45 degrees in January "Carpe diem"

When translated it means to "seize the day" and that is exactly what I did.  I just couldn't pass up riding outside today, temps were warm, wind wasn't too bad, and even though there was still ice in spots, and run off from the melting snow I had a really good time.  I forgot to bring the camera but did get a couple pics with my phone, I will add them here in a minute.  Rode for 1:35 and got in just over 25 miles, chose to do a flat route since I didn't feel like hills today, but tomorrow I plan on getting out again for a bit and will probably hit up some hills just to see how my early season workouts have been treating me.

Bikes 2 U Roller Race

Today found us traveling to Grinnell for the next Roller Race in the series.  4 of us from the team headed that way to represent from HBA, myself, Vern, Chris, and Jason.  We showed up just after 11 and got signed in, the nice thing is you can basically choose which rollers you want to ride on, and in what order you want to go.  I decided to get in early and get it over with along with Vern, and Chris and Jason took some later runs.

Vern was up first, and he was doing a good job, up until the guy on the other rollers fell off, hit the bar and took out Vern, so both of them were off and needed to get the belts back on which cost them alot of time.

Next was my turn.  Last time I did it in my big ring, and that seemed like if I needed to switch gears I was putting myself into some hurt, so I tried this week in my little ring, and wow that made a difference.  Starting off I knew my legs were starting to feel a little week from all the intetsity training I have been doing the past couple weeks (looking forward to a rest week) and I thought maybe using the little ring I could drop my time to a 6:30.  Started off pretty strong, but I quickly realized I couldn't keep that pace, so I just found a pace that worked for me.  At the halfway point I was at about the same pace as last week, and knew I had to hold it if I could.  I gave it one last push towards the end and came in with a 6:46, so a couple seconds off last weeks time.  Still in the end was good enough for a 2nd Place finish in the Cat 4's.

Jason was up next and was hoping to put down an under 7 minute run, but come up a little shot of his goal.  Chris went a couple after Jason, and was able to put in a run of 6:17, which was also just a couple seconds off his time last weekend.  We had all notced that and commeneted on how ths week seemed so much harder and times were slower for just about everyone that raced.  It was another good weekend for HBA, no pictures as the wife and kids didn't come, but they will be there for the next one.

Here is my power meter reading from today

Rollin' the Rapids

Today was the Rollin' the Rapids Roller Race held at Gold Pointe Fitness Center in Cedar Rapids.  Having never done a roller race before I wasn't sure what to expect.  The setup is Kreitler Rollers with a Killer Headwind unit attatched for some major resistance, and you race for 2 miles just like a Time Trial.  At our training ride the other night I did try doing it on the exact setup and had a time of just under 7 minutes.  

Got there shortly after registration opened, found a spot to setup my rollers so I could warmup, and got signed in.  Was 15th on the list to ride, so I had sometime to hangout, talk with some of the other guys and watch the other races.   There was a good turnout from the HBA Team, with Jason up first, he set a good time of just over 7 minutes due to having to stop because his front tire hit the one belt and it came off and had to be reset.  Next up was Vern, and he put down a personal best of just over 7 minutes.  Ian was up shortly after and threw down an impressive sub 6 minute ride.

I was up next, and the guy I was next to is the current state record holder for fastest time, so I knew I had no chance of keeping up with him.  We got the signal to start, and I went out a little to hard at first and had to tone it back some.  It does show your estimated time on the computer screen, so I was trying to get a check of that every once in a while, and saw it kinda hovering around the 6:45 mark.  When I did the ride the other night I was on my wheels with a 12-25 cassette so I was able to use the big ring, well today I had my other wheels with an 11-23 on it, and used the big ring, but looking back I should have been in my little ring and used a gear that if I needed to change it would only be a 1 tooth difference, not a 2 tooth one, so now I know for next time.  One mile into it and I was really feeling it, and had to try and settle in for another mile of suffering.  Got to about .2 left and gave it all I had, and posted a time of 6:43.00.  Which was good enough for a second place in the Cat 4's.

Chris was up about an hour later and put down an impressive run with a time of 6:15.9.  Also Tom the newest member to HBA did just a shade over 6 minutes.

Rollin' the Rapids