Happy 24th Birthday to ME!

Treated myself to a 2hr tempo ride with some 3x5min effort and 3 sets of hill repeats up Madrona. That's a long hill. I'll come back for more, or just go out to Cougar Mt.

After my 3rd set, I decided to go all the way up to the top of 34th Ave and explore a little. It was then I saw the most camo-ed out truck in existence. If I wasn't so afraid of being picked off by a rifle when they smell a vegetarian in the air, I would have gotten closer to see if that was an impressive wrap job or completely hand painted. The world my never know.

Also, thanks Mike for the white Swiftwick socks. They really did make me look tanner than I already am (I can say that because NW racers are pasty).

I'd like to inform you all that you can finally sleep better tonight knowing that soon you won't be forced to look at more pictures of my pathetic "race bike." That's right, I'm finally getting a new bike. Team Director Sportif, James Becher (becher+), has kindly sold me last years team bike, Masi 3vc Team Issue. Its got mixed Campy Record/Chorus, a set of DT Swiss wheels, and is expected to be in my arms in a week or so. Woohoo. Finally, I'll look like a real bike racer. It's almost certain that I'll be faster too, since my current steed is mostly aluminum and 6 years old. Lets just call it "weight training" for now.

Eeeaak!

Food Done Right

Yesterday I took my friend (& teammate), Mike Roecklein to one of Seattle's few organic cafes, Chaco Canyon, for lunch. He's only able to come visit from California once or twice a year so I try to make sure he gets to experience some of the best vegan food this city has to offer. It was difficult to finalize an order with so many delicious looking menu items, but in the end we stuck with an Artichoke Melt (w/ House Salad) and a Lentil Burger (w/ quinoa taboulleh). We devoured our own sides and split the burger and sandwich so we could get a well rounded experience. Before I go any further about the meal, I have something to get off my chest...

-Almost everywhere I've gone to eat that offers a vegan plate, fails to put ANY salt in said meal. WTF?! We like flavor just as much as the next person, theres nothing cruel about salt consumption!

As you may have guessed, yes, our meal was a little under-seasoned. But on the flip side, it was still really fucking good. They've got Himalayan salt and black pepper on the table, so no harm done. The lentil burger was especially impressive. It wasn't dry, nor did it flake apart after each bite. In fact, it had the texture everyone desires in a burger patty: moist, firm and flavorful throughout. And for being so well executed, it was surprisingly "light," as Mike put it.

If you're in the University District of Seattle looking for some good eats, Chaco Canyon gets my vote. But don't take my word for it... take a look at their menu.

Easy Fridays

Fridays aren't always easy, in fact, they are often the most difficult day of the week. If you are a M-F/9-5, you're probably on crunch time and for those of us that are industry workers, it's all about prepping an arsenal of essentials to sustain the weekend. Luckily, if you race bikes, Friday is one of the easiest days of the week for you. Short and super easy, and sometimes a little more volume... but still easy. Don't wanna stress those legs before race day(s). Since I didn't have to show up til 3 to start my saute shift, a sunny day ride with the Gregg's Cycles boys was in order. Today was especially special because it was also a "welcome to Seattle" ride for my old friend Josh Burns. He's gonna love it here :)

Capital Stage Race: Report

**EDIT 3/26/2012**

*I just finished racing the Independence Valley Road Race and while at the start line, Erik O Anderson himself (race organizer for South Sound Velo, ie Capital SR, IVRR, Boston Harbor, etc) had the balls to call me out for my ignorant bitching (see below) about CapSR, which he discovered because the internet is an amazing public library of information. I say "balls," because most people would angrily sit back and bitch in private about said offender. Chapeau sir! He pointed out that a lot of the crap listed below was covered in the Tech Guide which I obviously didn't read. I would like to offer a sincere apology for suggesting that I know or am capable of more than a race organizer. I'm thankful these people take the time out of their lives and make sacrifices to CAT4 assholes like myself have some place to race, hopefully allowing us to eventually join the people who matter in the Pro/1/2 fields. Capital Stage Race is new and is only going to get better. REGISTER NOW, I will be on payday. Awesome courses, prizes and publicity for cycling. Do it. -Eric Cockrell*

So there are a few things to get out of the way before I dive into the good stuff:
-This stage race was unprofessional and poorly organized.
-Not a single category met its field limit, thus yielding numerous combined fields.
-Prize money/merchandise distribution wasn't a priority, leaving racers to their own devices to collect winnings.
-Not one hay bale insight on the 7-corner criterium course. One racer crashed into a tree. Could have been prevented.
-No professional photography on 3 of the 4 stages.
-Our lead car got lost on the Queen stage.



The good stuff.

My good friend/ ex-teammate, Ben Barry (Humboldt State Cycling) was in town to race the Cat3's. Needless to say, his experience and good company were appreciated this weekend. For the Capital SR I only had one other B+Radsport teammate, Ted Schwartz. He kindly drove us down to Olympia for each stage from Seattle, which ended up saving us a lot of money and being convenient in other ways as well. I was content only having Ted to work with since we often train together and have around the same fitness/experience, so team work flowed very naturally.

Stage 1 - Road Race:
Friday 6/10/2011
Cloudy, 49*F, 11:00am
41mi, Cat 4/5, 34th place of 42 starters (1:43.29 - 23sec back)
Avg Speed- 24.4mph, Max Speed- 35.2mph

We showed up at 10:45, rushed to get our packets and pin our numbers. No time for anything. Ben quick-tuned by derailleurs since I forgot to, pumped my tires up, and brought my sunglasses to me at the start line when he noticed I left them on the car. Oh, and I had a full bladder. Bad start. 2k neutral roll-out, nothing happens for 3 laps unless you count the 5 pointless crashes. I get bored and break on the backstretch, but nobody joins me. I'm reeled in a few miles later. It becomes obvious that stage 1 will end in a field sprint. Great, most of our field is full of sprinters. 1k to go, things heat up and everyone manages to get more sketchy than they were the entire race. Sitting mid-pack Ted and I cool it, but as we approach 200m everyone books it, and a Univ. WA racer in front of me finds an opening to sprint. Naturally I jump on his wheel and we start to move up FAST, just before the excitement of a decent finish sets in-HE EATS MAJOR SHIT! By the grace of the Cycling Gods I lock up both wheels and skid-stop-speedwabble my way around him and into the grassy ditch. Ben was sitting in a lawn chair reading by the finish line when this went down. He shoots up, runs over, throws me back on my bike and push starts me, all the while reminding me that I'm being timed. Wow. I would have been screwed without him.

Stage 2 - Time Trial:
Saturday 6/11/2011
Partly Sunny, 52*F, 8:21am
3.6mi Out & Back, Cat 4, 13th place of 39 starters (8:12.8 - 32sec back)
Avg Speed- 26.3mph, Max Speed- 28.8mph

The only "aero gear" I had was an LG TT helmet I got from Kirk and some booties. I didn't warm up and rolled into the gate at my start time with one foot un-clipped. That one foot didn't even touch the ground before they grabbed my saddle and started the count down. Not PRO. 3-2-1- elbows on the bars and I hammered my brains out to the cone, took the turnaround tight and continued punishing myself to the sprint at 200m. I should have warmed up, and should have finished college and got a real job so I could afford the space bikes and suits everyone else had. Oh well. We got burritos downtown, hung out at the car and stayed lazy until the crit 6.5hrs later.

Stage 3 - Olympia Capital Criterium:
Saturday 6/11/2011
Partly Cloudy, 62*F, 2:55pm
30min, 1k, Cat 4/5, 7-corner course with uphill start/finish, 12th place of 38 starters (27.55, 0sec back)
Avg Speed- 24.1, Max Speed- 32.2

Surprise, we showed up at the very last second. The race official chuckled at the startline as we scrambled to sign in. "I got, heheh, I got it. It's fine," he says. then we find a spot in the back of the line. It's silly, but we were posted up in a perfect parking spot maybe 6 blocks away. I don't know what our problem was, we just suck. The gun is off and so are we. The "ideal" plan was to drive the pace and take turns attacking, just like any other "ideal" race would go for anyone else. A rider from Recycled Cycles leads the first few laps, and wouldn't you know, everyone starts getting tired and slowing. That uphill on the main stretch has done it's part, so now it's b+radsport's turn to do theirs. I wait until everyone reaches for their water after corner 1 then take off. I string it out real nice like for a couple laps, and on the same spot - BOOM! Ted takes off, forcing everyone into single file with a bike length in between each wheel. He tugs some motivation out of them for a few laps, then in our magic spot on corner 1, I attack again. Ted and I take turns dropping everyone out of the race for a little while longer. While he is out front for a few laps I do my best to shut down all counter attacks, fairly successfully. He takes a couple primes, then I relieve him with another attack using almost everything I've got. To my suprise nobody chases me. So off the front I go. After a few laps by myself I hear the announcer say something about how "These boys from LA aren't making it easy for anyone today" and that I've pulled an 8 sec gap on everyone as he rings the bell for the final prime lap. CASH MONEY! It will be mine. I've never won anything in a bike race. I wanted it bad. I hold everyone off for the remainder of the lap and ITS MINE! Then at corner 2, Ted comes through again! Who do we think we are?! I recover behind the GC guys as they try and hang on. We cross the line, and suddenly it's 1 TO GO! Ted stays on the front keeping the pace painful and I move up behind the sprinters that are pining for him. They drop me just before corner 7 but I dig it out for a 12th place finish. No time lost if you don't count the time bonuses. The usual suspect come around Ted at the last second, leaving him with 3rd place.

This was the highlight of my weekend. Everyone congratulated us after the race, they made us feel like celebrities. "If there were Most-Aggressive jerseys, they'd belong to you guys" some said. Lots of respect was earned this day. Beautiful display of team work. :)

Stage 4 - Independence Valley Road Race
Sunday 6/12/2011
Partly Cloudy, 59*F, 11:00am
50.4mi, Cat 4/5, 10th place of 35 starters (1:58.23 - 0sec back)
Avg Speed- 23.2mph, Max Speed- 48.4mph

This stage was dedicated to putting Ted on the GC podium. We figured with 2 large climbs, the sprinters wouldn't be able to contest and we'd probably get a solid break going. Nope. We did all the work the entire race. I even slowed it down to 16mph and asked if anyone wanted to take a pull. They mostly just shrugged their shoulders and let us lead the way. Byrne/Invent had 2 guys in GC and a guy from CycleUniv. was the GC leader. Needless to say, both teams were stacked in the front...behind us. First climb. Ted pulls away, I follow and its strung out behind us. We book it, but everyone is right behind us within a couple miles. Climb 2 Ted pulls away big time and I sit and wait if anyone else will join. Nobody. Instead he drops the field and continues solo. Still everyone lets him dangle after the descent. I bridge and figure its best for us to wait again to see if anyone will break for round 2.
Here's where my biggest regret of the stage comes in. We force a couple surges, then everyone slows down as the big climb comes into view. I attack, everyone gets pissed. Ted comes around me in mid climb, 2 others come around me. Theres a small gap but nothing promising. I wait and nobody really hangs on so I sit in. Ted off the front again. I could have SHOULD HAVE bridged to Ted and the two of us ride of into the sunrise together. Instead I kept waiting for someone else to come with and when no one did, I lost faith in our chances.
Final climb. Everyones got Ted in their sights, but he doesn't jump. So it turns into an all out race up the hill, where we finally get a group of 12 or so that make it over together. I'm sure everyone was surprised he didn't try and drop everyone again. Well, I know they were cause they all said something after the race. Anyways, we descend at 48mph, reach the 5k sign at the bottom and keep the pace high until the... 1k....sign? Yes, there was a 5k marker. What the hell for? Get us all antsy. It turned out to be way longer than 5k anyways. 1k, and I look over my shoulder and Travis, the GC leader is right behind me and Ted behind him. He says something nice and I jokingly asked if he wanted to lead me out. He said "sure! Grab my wheel and I'll peel off to the right for you at 100m! SWEET! I figured this would be an opportunity to put Ted up a little further than 6th GC. The lead out begins, early sprints fail, I hold on and the sucker pops early so I do the best I can to elbow myself some room and lead out our boy. The sprint got super dangerous so I let off early. Didn't see Ted pass me, so I knew it was even sketchier in the back.

We were thanked for making the race fun and exciting by the other riders. The GC winner wouldn't shut up about us. So we smiled shook hands all around and tried to make the best of our rather annoying situation. This was Teds race and nobody could touch him. Even I felt like insufficient help. Too bad they couldn't have hooked him up with a KOM jersey at the very least. Sorry buddy.

I had a great time regardless. It was a pleasure racing with you.

CAT4 GC FINAL
Ted Schwartz - 6th place
Eric Cockrell- 12th place

More (unbiased) info and photos here:
Velocity: The Seattle Area Cycling Blog

Another Beautiful Day in Seattle

After "sleeping in" and enjoying a delicious lemon-pancake breakfast with the lady, I found myself 12oz of eye-opening single origin Sulawesi Toraja Jaya (Melita) from my neighborhood Zoka Coffee Roasters: Full body, loamy, notes of bourbon and subtle chocolate finish. Definitely worth checking out if you need a break from sweeter varieties. Fueled up and off to downtown for a recovery ride along the water. Luckily the clouds opened up for me so I could work on the tan lines a bit and snap a couple pictures.

Playing Catch-Up

It's safe to say I've been preoccupied with life circumstances lately and owe you a Ballard Twilight race report as well as one from the Capital Stage Race. Expect an update tomorrow and the following days. I won't leave you empty handed so know this:

-I recently asked my girlfriend of almost 3 years, Jessica Weddle, to marry me! She said yes.

-I do have a few pictures to hold you over until next time. Enjoy.

Stretching before Queen Stage

Ted's "Party Gurlz" team car

Off the front with an 8 sec gap :) CapSR

Ted taking a turn on the "Pain Train" CapSR

On the attack at the Ballard Twilight

Ben relaxing before Stage 1 RR CapSR

Ben ready to roll CapSR