, John Ward, and Higgins all finished well. The cat 5 winners time would have beat all the cat 4's and put him in 6th place in the cat 3's. We all gathered together in Eric's military baracks after the race to lick our wounds and tell battle stories.

The second battle was a 20 mile curcuit race for the cat. 5's and 25 for the cat 4's. Each lap was 5 miles long, with 3 miles up hill and only 2 down. Something is wrong with that math. Our troops all survived the first lap and second laps. On the third lap the enemy injured John on the climb. On the last lap it was "NO GUTS, NO GLORY TIME". Rogers and Liam attacked to try and bridge up the Pro Mt. Biker who had a lead on the peloton. They made the gap. Higgins fell a little short in his attempt. Liam and Rogers were both red lining at that point and only were able to do a couple rotations with the fast guy and then they fell victim and were swallowed up by the peloton and spit out the back, high fiving each other for at least trying. Eric did a fantastic job in the cat. 4's were he finished with the peloton at a higher average pace then the cat. 5's. Go Eric.

The Easter battle was a 49 mile loop of the Tooele valley. After the 2 mile neutral start the battle heated up. John made a valient effort for about 16 miles before being being dropped. Mr. Higgins or Mr. I need to adjust my caveman nuts got spit out a couple of miles later. John and Higgins later hooked up where they worked together. They tried to come to an agreement of who would finish first, but in the end John out sprinted the svelt Higgins to the line. Liam and Rogers managed to hang with the main group for the full distance, which was a goal accomplished for both of them. They both almost got dropped a few times, but hung in there. Eric is the Most Valuable Sufferer of the War. He managed to hang onto the peloton in the cat. 4 group who rode the course 7 minutes faster then the cat. 5 group. And thanks for the trailer hang out too. It's nice to have a place to hang at the race. Congrats to all, and to all a good Easter.


Erics stage one
My first stage race ever starts with a nine mile individual time trial. I was excited due to my desire to get into stage racing and time trialing.The excitement had me at heart rate zone 2 - 2.5 as I was waiting to start my time trial. The start box was way cool; it is a great help to start down that ramp and get going immediately. Power output at the start: 597 watts.The excitement ended at approximately 1.3 miles when I got passed by the 30 second person behind me. I hadn't reached the F@#$# climb yet, damn. That's ok, maybe that one guy is just ridiculously strong. I still see my 30 second guy, maybe I can catch him. I didn't.I got passed by 3 or 4 people before it was over. I averaged 21.6 mph, 218 watts for 24 minutes. That yielded me nearly last place, 4 minutes behind the leader. Ouch.

Erics stage two
The second part of the day includes a 25 mile circuit race over a 5 mile circuit. One word: Brutal.Of course the first lap everyone is just trying to get rid of the weaker riders. It worked; I believe approximately 1/3 of the group went away. Second lap and third laps are just as tough, with the fourth and fifth laps turning out to be a bit more relaxed. What that means in power is the first three laps I hit 335-355 watts to stick to the group, where the last two I got away with under 233-282. Heart rate wise that translates to hitting the 190s vs staying under 184. See pretty graphs at Garmin Connect.The finish was nuts. I reached 41.7 miles per hour which earned me a 13th place. Yeah, I can see why so many people like sprinting, what a rush!I still don't know the difference between a circuit and a criterium, but I'm about to look it up. Effort wise there is simply no difference.

Erics stage three
Stage 3 - 49 miles in 2 hours and 6 minutes with 24 of my newest friends. Average speed 23.5 miles per hour, and yes, a sufferfest for me. After the race I talked to one of the Ski Utah guys that has been Cat 4 for a year, and he said this was a pretty relaxed pace.I like neutral racing. We spent two miles in town going through a few traffic signals at a nice friendly pace. I really wanted to stick to that pace for much longer but my new buddies didn't agree. As soon as the flag person passed by at the end of the neutral zone the pack took off like a bullet. The stats show a jump from 12 to 22 mph right at the 2 mile point. Soon after we averaged over 30 mph for over 5 miles as we were racing a train. Fun. This portion of the race was interesting. As I was moving up the pack to avoid getting dropped I ended up right up front and did a pull at ridiculous speeds. I pulled for 30 seconds or so and moved off, which started an actual structured rotation with the 5-10 front guys. We did a few minutes of this and it broke down because the majority of the group wasn't participating.I had over 8 "match burning" events just trying to stick to the group including hitting over 40 miles per hour twice. End result: the whole group, I mean everyone, together at the end for a 40 mph bunch sprint. Serious fun.

Please add comments and/or pictures to this post)

Lap Around the Oquirrhs, 108 mi Saturday

Depending on the direction of the wind we will start toward the South or the North to arrange a tail wind through the Tooele Valley. It would make the ride much more enjoyable. In the Salt Lake Valley there is at least a little terrain to deflect the wind a little. Kerry says he knows the way.

This is a fast A-pace ride. I'm hoping some of BCC Racing will be looking for a ride this weekend. If you ride for a different team, or you're a BCC Member, or found this ride on the web, come out and hang tough for 6 hours. Minimal stops, high average speed, but supposedly moderate climbing.

Not only is this completely self-supported, it won't be an official club ride, because of the short time frame. Ride at your own risk. !!! TWO tubes, TWO bottles, PLENTY of nutrition required. !!!

Bingham Library at the corner of 90th South and 4800 West, Saturday 3/14/09 11:00am

Be there or be square.

Stephen Higgins 801-608-0861 stephen at twigsinourhair.com

Sunday morning Church of Pain training ride…

Ride Cancelled because of Cold

If I learned anything in my first year of racing, I learned that the race is usually won on the hills. I raced in about 5 races last year and was dropped off the back of the peloton in every one of them on a hill, except one, where I bonked at mile 95 for lack of carbs and fluids. So my goal this year is to improve my climbing. Nothing felt worse than to see the peloton slip away as I was gasping for air, and feeling the painful effects of lactic acid overload through out my body. So I am going to have to make some changes to achieve my goal. For one thing, I will need to get my weight under my last year low of 189. Secondly, if I can keep from getting laid off, I will need to purchase some lighter wheels from our new wheel sponsor Williams Wheels. Lastly, I will need to do some hard hill intervals. So if there are any gluttons for pain and improvement, I will be doing a Sunday morning boot camp of hill intervals on March 8th, at 9:00 AM. Check your clocks because I believe its day light savings time that day. This is not for the faint of heart or really out of shape. This one is going to hurt. We will meet at the top of the hill at the corner of 2300 E. Bengal blvd.(approx. 7600 S.). We will do about a 2.40 mile loop as a warm up and then hit the hill hard. At the top we will go slow, regroup, and try to recover as we go around the loop again. I plan on doing it 6 times. You get extra points if you throw up at the top. If you have any health problems or are not in really good shape, then you can do the interval a lot slower. The total mileage will be about 14 miles. If there are any ride leaders who are going to come could you try and get it put on the calendar. Thanks.

2009 East canyon road race details

The 2009 East canyon road race details are available at http://www.sports-am.com/events/index575.htm. This is the second race on the team's official list.

Personally, this was a 55-ish mile individual time trial last year. Don't do that.

Team meeting Feb 18th (RSVP)

We will have a team meeting Wednesday, Feb 18th at 7pm at Rocky Mountain Pizza. Our sponsor Capital Confidence Advisors is kicking in for some pizza and soda, thanks Todd!!! (No buffet this time, we are going end by 8:30.) Yes, I knows this conflicts with the In-n-Out Burger Road Trip, we did the best we could to balance time for everyone to make room in their schedule for this meeting, with the need to get the team kit order processed for delivery by East Canyon RR.




Please RSVP to (JTodd.Anderson "at" lfg.com) if you can make it to the team meeting, we are trying to plan for the food. Thanks in advance.


Rocky Mountain Pizza Company
3977 South Wasatch Blvd
Salt Lake City, UT 84124
(801) 272-9888

The shorter topic is collecting your information and orders for team kits. More information on this to come from Randy Miller who has graciously become not only the Fashion Guru but also the Recording Secretary to collect all our info, and the Treasurer to collect all our dues and also handle the money for the team kits. Thanks, Randy !!! Randy will be sending out kit info by email, PLAN TO ORDER kits by this meeting if you need them.

The longer topic is training. The Lactic Acid Gang met yesterday at Todd’s office, finalized our approach to training this year. Thanks, Bill and Elton !!! Bill will present our outline for training this year, which involves the topics of lactate threshold and power testing, heart rate monitors and power meters, heart rate zones, using SuperSeries rides and weekly rides for specific training goals, coaching, and peaking for various races. :-)

Tour of the Depot details available

What was the Tooele valley stage race or Triple valley stage race is now the Tour of the Depot.

The Tour of the Depot web site has been updated with this year's race details. This is the first race on BCC Racing's focus list. Details at http://www.triplevalley.com/