:: seanlangford ::

Perfect conditions at stage 2: the John Fitch memorial circuit race. Had an unevenful race finishing ’sametime’ as today’s winner Nicolas Bruno of Wesrwood cyclery. The top 3 get time bonuses and one of them jumped over me in the standings. So now I sit in 23rd in GC.

So I got 22nd out of 120 starters.  This is a good result for me.  I was looking at last year’s Fitchburg TT where I got 77th and have been thinking about the past 12 months; riding mountian bikes through the winter midweek just before dawn, training in Spain, and the countless hard rides with good friends who have encouraged me, pushed me and given me guidence.  Its working.  Its paying off.  I *am* getting faster.  This wasn’t some local TT; this is Fitchburg.  Folks come from all over for this and I managed to beat 98 of them.

So the big race is upon us.  Been tapering for the past 10 days.  Trying a textbook taper this time; we’ll see how that goes.  Went for 1 hr spin last night and “like wow”: some of the deep soreness I’ve been accumulating over the past few weeks is gone.  Now I sit here with my number packet (Thanks Karen!!!!!) contemplating the race.  Tomorrow is the big TT and I am planning on going full gas.  Fitchburg baby!  Get psyched.

She came to us angry and confused. I named her after a junior high school redhead crush; it was the fall of ‘96. Shea didn’t want any part of us, but after several days at the beach and quite a few runs to the Point Judith breakwater we were able to tame her and make her part of the family. Since then we’ve had some great adventures; exploring the BSF, the Ipswich River, Harold Parker, Bradley Palmer, Mt Washington, Mt Chocura, Kankamangus River, and even Boston Brook. Her last day was a good one.  Steak and ice cream, a trip to the pond with Emmy and Harry.  Sunny skies and lots of love.  But like all crushes, they inevitably end in a broken heart. Goodbye Shea, rest in piece.

Shea, aka “Missy”, “Miss Head”, “Grumpus Mastif”, “Diggs”, “Grl” 199?-2007

Felt good at tonight’s ECV time trial over in Hamilton. Beat my personal record there by over 20s! Special thanks to Paolo Mion for the encouragement at the top of the climbs when I needed it most. I am psyched as I’m getting closer to some very fast men. I somehow got within 25s of guys like Jim Nash, Andrew Durham, and Scott Carrier. My goal for the year is to crack 27:00. Nice to see all this TT and strength work is paying off.

My first big goals of the season are to have a respectable finish at HHRR and Fitchburg. Since these events are soon to be upon us, I have been putting in some serious weeks in preparation. This week is no exception. Saturday was the Lake Auburn road race; played this one fairly conservatively and finished in the group. The climbing trip to Spain plus all the climbing rides with JH (et al) has been paying off as I actually felt quite strong over the climbs. Sunday I did some miles over at Wachusett mountain to work on the climbing legs. We did the Longsjo road course 4 times and then ascended the finishing climb. I put in a hard effort on each of the different climbs which make up the road course to get myself acquainted with ’suffering’ on each; again had reasonable climbing legs for most of the ride. Started to get generally tired near the end. Monday I took as a rest day (core work only) and today I went and did the Wompatuck training race. This turned out to be super fun as many of the region’s “big boys” were there. Mark McCormack, Jonny Bold, Jake Keough (and his whole KAM squad) plus Johs Huesby were amongst the superstars turning the screws. The event was super smooth and very fast. Got into a couple of meaningless breaks but were all short lived. Tomorrow I’ll head over and do the CBTT; commute Thurs and rest day Friday. Phew, a big week for me. Next week taper for HHRR. Here is shot of us climbing nearing the entrance to the Longsjo ‘finish climb’. From left to right PM, JL, SW, KM, DK (yours truly is of course taking the shot). Cheers!

** Update to the update **

Got a 23:35 at the CBTT last nite; this ties my PR. Considering I had junky legs from Auburn+Longsjo practice+Wampatuck and the fact that it was really windy I am very psyched.