The Training Plan

When we started this race team we acknowledged that 2009 would be a learning year for most of us. With only a couple of riders on the team with race experience, we were forced to come up with our own training schedules, tactics, and course reconnaissance. Now that the first year is behind us, it is important that we take a moment to reflect on what we learned and be sure we apply that knowledge to the next year.

One of the best pieces of information I gathered from last year was the race calendar. I had no idea that the race schedule would be comprised of 2 blocks of racing. The first block occurs in the Springand is made up primarily of road races while the second block is in the Summer and is made of criteriums. The types of events and when they occur in the season are important pieces of data for developing an effective training plan. But I am getting ahead of myself...

This is the first of several posts designed to help develop an effective training plan for next year. The information I will be sharing is borrowed heavily from The Cyclist's Training Bible by Joel Friel. I have mentioned this publication before and I want to repeat myself, "If you don't own this book, you owe it to yourself to purchase it."

Before we get started, you need to download the Annual Training Plan worksheet from trainingbible.com. Don't be alarmed if the worksheet is meaningless to you upon initial review. In upcoming posts, I will help explain the worksheet as well as provide some guidelines for filling it out.

The Fall Century

This Saturday is The Fall Century brought to you by the Tulsa Bicycle Club and sponsored by our very own Tom's Bicycles. 100% of this year's proceeds will be donated to Therapetics. It looks like rides of 10, 25, 50, 62.5, and 100 miles are available and registration is available online and only $25. The ride will begin at 8:00 AM and all routes will depart and arrive at the Whirlpool Corp. at 76th St. N. and Yale (just East of Highway 75). Click here for additional information. If anyone is interested in riding in this event, please let me know.

Old Belgian Trick

Interesting collection of Tweets from Jelly Belly's Jeremy Powers from the Tour of Missouri. You need to read it from the bottom up.

Tour of Missouri

The Tour of Missouri concluded last Saturday in Kansas City and I was fortunate enough to watch this race in person. If you ever get a chance to see a Pro Tour peloton in the flesh, you owe it to yourself to do it. The speed of the grupetto is amazing and the ability to mingle with these superstars is unmatched in professional sports.

One downside--these guys are TINY. Stand next to them long enough and you will develop the self-esteem of a high school girl in a room full of super models. On the plus side, I think I met a lot of guys that I could take in a fight (and it is not very often that I get to say that).

Before the race started, we toured the tents of vendors and sponsors checking out the latest gear and products. Bissel had a bike on a trainer that was "connected" to a vacuum cleaner and a tube with liquid. If you could move the liquid far enough up the tube, you won a cycling cap. After watching several individuals score a hat but not a vacuum, Bryan decided it would be easy to win the hat. He needs to get the green liquid above the orange line in order to achieve his goal. I will let you decide if he was successful.

Eventually the race got underway. We moved several different times throughout the event looking for the best possible vantage point. Being in a corner was sweet because you could tell that these guys were just flying. Another plus was watching the caravan of cars taking sharp turns at too high of a speed. I am really surprised we don't see more car accidents in bike races. One negative about the corner is that the whole peloton flies by at such a high speed that you don't get to spot specific riders. We eventually moved to the top of a climb so that the riders would be going a little slower and we could see what position everyone was in (as well as allowing us the opportunity to sit in some shade). Our final position was in a glass walkway above the start/finish line that allowed us to see the final kilometer of racing and the bunch sprint.

Once the race concluded, we headed to the team buses to check out the bikes and the riders. My wife really wanted to meet George Hincapie and I honestly thought she had missed her opportunity. However, perseverance won out and she finally got her wish (I love this picture).

On our way back to the hotel we spotted a Jelly Belly rider with chain grease on his calf. Since we give Scott such a hard time about this, we figured we should photograph it and submit it as evidence in Scott's defense.

Odds and Ends

A collection of interesting items that I want to pass along (but too lazy to write an entire segment about):

• When listing the team results for the Hotter 'n Hell 100, I mistakenly left Amelie Seneker's 2nd place finish in the Women's 35-39 10k Trail Run. Congratulations to Amelie!
• Eurobike has recently wrapped up and there are two new products that have caught my attention. The CycleOps Joule for athletes that train with power and the Look KeO Blade pedal. Reynolds also unveiled a sub-900 gram wheelset, but I don't think any of us have an appetite for a $6000 wheelset.
• Kevin Frankenburger's crash (see Frankencrashen below) has garnered some interesting attention. Levi Leipheimer commented on the crash via Twitter. And BikeRumor.com included the clip in their blog. No one wants to crash. But if you are going to do it, you might as well get some publicity out of it.

Hotter 'n Hell 100 Full Results

I found full results from the Hotter 'n Hell Road Race and Crits on the Texas Bicycle Racing Associate website. One thing I like about this site is they also have a "Team" category in their results. I am pleased to announce that Tom's Bicycles was the top team in the Cat 4/5 Men's Road Race, Cat 4/5 Men's Criterium, Cat 4 Women's Road Race, and Cat 4 Women's Criterium. Proving just how competitive the Tulsa race scene is, Bicycles of Tulsa was the top team in the Men's Cat 3 Road Race and Criterium while Tulsa Tough/Wheelmen took top honors in the Men's Cat 4 and Men's 50+ Road Race.

HH100 Cat 4/5 Omnium Champion