Another Podium for Eneas!

Down at the USA Cycling Masters Road National Championships Eneas was on the podium again. He finished third in the 30-34 Men's 25.8-kilometer Time Trial.

Congratulations on another great finish!

TARGETCHALLENGE

Congratulations to Allison Hirst who became to the newest client to complete the TARGETCHALLENGE. She completed the 6am track session at Staples High School, the 7:30am Indoor Cycling Class, the 9am TARGETBURN class and the 10am Core Class!

CT State Club Triathlon Champs!

This is a VERY short post, but due to the lack of official race results (huge result SNAFU), I can't discuss the specific performances of all the TT folk that competed in the Stamford KIC IT Olympic Triathlon this past Sunday. However, I do have it on good authority (Kristin) that TargeTraining are the CONNECTICUT STATE TRIATHLON CLUB CHAMPIONS! I can also say that a stellar 1-2-3 performance by the women (Suzie-Kristin-Megan) and (I daresay) strong races by myself and team newbie John Baxendale did the job. More detail, results, etc. to follow once they're delivered by race officials. Great job, team, and congrats to all the TT folk that raced!

Day 2 Masters Nationals Recap

A bit shocked from waking up after a full 8hrs of undisturbed sleep, it’s been a couple of years, I moseyed on over to my road bike disappointed to find that it did not fix itself over night. After a few choice words to it, I focused on the task at hand. Coffee!

It was yet another sunny and hot day here, which provided me a perfect opportunity to preview the time trial course. Unlike the road course, the time trial route was a good 35 miles from the hotel so I hitched a ride half way, and rode the rest.
Most national time trial courses are around 40k long and relatively flat. This year they threw the rules out the window. This course is short at 25k, but it doesn’t have a single flat section to it. Conducted on an exposed and wide open 4 lane highway, you are at the mercy to the elements. This may not be a standard test, but people will certainly suffer none the less.

Out in the middle of nowhere, I set about at the task of ridding back to my hotel. Easier said than done as it was a full on block head wind and rollers all the way back through corn, soy and tobacco fields. What a ride!

Having a couple of free hours in the afternoon, I decided that a trip to Louisville was not complete without a visit to the Louisville Slugger factory. This is well worth the $10 admission. The company does a great job with the factory tour and you feel proud to see the success of a local home grown business! The bonus to the tour was getting a mini bat which is going straight to my son Caden! Time to move the fine china as batting practice will ensue as soon as I get back.

Oh and that picture of a batt, it's a good 10 stories high!!

Eneas earns a podium spot

Congratulations!

Eneas took third at this year’s USA Cycling Masters Road National Championships.

TT women 1,2,3 @ KIC Tri

Sunday kicked of the second edition of the Kids in Crisis Triathlon in Stamford. A field of 500 athletes made their way from the Sound to north Stamford in this Olympic distance race and TT had a great showing. On the men's side Jonny Bax (endale) and Dave "old school" Yockelson tore through the route making good pace and wrapping up in the top 20 (results are delayed...not my fault!).

However, this day was all about the TT members sporting two "X" chromosomes. Megan, Suzie, Kristen and Laurie took control of the race right from the start and didn't look back. Megan "Pride of Stamford" Kelly led the charge with a blistering bike leg getting to the 2nd transition as the first place female. Kristen, Laurie and Suzie were in hot pursuit and by the first mile of the run Meg had a little over 2 minutes on Suzie and Kristen. All total TT had 4 of the top 5 postions on the road. That is when Suzie and Kristen found the extra gear and kicked it in. Keeping pace with each other they pushed to first and second overall with Megan taking the last podium spot. Laurie "I have a decade and 3 kids" Brannigan closed it out in 6th. place smiling all the way.

Day 1 Masters National Championships Recap

Like all of aspects of life, bike racing has its down hills and up hills.
Saturday was a travel day and unfortunately had to miss the double rides out of TARGETRAINING. I was traveling to Louisville solo on this trip, leaving my family behind. Things began ominously as I dropped a plat on my foot during breakfast which shattered and cut my toe wide open. But hey if Conrad Stolz can do it so can I.
What was to follow was the smoothest and easiest flight to Louisville that I could have imagined. We missed an accident on interstate 95 by 5min that shut the highway down while driving to the airport, and to boot the airline even took my bike box for free. What luck!

My good fortune continued when I arrived in Louisville. My bike had arrived in one piece and I even got a free ride to my hotel. Wow was I having a good day. I knew I wasn’t in Fairfield County when I noticed tornado shelters at the Louisville airport and was greeted with SUNNY skies and temperatures in the 90’s. Here are some fun facts about the Mint Julep town:
- 15th largest city in US (hard to believe)
- Home of Papa John’s Pizza
- Home of Louisville Slugger Bats
- Home to the Kentucky Derby
- Home to Bourbon

One of the unpleasant necessities to fling to bike races is that you have to pack, ship and then build your bike once having arrived at your destination. After years traveling around the world with a bike, I developed a system that makes the process less painful and keeps the equipment safe. But every once in a while there is a hiccup. Having shipped my road bike ahead of time, I collected the cardboard mummy of a bike at the hotel lobby, and quickly set to the task of building it up. My day of good luck quickly ended as I pulled the Cervelo from its tomb only to find that the rear derailleur and hanger had been damaged in shipping. So here I am in Louisville with no tools, no open bike shop and a seriously damaged bike. Well as they say this is the uphill portion to this trip.
Not wanting to waist the day, I threw the bike into a corner, hoping that it would fix itself and took my time trial bike for a recon of the road course just a few miles from the hotel.

It is of great value to recon courses before race day, so I quickly made my way to Cherokee Park in downtown Louisville which would host the road race championship this week. Situated in a beautiful Central Park like setting, the course contained not a single flat or straight road. It is like throwing someone into a pin ball machine. This is going to be one explosive course, a perfect template to work with on my Cervelo SLCSL, if I could get it fixed.

Having recovered from the shock of my damaged road bike, and the complexity of the road race course, I made my way to the street party atmosphere of 4th Avenue for dinner. The locals like there booze here as even a trip to CVS meant maneuvering my way around and outdoor bar only to find that you could also purchase beer, wine and spirits inside. I was getting the feeling that I was at a casino were around every corner there is a slot machine.

Having reached equilibrium with my luck, I was looking forward to some down hills in the coming days.