Heading North to the Land of Cowboys

Well, maybe not Cowboy land, but Wyoming does have a cowboy on their license tag and cowboys are the mascot for the Univ of WY.
My destination: Laramie
Purpose: to race in probably the hardest 2 day race I know of in the western US.
Race: Dead Dog Classic

RR on saturday is 138km. Its basically, go down from 8400 ft to 7500ft in 7mi, then go up to 10800 ft in the next 20mi. Descend 15mi. Repeat.

I went over 10000ft for the first time on my bike on Wed when I rode up CO-7 from Lyons to Peak-to-Peak then up to Brainard Lake which is just about 10400. I had some hypoxia and felt a little light-headed. I think it was more due to hydration than just altitude b/c I have never gotten altitude sickness. It was a hard day though.

Everyone else in my life is going well at the moment. I apologize for the lack of communicado. I will post a good race re-cap when I return. On a coolness factor, I got name stickers for my bikes. Yeah, you know the ones the pros have on their bikes. My says, "M.Barrowclough" It has an American Flag on it also to designate my nationality so when I rtn to foreign lands, they will know me =)

Ciao,
Matthew

Crawling into the Closet

Nothing like beats a hump day than climbing into the closet of pain. The closet of pain is the time trial race held here in cycling rich Boulder. I've been doing these for the past month now. Its a great mid week race effort and is super convenient, basically suit up at the crib and roll out to Lyons for the start. Today we had opposite conditions of last week: sun, clear skies, and insane winds. I rolled out of the house only to blow out my tubular 300m from the front door. I ran back to the house with the bike in tow, trying not to destroy my cleats. Threw on a training rear wheel and jetassoned off to the start. Now I was 10mi behind schedule. So I guess my tt effort would start a little sooner than planned. Coincidently, I had the same rushed effort last week. When i got to the starting tent, I was 30s off of my start time. Fortunately, the kind folks let me start 7min later. Plan was to drill it in the beginning, then settle into a nice comfortable spot of the pain closet. Do you see the juxtaposition in that statement? yeah, I'm trying to use some language tools I learned in college. Lame? Whateva...Whateva...

I managed a good effort, 20th overall, 26.56 over the 10mi course. A little slower than last week but its to be expected with the winds. Some loss due to non-aero wheel. Overall, I'm satisfied with my progression. The thing with time trialling is that it takes a lot of practice to understand your limits and when to push and when to hold a few cards in your hand. Its definitely helping make me a more rounded rider which is what I strive for.

On a food note, I made a sick salad tonight. It was a stir-fried tofu-pineapple spinach salad with a peanut sauce. It was pretty sick. Lacked some heat but I blame that on just forgetting to add some chilis to it. Next time. Super good though.

Watched the finale of TopChef tonight. Arguably one of the best programs on the tele these days. I think my spin on the spinach sald would have given them a run for their mullah. If you are going to be in the Johnson City, TN area on August 2, you must come to the Barrowclough House Party. I've been summoned back to the motherland to put on a display of culinary nirvana. Its the summer version of the much hyped about return of my culinary wizardry. Atleast this what my critics tell me.

Chow,
Roberto

Racing and Lactic Acid

Been racing a lot since I last wrote. The usual, crit on Tuesday night in Golden, time trial on Wed and stuff on the weekend. Last weekend was the Hugo RR, a rolling-windy death march and the Denver City Park Criterium. Roommate Kelly killed on the RR and won her category. I like to think I helped her with strategy by telling her to just ride off early on b/c she has some sick endurance-tempo engine. I on the other hand road stupidly, missed the first break, then got caught behind a crash. Had to unclip then the leaders drilled it. I finally caught some other riders and we led a nice chase but it was too little to take on the 15 riders thats were leading. I played director with my chase group and told everyone what to do. With 17mi to go, I just upped the tempo and rode away. Finished alright but disappointed. Crit was tough. Lots of crashes and geese in the roads. Head was still bothered from the Hugo showing.

During the tt on Wed it was a total downpour with lightning and thunder all around. I made it too my start time with 3minutes to spare. It was a stressful warmup but definitely the perfect one b/c the legs were good for the TT and I didn't have time to cool down in the downpour. When I finished rain picked up then it started dumping hail. Lesson: hail sucks and is painful. Despite being completely soaked, riding in the rain is kind of fun. I was drilling it all out and managed to only lose 12s from the previous week under ideal conditions. So it was a good tt for me.

Today was the Mike Horgan Hill Climb, another Front Range classic. The race is a 18mi race up to Nederland via Sugarloaf Rd and Peak-to-Peak Hwy. Features but not limited too: 3800ft of gain, 7mi of dirt road, and complete lactic burn. I was in the front group for the first 8mi but it completely blew me up. I don't remember blowing up so much. When it hit the dirt, I got some legs back and clawed my way back albeit taking some risks on the descents. It definitely goes down as one of the hardest efforts I have ever done. On the rtn trip downhill via Boulder Canyon Rd, I think I probably averaged the same power going up the hill on the 17mi rtn trip. I was in my 53x11 or 12 the entire time. The cat 2s I rolled down with were pushing it and I felt like pushing it too. Had a little scary moment with a nasty speed wobble and started drifting into traffic. The Zurich I'm riding gets nasty wobble. It really sucks b/c I love pushing it downhill. Not sure if I am putting too much weight on the front wheel or what. But its super scary when you are kicking 70k/h and the front wheel feels likes its going to break off from wobbling. The Wilier was a dream on the downhill.

When I was pinning my number on in the parking lot, I spotted Jennie Longo next to me. Longo is 51, and still kills it. Probably the best women's bike racer or bike racer in general of all time. Shawn and Karl have lots of funny storied about this woman. But she is still crazy fast. Only in Boulder do you get someone of such caliber doing a local hill climb race. Its just unbelievable here. Reminds me of the group ride I did in Westmeerbeek, BE. There were guys in the ride, had to be in their late 60s/early 70s. Probably rode Le Tour and all the other classics. I just remember riding double paceline with these guys and they are just killing it, at times stringing it out. Cycling is cool like that. You can be old but still kill it.

ciao,
Roberto