Bummed out

Just had a reality check. The 2010 road and track season for me is going to be barely existence.

First, the track. According to the calendar on the velodrome's website (http://www.thevelodrome.com/) there will be a Master's and Rookies race every weekend between May 15th and September 4th. I am doing an internship with the Reading Phillies (AA Minor League affiliate of Philadelphia Phillies - rphils.com) and on weekends I only work if there is a home game. Well, that's about half of my summer weekends that I'll be working. 8 Saturdays I am not working this summer, but provided one or two weekends of vacation and other stuff that may come up, it's going to be between 5-7 races this weekend I'll be able to make up. Also can't forget weather, which has cancelled 2 or 3 races last season. The good thing that can come out of this is that I will start regularly training soon, and train hard, so I could kick it up to Category 4, maybe 3, by the end of those very few races I can make.

Road... Just like last year, Saturdays will be primarily for the track. However, if I can fit a road race with track racing on a Saturday, I will probably do that. Sundays, if there is a criterium I want to do it.

Seeing how limited even my training will be this year, I am going to focus on probably 90-95% track and not really focus on road training too much. Just like any other years, probably going to only do Criteriums if anything. I don't know how much of all-around training (hills, flats, track, downhills, etc) I could do with the time I won't have for training as I would if I didn't have this internship.

Welcome to the real world, Zach...

twenty-ten resolutions

Yes, I call it twenty-ten, I won't call it two-thousands ten.

I didn't get around to this until 4 days into the new years, but decided to write it tonight before heading to bed.

1) lose another 5-10 lbs by summer
2) get back into a regular training schedule by February
3) Upgrade to Cat 4 in Road and Cat 4 or 3 in Track
4) place top-15 in all of my road races. I simply just do not want to be lapped in criteriums anymore which will be quite an accomplishment for me this year compared to the last three seasons.
5) Buy new bikes (road, track, possibly cyclocross) and maybe upgrades for those bikes.
6) Give cyclocross a try in the fall.
7) Get more sponsors
8) Start riding 3+ hours on training days.

That's pretty much it for this year. Let's see if I can get all of them done. Happy New Year everyone!!!!

The year 2009

First off I'd like to talk about the coaching.

The plan that was written out for December was very good. The only thing that would have made it better is if I was actually out riding my bike just about every day I was prescribed to ride. Honestly, December was a busier-than-expected month for me, and I only got out at most twice a week this whole month. It was also very cold and windy in Eastern PA, and has snowed once, enough to cancel my riding for a few days.

On a brighter note for January, the start of 2010, I got a trainer, riser-block and mat for Christmas. A very nice, lightly used (on eBay) CycleOps Magnetic Trainer. I got it for a great deal (saved at least $100 from retail price of all three combined) and mainly it was because I knew it was going to be a bad winter. My prediction is correct so far. I don't know, maybe I've become a wimp when it comes to riding in the winter, because I used to never mind it. Now, I won't ride outside unless it's at least sunny outside, very little wind and 20+ degrees. I used to ride down to 10 degrees in any condition except icy roads obviously.

Now, as I've done in the past, I will reflect back to 2009 and my resolutions from last New Year's Day.

1) Top 9 at Rutger's Season Opener Time Trial for the ECCC collegiate season under the Men's D category.
Well, I did not get top 9 but I did have a decent trial.

2) Lose 10-15 lbs by mid summer
I didn't lose it by mid summer, but I did lose 12 lbs somewhere around August and September. Now I just have to concentrate on keeping it off this winter unlike last winter.

3) Start track racing and upgrade to category 4 by end of the season
I did start track racing and enjoyed it very much. However, I am not Cat 4 yet.

4) Place top 15 in all USCF races over the summer
Haha yeah, my motivation to RIDE the bike last summer was very little. I need to ride more. No I did not place top 15 in any races except 4th in a race of only 4 riders.

5) Category 4 in Road possibly?
Read #4 and you'll see this is a BIG no!

6) Upgrade bike components
Hm... the only thing I would consider an actual upgrade during the race season were the aero wheels I got for my track bike. For Christmas I did get a new Sigma computer from my older brother, pretty nice computer and now I have to choose between the Sigma and the Cateye currently installed.

7) Compete in at least 6 USCF races (Road races, crit, or TT)
Hm, most I can remember competing in are three races. No, make that four.

So those were my resolutions from last year. I did complete 2 of these and partials for some. However, I still have more work to do.

Tomorrow or Friday, I will post my 2010 resolutions. 2010 is going to be a great year for me, and not just in cycling but in my life, my officiating job, etc. I cannot wait to get 2010 started. Oh yeah, been pondering this question. Will 2010 be pronounced "two thousand ten" or "twenty-ten"? I like the second better. It's easier to say.

coaching... finally

So I did it. Today, I finally "signed" with a coach, my personal good friend and a great, professional cyclist Kim Geist (http://www.kimgeist.com/). Long time due, I was able to figure out what type of budget I should have for the next few months and decided to go with her coaching services on a consultation base. This will hopefully only be temporary, just until I start working in March at a paid internship. When I figure I can afford it, I'll go with the full-blown coaching service.

When Kim told me she was going to make a "business" out of her coaching, I knew I had to sign on with her asap. Why? While the both of us attended DeSales University and raced for the cycling team, she has done me and the rest of the team huge favors by giving us free training schedules, tips, words of wisdom, etc., and it has all helped me out big time. And yes, I did say free. Let's say Kim was just practicing for when she started doing this as pretty much a full time job after we graduated this past May.

Unfortunately, and understandably, she wasn't able to provide me or anyone else with free training schedules, but I have paid her several times over the summer to write me up 2 or 3 week plans. Each time I came out stronger than before. If she could do that to me in just a few weeks, I can only imagine what she could do for me from now until the spring when I start racing again for the 2010 Road and Track season. But, like my momma always said, don't count your chickens before they hatch.

On a last note, Kim will be using TrainingPeaks for all of my training schedule. It's an interesting web application/program, as I was just getting myself familiar with it. The free account stuff is good for me for now, but I may eventually upgrade to the Premium.

So, I'll let you know how the coaching comes through in a few weeks! Until then, enjoy your Thanksgiving Day leftovers!

It's Late!

Well, as I did the last two years, I wanted to post my end-of-season rankings. However, being Category 5 at the end of the year it is kind of not accurate to what I was at the official end of the season. By this time, many Cat 5 who are better than me would have upgraded to Category 4, pushing me up to a better ranking than I really am. I did have a decent season though, having once reached top 120 in the nation, and top 20 in the state if I remember correctly. That is on account of placing 4th out of 4 riders in a race that I did pretty well in compared to the other riders in my category. So, let it be known that my official ranking does not reflect my actual capability.

I got big plans for 2010. By the end of this month I will be meeting with a friend of mine, professional cyclist Kim Geist at http://www.kimgeist.com, which we will be discussing coaching. I've pushed off coaching for too long and it shows in my racing results. While I may be a smart cyclist, I'm not a very strong one and without the strength needed, I'm not winning races. Now is the time to start coaching and training for the 2010 season to start somewhere around April or May. I also want a coach so I have a schedule to follow and it will "force" me out to ride. I haven't ridden much in the last 2 or 3 months. At most, I'd say I was on my bike 10 days out of the last few months, which is pretty sad, despite a scheduled 3 weeks break in August/September.

So, this is it for now. I will update about my coaching once I get that set away and started by the end of the month. 2010 shall be a great year for me, and I will reach Category 4 by the end of the season in both road and track!

Should have raced

Looking at the results from last week's criterium, I probably should have raced. Even if I finished last place, I would have still gotten some points to give me a better ranking. There were only 11 racers, and some didn't get points, I'm assuming those are the citizen riders, not license holders. But whatever, I'm 112th out of more than 2500 riders, which is still pretty damn good. Yeah, I know, I just got lucky with the one criterium where only 4 riders were present, and I got 4th.

So, just as I do every year, I will be posting my official, end-of-season rankings within the next few weeks. I don't believe there are any more big races left in Pennsylvania, or in the NE region of the US, so my rankings should be pretty much set, give or take a few places by the end of the year. Even though some would tell me to upgrade to Cat 4 with a ranking of 112th, I am just not ready yet. This winter I hope to get very serious, more serious than ever, with my cycling. I hope to hire my good friend, Kimberly Geist, as a coach within the next few months, and just start cracking down with a good training program that will get me better.

2010 is going to be a good year for me in a lot of aspects. I hope to get a job sometimes soon or within the year 2010 and I should be able to upgrade to Cat 4 rightfully (as in, upgrading and not then just getting last in all Cat 4 races). There are a few other stuff I hope to achieve in 2010, but those will just put you to sleep if I type them out.

Anyways, I'm currently on a 2-3 week break from cycling. I've felt lately no motivation to riding, but just laying around and doing nothing but watch TV and play video games all day. So, I'm going to do just that for the next two weeks. I also officiate soccer on the side, doing high school games during the week and youth games on the weekend, so I'll get my physical activity through that. I've also taken up jogging, starting on Friday, but I doubt that'll last once I get back into riding. Need to run more though...

Until my next post, enjoy life!

Official End of 2009 Season

Well, this morning I happened to wake up between 2 and 3 AM for whatever reason. I was thinking, I'm up now, I might as well go to the Yuasa Right from the Start criterium in Laureldale, PA. I got on the computer, played some games for a little, then at about 5:00 I started getting ready. My mind was not well rested though, apparently, and had the timing of my preparation and leaving for the race all messed up.

Race starts at 8:00, and I usually like to get to the course at least an hour ahead of time, more preferably an hour and a half. So this would add up to arriving sometimes between 6:30 and 7. I had that figured out earlier, but I didn't figure out what time I should leave by (which would have been 5:45ish). Then a little later I was thinking about it and thought "ok, I need to leave no later than 6:45", totally forgetting that I needed to ARRIVE at about that time. I get into the car at about 6:45 and head out. I turned around about 2 miles into my drive realizing that I was going to be late and may risk missing the race. Good thing I didn't pre-register, or that would have been $20 I lost for good.

Yes, I probably could have still gotten there by about 7:30. However, I have a strict pattern of getting ready for a race and I would have had to skip several steps, including a good warm up, in order to race.

So, having said this, my race season is officially over for 2009. I would like to give one last shout out for my only personal sponsor, Tooks International, the maker of Tooks Hats. The website again is http://www.tookshats.com/ I will have a Sponsors list to the right eventually, once I clean up all the crap all the way over there. Some things are outdated obviously.

Have a good Sunday everyone, and a good week!