Sub-2 Adieu

I first had the notion that I wanted to break 2 hours back in 2005. I hired my coach Matt Eagan, and about a year later I started this blog to help keep me focused and motivated. Training through college in Boulder Colorado was an absolute dream. Beautiful roads, mountains and trails, perfect weather and best friends. I was getting fitter every month. Despite believing that I was fit enough to break 2 hours, the performance never materialized. On a grueling course at Age Group National Championships in 2007 I came painfully close to the mark, and afterwards I vowed that I would come back stronger to have even better races in the future. I was going to break 2 hours.

For the next two years, graduating school, broken bones, moving cross country and a new job kept me from really training much at all. I was no longer in Boulder and my coach Matt was no longer a coach - he was now a horse trainer. Spring of 2009 I was in pretty poor fitness, but I called up my old coach and asked if he wanted a side project. I told him I was gunning hard for the 2hr mark again; I needed help. May 26th, 2009 we officially started working together again. Exactly 52 weeks later I had the fastest race of my life - a 1:56:18 finish at an Olympic distance triathlon. I did it! After thousands of hours of training, thousands of dollars, and great personal sacrifices I finally broke 2 hours on an Olympic distance triathlon.

What next? While I love triathlon and I will never leave the sport for good, I have decided to put my efforts towards another challenge. The complexity of having to train for three different sports is a strain on personal time and pocketbook. I am going to take a sabbatical of sorts from triathlon for several years and pursue road and track cycling while I live in a city with a velodrome. I'm guessing that in a few years I'll get bitten by the triathlon bug again, and I'll be back.

This concludes a 4-year story. I will likely post nothing else here for some time, if at all. Thanks for reading!

Fit for a...Beginner?

I'm about to dive headfirst into track cycling. I had this same bike last year when I did a handful of races, but I gave it a little refresh this week. Here is the bike setup for mass-start events. The pursuit aerobars will only go on for TT events like the kilo, pursuit, or team pursuit. This is going to be fun!

Track Bling #4

Zipp Super9 Track. Still in testing stages. I will post some pictures of the complete bike in a few days after it's built. It should be quite a unique rig, and hopefully a fast one!

Track Bling #3

This item is not new, per se. I designed and manufactured these bars (by hand) in 2008, but I haven't had a chance to try them on an actual bike until now. There are only two of these aerobars in existence. The other one is in my desk drawer at work. It weighs a mere 300g and it's perfect for tucking in during a pursuit or kilo TT.

Track Bling #2

I made an adapter plate that allows 1/8" 5-bolt track chainrings to be used with the proprietary bolt pattern of the Zipp VumaChrono crankset. This may not sound terribly exciting, but it means that my bike will be the only bike in the world with a true track specific VumaChrono, and since it's such a perfect crank for track cycling - I am excited.

Track Bling #1

The first of a few installments - here is just one small reason why I am absolutely pumped for track racing to begin in May at the Major Taylor Velodrome.

The uppers say 'class', the lowers say 'business'. Serious business.

Hello? Helllllooooo?

Whoa, mama. It's been a while. The heavy drape of winter in Indiana is BOUND to lift any week now, so I figured I should catch up on happenings before all the exciting stuff starts to unfold. I've been training somewhat consistently as of late, all with the singular goal of breaking 2 hours in an Olympic distance triathlon. My swimming has been progressing quite well, and I am swimming on par with the level I swam at 3 years ago. Running has been almost entirely on the treadmill, but more importantly, has also been almost entirely injury free. I have a feeling the running legs will be back this year as well. Every year my cycling ability has been at least on the level of either my swimming or running, but this year I plan on attacking the training intensity earlier in the season with hopes of stretching out that power threshold as high as possible. With some strategic race planning, I think sub-2 is in the cards.

Come ooonnnn springtime!