I'd Like to Thank the Arlington Fire Department

...for use of their hose. As I mentioned before, this summer I've gotten in the habit of doing the weekly NEBC Wednesday night hillclimb ride out of Cycle Loft. It's a great training ride, and some really fast guys (and girls) often show up. I consistently underestimate how much water I'm going to go through for what is usually only a 20 mile or so ride. At the top of the third main climb of the ride in Arlington Heights, there is a small little fire station with a hose out front, which I almost always have to stop at to refill my bottle, while the rest of the group spins around recovering from the climb. There is simply nothing better than cool water on a 90 degree humid July evening, after riding up hills at 180 bpm. (And yes, I did ask a firefighter the first time I made use of their water if it was cool.) So thank you Arlington FD, for the superbly-placed drinking water.

I've been hitting the hillclimb ride most Wednesdays this year, and loving the torture -- it's definitely made me stronger. Yesterday, probably due to a scary-looking radar, it was only myself and Tom (the tandem guy) and Don (from IF), but we still had a great ride. The weather ended up clearing up and it never even rained a drop. After setting some new 2 and 3 minute power records on me second and third time doing the ride back in May and early June, my power numbers have plateaued. In fact, other than beating my previous 30 second PB last week, even after taking a few rest days here and there, I haven't set any PBs since June, which is kinda discouraging - I still think the hillclimb ride is A+ training, though. I don't think there's any ride or race in which I get as out of breath as I do powering-up those Arlington and Winchester climbs at full gas.

Oh, I guess I raced this weekend, too -- might as well talk a bit about that. I've raced Harding Hill every year since '07. In '07, I was just plain ol' out of shape; riding probably about 1/10 as much as I do now, and had just gotten my Trek Fuel and wasn't used to it. I finished towards the back of the back in SPORT(!). In '08 I was riding much faster and Harding Hill was actually my first race as an Expert. I got my ass handed to me; I believe I was last for Senior I Experts. Last year, '09, I had a new bike (my Giant), and was in good shape, but the course was super muddy from the incredibly rainy summer we had, and I'm not the best rider through mud bogs. I was towards the back of the back Expert; 9 min off of first place.


In the video below, Nate Ross talks about how Harding Hill went for him; it just happened to be his first EFTA race as an Expert.



And Nathaniel Williams talks about his first race in the EFTA Elite category:



This year I got 8th out of 12 Senior IIs, which doesn't sound that great, but I was, overall, pleased with my race. I felt great, and had fun (as opposed to the last race); and I beat Brian McInnis by a minute! Finally! Last year at Harding Hill he beat me by four minutes. He was obviously having a bad day this year, so I don't take too much delight in it, but it was nice to finally beat him, after having so many races where he beat my by a minute or two. On the last lap, my chain started skipping, so it's definitely time for a new drivetrain. I was still able to ride fairly hard, but I wasn't able to stand out of the saddle and hammer, so it likely cost me a min or two. My plan was to start slow, since there was no hole-shot; quite the opposite, in fact: about 2-3 miles of double track before any single track at all. I focused on racing smart, riding someones wheel whenever I could, and riding at a pace which would let me finish strong. I think if anything, I may have paced myself too easily, thinking that the climb at the half way point in the lap was worse than it was (I remember it being hellish in '07 & '08); but it really didn't seem that bad this time around, so I may have actually saved a bit too much in the tank. For whatever reason, I find that I always ride hard and pass people on the climbs, then tend to go too easy on the flats, thinking that I can't make up as much time, which, in a MTB race, really isn't the case. Anyway, though my finish was so-so, I had a lot of fun, and was faster than last year, and that's what really matters, right?

I'm up to 6th place in the overall standing for the NECS EFTA points. We'll see if I can get into top 3. Next race is the Maine Sport Runoff on August 1st.