I have recently asked to be up graded to the next level of Category races, Category 2. Why? Forcing myself to race with faster people. I know my results this year weren't the greatest, but I thought I would give it shot. I asked for an up grade last year too, but was denied. Back to my reasoning, sorry for jumping around. Forcing myself to race a faster category will be great training for one of my goals in 2014. Yes, I am thinking about the future. Oh, if you are wondering, I did get the up grade! Travis should be able to get his up grade too, he just needs to go through the steps. So, 2013 will be a training year to get stronger for 2014.
I have had a cold and took 1 week off the bike. It is amazing how much fitness you lose when you look at the WKO program, but hey I sure am fresh. I am sure my fitness will come back quickly and I am not that concerned because it is the end of the season for me. I just want to have fun!
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Friday, August 24, 2012
Down Time
I am currently taking some time off the bike. I have a good cold and I know if I rest my body will be able to recover from it faster.
I am going to do a mountain bike race in October. It is the last WORS race of the year, and Team Extreme has quite a good showing. I borrowed a bike to start hitting the trails, hoping to get some off road handling skills. I used to ride mountain bike a lot, but it has been about 10 years. I will be racing a much nicer bike than the one I am currently borrowing. I am hoping to hit the trails (Greenbush, New Fane, and the one in West Bend) on Saturday's. Riding mountain bike once a week should be enough to help my skills.
I still plan on riding plenty on the road as soon as I get over this cold. Sunday's I will look to do longer rides and during the week I will be just winging it on how I feel. I have a charity ride that I am doing in September and the Loberg 100 in October.
Labor day weekend Tammy and I will be headed to Oxford and we will be taking our bikes with us, so, we should be able to get some good rides in. I am really hoping I feel 100 percent better by then.
I am going to do a mountain bike race in October. It is the last WORS race of the year, and Team Extreme has quite a good showing. I borrowed a bike to start hitting the trails, hoping to get some off road handling skills. I used to ride mountain bike a lot, but it has been about 10 years. I will be racing a much nicer bike than the one I am currently borrowing. I am hoping to hit the trails (Greenbush, New Fane, and the one in West Bend) on Saturday's. Riding mountain bike once a week should be enough to help my skills.
I still plan on riding plenty on the road as soon as I get over this cold. Sunday's I will look to do longer rides and during the week I will be just winging it on how I feel. I have a charity ride that I am doing in September and the Loberg 100 in October.
Labor day weekend Tammy and I will be headed to Oxford and we will be taking our bikes with us, so, we should be able to get some good rides in. I am really hoping I feel 100 percent better by then.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Race the Lake 2012!
2012 Race the Lake was my fourth year in a row. This race is a 90 mile road race that starts in Fond Du Lac and goes around Lake Winnebago. This race starts at 5:45am, that is too dam early! The weather started off a bit cool, but I was able to warm up quickly. This year my goals were to make it up the climb (High Cliff) with the lead group, stay towards the front, and top 3 in my age bracket. Last year I finished 6th in my age bracket, so I figured that this could be a do able goal.
OK, this is how the race went for me in my eyes. I started in first wave 2nd row, great starting position, but if you were to start in the back of the pack, this would be better for timing. Anyways I am not going to dwell on that. The pace wasn't bad and kept towards the front, as long as I could see the front I was happy. There were a couple times when I knew we were coming to more of a dangerous section and I would move closer to the front. Oh by the way there was a small break that went off the front from the start, but we caught them later on. When we were getting close to High Cliff I started making my way towards the front as much as I could. The pace at this point was pretty fast. All I can say about the climb is that I did it to the best of my ability and that kept me with the group. I was in the hurt locker though, but hey I made it. From this point it was relatively boring and was waiting for the fireworks to happen. Nothing, OK, maybe when we get close to St. Peters where there is a $700.00 cash pay out to the first person that crosses the line. Good payout right? I thought so, and was waiting for some of the teams to line it up and make everyone suffer, but that never happened. I wish me and my teammates would have planned to try to go for it, I think we could have had a good chance. Oh well, St. Peters was like 80 miles into the race. Now that we are getting close to the end it is going to get interesting, mainly because there were so many people in the lead group. When we crossed over Hwy 151, now with one guy off the front, it is going to start to get crazy. We never catch that guy the went off the front. It was crazy though, people were fighting for position and making really big stupid choices. With two turns to go, I saw an opening and went through that corner and then I was 2nd wheel, from here it is probably like 700 meters to the finish. I was waiting patiently to go, even though I had someone behind me telling that everyone was coming. This guy was trying to get me to go early. I did wait for others to start the sprint and then I went, and could have been a lot better but, there were 2 people that were leaning up against each other like crazy right in front of my and thought for sure they were going to crash, so that screwed up my sprint. That being said I am still happy with the result. Team finished 3rd in the men's class and I finished 14th overall and 3rd in my age bracket.
o.a. age bib name time avg. speed
14 3 130 Werbelow, Jeramey West Bend, WI M 30-34 03:26:28.0 25.7
I am not going to do this race next year! I fear for my life every year. I just don't find it as fun as I used to.
OK, this is how the race went for me in my eyes. I started in first wave 2nd row, great starting position, but if you were to start in the back of the pack, this would be better for timing. Anyways I am not going to dwell on that. The pace wasn't bad and kept towards the front, as long as I could see the front I was happy. There were a couple times when I knew we were coming to more of a dangerous section and I would move closer to the front. Oh by the way there was a small break that went off the front from the start, but we caught them later on. When we were getting close to High Cliff I started making my way towards the front as much as I could. The pace at this point was pretty fast. All I can say about the climb is that I did it to the best of my ability and that kept me with the group. I was in the hurt locker though, but hey I made it. From this point it was relatively boring and was waiting for the fireworks to happen. Nothing, OK, maybe when we get close to St. Peters where there is a $700.00 cash pay out to the first person that crosses the line. Good payout right? I thought so, and was waiting for some of the teams to line it up and make everyone suffer, but that never happened. I wish me and my teammates would have planned to try to go for it, I think we could have had a good chance. Oh well, St. Peters was like 80 miles into the race. Now that we are getting close to the end it is going to get interesting, mainly because there were so many people in the lead group. When we crossed over Hwy 151, now with one guy off the front, it is going to start to get crazy. We never catch that guy the went off the front. It was crazy though, people were fighting for position and making really big stupid choices. With two turns to go, I saw an opening and went through that corner and then I was 2nd wheel, from here it is probably like 700 meters to the finish. I was waiting patiently to go, even though I had someone behind me telling that everyone was coming. This guy was trying to get me to go early. I did wait for others to start the sprint and then I went, and could have been a lot better but, there were 2 people that were leaning up against each other like crazy right in front of my and thought for sure they were going to crash, so that screwed up my sprint. That being said I am still happy with the result. Team finished 3rd in the men's class and I finished 14th overall and 3rd in my age bracket.
o.a. age bib name time avg. speed
14 3 130 Werbelow, Jeramey West Bend, WI M 30-34 03:26:28.0 25.7
I am not going to do this race next year! I fear for my life every year. I just don't find it as fun as I used to.
Monday, August 6, 2012
ElK Grove, IL
First off let me say that I was talked into doing this race by a team mate, and I am glad it did it. Race was in Elk Grove, IL in a residential neighborhood. Course was great, smooth roads, and the corners were easy to handle if you new how to ride your bike. Turn one was a 180 degree corner and many didn't know how to take it, but we all made it through with out crashing. Turn five was another one that people had a hard time with too. Weather was perfect, sunny and warm!
I picked Travis up at 7am (team mate) and we headed down. Race didn't start till 11am, but I always like to be @ 2 hours early. This leads to plenty of time to get ready and no rushing around. We were there plenty early, we walked the course, pinned our numbers and relaxed a bit before warming up. I happened to fall again landing on my bad wrist and scrapping my elbow pretty good. What happened was we were headed to the bathroom and there was some one walking on the sidewalk towards us and didn't move over. I went off the sidewalk and when I tried to get back on the sidewalk my tire caught the edge of the concrete and I fell over, distinctively trying to break my fall with my hand and my bad wrist that just doesn't flex like it should. OUCH, didn't even care about my elbow bleeding, that really didn't hurt, but my wrist sure did. And now I have to race my bicycle, how the heck is this going to go?
Anyways we lined up and again I was towards the back. I need to plan my starts better, and start further up. Race started pretty fast and it took me a little while to get comfortable breathing super hard. I started to move up in the pack. I managed this very well staying off the complete front. I played around with many lines through the corners figuring out where I can apply the "X" factor the best. Travis wanted to try a break and he did twice, but it wasn't going to happen. Everyone was being very attentive and aggressive with every move. This allowed me to sit in and just move though out the pack where I was comfortable. The race wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. I was waiting for the pace to lift up at the end and it did multiple times. I timed the sprint the best to my ability and was able to squeeze out a 4th place finish to collect a $100.00 check. This was a great day of racing for myself. I wish Travis would have felt better, but his fitness will come back around quick.
Up coming, a team ride meeting at Juniper 61 on Saturday (one of our sponsors). Race the Lake is August 19th, so this is just around the corner. Looking forward to it.......I think.
I picked Travis up at 7am (team mate) and we headed down. Race didn't start till 11am, but I always like to be @ 2 hours early. This leads to plenty of time to get ready and no rushing around. We were there plenty early, we walked the course, pinned our numbers and relaxed a bit before warming up. I happened to fall again landing on my bad wrist and scrapping my elbow pretty good. What happened was we were headed to the bathroom and there was some one walking on the sidewalk towards us and didn't move over. I went off the sidewalk and when I tried to get back on the sidewalk my tire caught the edge of the concrete and I fell over, distinctively trying to break my fall with my hand and my bad wrist that just doesn't flex like it should. OUCH, didn't even care about my elbow bleeding, that really didn't hurt, but my wrist sure did. And now I have to race my bicycle, how the heck is this going to go?
Anyways we lined up and again I was towards the back. I need to plan my starts better, and start further up. Race started pretty fast and it took me a little while to get comfortable breathing super hard. I started to move up in the pack. I managed this very well staying off the complete front. I played around with many lines through the corners figuring out where I can apply the "X" factor the best. Travis wanted to try a break and he did twice, but it wasn't going to happen. Everyone was being very attentive and aggressive with every move. This allowed me to sit in and just move though out the pack where I was comfortable. The race wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. I was waiting for the pace to lift up at the end and it did multiple times. I timed the sprint the best to my ability and was able to squeeze out a 4th place finish to collect a $100.00 check. This was a great day of racing for myself. I wish Travis would have felt better, but his fitness will come back around quick.
Up coming, a team ride meeting at Juniper 61 on Saturday (one of our sponsors). Race the Lake is August 19th, so this is just around the corner. Looking forward to it.......I think.
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