The Day Before a Race

Can anyone believe this storm system that just blew in to Tulsa? I am having a little trouble getting my head wrapped around the predictions for snow on Saturday and the idea of racing on Sunday.

I wanted to encourage everyone who is racing this Sunday to put some time in on the bike on Saturday. Most training resources will encourage a short ride with some high intensity work to prepare your muscles and other systems for the next day's race effort without leaving you too fatigued. For me, this probably means about an hour on the trainer (considering the forecast for Saturday). I will warm up for 15 minutes, do a 10 minute interval at threshold, spin easily for 5 minutes, 5 minutes above threshold, 5 minutes easy, and then a couple of sprint efforts followed by a 15 minute cool down.

Find something that works for you, but I am willing to bet that you will have a better performance on Sunday if you do some high intensity work on Saturday. Just be sure to keep it short, refuel when you are done, and drink plenty of water throughout the day.

Weather for NWA

I don't want to alarm anyone but it looks like there is a chance for rain and (believe it or not) snow Saturday night in Tulsa and Prairie Grove, AR.

The good news is that it looks like everything should be cleared up on Sunday. I don't think there is any reason to panic, but it is worth staying current on the forecast. If nothing else, be sure you bring enough clothes with you.

At Primavera and Hell's Kitchen I found myself in 30 degree temperatures wearing arm warmers and knee warmers. I was shivering as I waited for the race to start but once the race got going I never thought about the weather again. Truth is, it is probably a good thing I didn't dress any warmer than that.

WNR

Weather is looking ideal for tonight's ride. 63 degrees, 5 MPH winds (which amounts to "no wind" in Oklahoma vernacular), and only a 3% chance of rain. Is anyone bringing beer tonight?

Turkey Mountain XC Race Report

Special thanks to Glenn for providing a race report from last weekend's cross country mountain bike race at Turkey Mountain.

El Jeffe was in full force Sunday morning with James and Julie at the Turkey Mountain XC race. James brought home a very respectable 2nd place in the Cat III race. Most of you probably didn't know that James had a mountain bike much less can race it with the best of them. Julie, the resident mountain bike goddess that she is, brought home 1st place in the Cat II race. There were several Tom's Bicycles team members in attendance for the glorious morning/afternoon. They will remain nameless to protect the Innocent. El Jeffe was not in attendance but was later quoted as saying "Bueno Job". There are rumors that there is an OFF-Road Underground element to this Team Tom's Bicycles. Be on the look-out for signs of OFF-Road use.

Congratulations to James and Julie. Way to represent!

NWA Recon

I was going to create a route of the NWA Spring Classic in mapmyride.com but, as luck would have it, there was already one out there. According to this site, the route is 24.58 miles and not 23 miles (as stated on the event flyer). The advantage to having this information is that we can look at the elevation profile since we most likely won't get a chance to pre-ride the course. It looks like a typical "roller" course, but there appears to be one climb at mile 18 that does reach 4% (this must be the "climb" that people talk about on this course).

Armstrong Crashes Out

Another post that has nothing to do with Team Tom's, but it is pretty big news in the cycling world. Lance Armstrong crashed today in the Vuelta Castilla y Leon. According to John Bruyneel he sustained a clean collarbone fracture so it should lend itself to a fast recovery. Armstrong is already casting doubts on his performance and maybe participation in the Giro.

2009 Milano-Sanremo Finish

OK...this has nothing to do with Tom's Bicycles race team but I am going to post it anyway. (I wanted to practice embedding some YouTube videos in our blog.) If you don't want toknow who wins this year's edition of Milano-Sanremo, then do not watch the video.

Route for Saturday?

It seems to me like our routes have gotten a little stale lately. I searched mapmyride.com for rides around Tulsa between 50 and 75 miles and came up with this one.



Anyone interested in doing this ride on Saturday? Remember, we depart at 9:00 AM from 31st and Riverside (unless it is raining when we will try to leave at 1:00 PM).

Welcome

Welcome to the all new Team Tom's Bicycles Blog. If you have any requests for post content, please let me know. Thanks, Jason.