In case anyone reading this has no idea what my last few posts have been about, a quick review: I am in Louisville with Scott Latell for the USA Cycling Masters National Championships. I’m here just for the time trial; not the road race or the criterium. I went off at 8:07 AM this morning and finished 51 minutes and 34 seconds later, for an average speed of 28.2mph.

My target was an average power of 325 watts; that’s what I did at last year’s state time trial. I won’t have the final numbers until I get home and download my PowerTap, but I believe I ended up doing around 330W, making this my best output ever. By that measure alone, it was a complete success. Of course, there were some other fast guys out there at the same time as me. In the end, two in my age group went faster than me. One was Eric Bean, from Madison, who beat me in this year’s state championship. The other set the best time overall, fully a minute faster than anyone else across categories – a freakishly fast 48:34. That’s an average of 29.2mph.

Of course, I would have loved to have won a national champion’s jersey, but I am extremely pleased with my result. I went harder than I ever have, and I’m 100% confident I couldn’t have gone a second faster. Scott has been a tremendous help, and I’ve enjoyed the chance to hang out with him. Now I can look forward to a weekend in Door County with Kelley, a few Superweek races, and whatever else I want to do, be it on the bike or otherwise.

I’ll share some additional thoughts later. For now, I’ll finish with some pictures.

Let’s make that 12 hours until the beer drinking begins. Scott and I rode the course today, checked in at registration, caught a movie (the Hidden Kingdom), ate some Jambalaya, bought breakfast for tomorrow (muffins and juice), pinned up my skinsuit, and made ready in every conceivable way. All that remains is to pedal the bike. I can’t wait.

I’m about to hop in the car and head down to Louisville. Scott is going to meet me there around 7pm tonight. We’ll take a look at the course, have some dinner, and call it a night. Tomorrow, we’ll ride the course, eat some healthy food, bum around a bit, and hit the sack nice and early. I go off at 8:07 on Monday morning, so anyone who’s willing, please send up some prayers around then!

I did my final pre-Nats test today on a section of county highway B that Scott Latell and I used to train on. It’s a 10K stretch with no turns, no stop signs, and very little traffic. Despite my focus on the TT this season, today was my first time out there since last year. It was good to be back.

After a long and frustrating search for a valve extender (thanks for the rescue, Mark!), I finally pumped up my tires and got going. The plan was to do two out-and-back runs, the first as a warmup, and the second as a race simulation. The legs opened up nicely in the warmup, so I was eager to see what I could do with the governor removed.

I decided to target an average power of 325W – the amount I produced at last year’s state TT. For reference, I did 300W and 307W at my two 40K competitions this season (the Double Bong and the state championships). I’ve been feeling good lately, so I figured I’d see if the turbos were finally spooled up.

Due to the nature of the PowerTap computer, I wasn’t able to see the final numbers until I got home and downloaded the data. As it turns out, I did an average of 323W on the outbound leg and 325W on the inbound leg. Woo hoo! I figure that after a week of tapering, with a national championship on the line, I should be able to manage that sort of wattage over the full 38K of the race. My position on the bike is clearly more aerodynamic than it was last year, so it would appear that I’m as ready as I can be for next weekend. I hope the week goes by quickly and with no surprises.

Kelley is really getting excited about riding. She and I did a nice 37mi ride on Saturday. Then she did a solo ride on Sunday. Last night, she did another two hours by herself while I was tearing it up on the Rainbow Ride. We’re planning on replacing her Trek 2000 with a new Specialized as soon as we sell my scooter. All this is preparation for the Door County Century on September 7. It’ll be Kelley’s first 100-mile ride and the first cycling event we do together.

My folks just bought a pair of Specialized comfort bikes from Attitude Sports in Fond du Lac. They’re hoping to pick them up by this weekend. I bought them each a Planet Bike computer, in addition to a pair of baggy cycling shorts for my dad on Father’s Day.

Two of my teammates – Gene Tolli and TJ Brooks – won their respective categories in last weekend’s state criterium championships. Chapeau, guys!

Lastly, I’m counting down the final days until Masters Nationals. Last night’s group ride was an absolute ripper, and I felt really good. This Saturday’s Badger State Games time trial will serve as my final test before Nats. A week after that, I’ll be on my way to Louisville. I’m excited for the race itself, and also for some rest when it’s over. Regardless of the outcome, I’m pleased with my decision to focus on Nats instead of Superweek this year. It’s been a refreshing change, and more importantly, it’s afforded me more time with Kelley. I’m looking forward to lots of bike adventures with her this summer/fall.

Oh, and I’m converting my recently acquired Surly Cross-Check from a singlespeed hipster bike into a less hip commuting/touring/utility bike. It’s getting a Sram Rival drivetrain, fenders, and a rack, and maybe a BOB trailer. In order to add back a little coolness, I’m giving it a custom paint job. Stay tuned for pictures.

The following was written by my teammate and fellow wordsmith, Mark Hughes.

I don’t think I’ve ever used the word “epic” to describe races, but I will for this one. Here’s the race from my viewpoint.

Lap 1 (of 7): 40-50 starters roll neutral up the climb to the start/finish line and then officially start the race. We and LAPT patrol the front, but no one attacks. Skies continue to get darker.

Lap 2: A few attacks but nothing really notable. Fairly steady rain starts about half way into the lap, but it’s not too bad. The field begins to break up a little with the rain.

Lap 3: All hell breaks loose. Denny attacks early in the lap and gets a few guys to go with him. The skies have opened up in a biblical flood sort of way and it is difficult to even see up the road. It’s raining so hard, the drops feel like hail when they hit you. The three CZ amigos (Steve, Tige, and Mark) try to get the field under control, but there is attack after attack in the deluge, and we decide that there are too many people going and try to hook back up with Denny.

There are probably 15 guys splintered between the front group and us when we hit the two mile run-in to the base of the hill. At this point it looks like it is nighttime, the rain is coming down so hard that you really can’t see much beyond a few riders in front of you. There is standing water on the road, and I have a speed of 42.2 on the descent as we try to get back up to the leaders. All three of us hook on, and now we have about 20 guys in the front group when we arrive at the base of the climb. Denny whacks it again near the top followed by John Voigt. They get clear of the field only to cross the line to hear that the race has been neutralized. We all have to go back to registration and wait to see what happens.

Waiting: The amount of rain falling now is impressive. So much so that Heidi is taking pictures. Don’t know how long we wait to see if the race will continue but we eventually line up again. The officials agree to give Denny his ten seconds and Voigt his five. They also tell us that they cut the race to two laps to go. When we line up, only about 20 guys have remained. Everyone else went home. No hardman points for those guys. In fact, they will be awarded “Tige Prickett Awesome” points. I’m thankful I can now see more than 20 ft in front of me.

Lap 4: Neutral up the hill again to the start line and then it’s on! What’s left of the field knows that we are going to block for Denny and John VanSusteren will block for Voigt, so they get on it as soon as we cross the start line. With Denny in the 30-34 age category and John in the 35-39, they’ve each got a state champion jersey to win. There are some strong guys left, including John Huenink from Nova, three or four guys from Wheaton, and last year’s Superweek winner, Mike Heagney. Early on, Wheaton get a guy off so now they were blocking with us. However he ended up falling back a few miles later, so Wheaton then went to the front and dropped the hammer. Denny and John had maybe 20+ secs when we got to the climb again, but since the climb is so steep, it looked like they were right in front of us. One guy even said “They’re right F’in there!!!” so they drilled it up the hill to try to finish off Denny and John.

Lap 5: Still raining off and on. The field doesn’t let up and guys are getting shelled. We continue to block and get in the way but with about three miles to go, Steve and I get popped leaving only Tige, Johnny Van, and six others in the chase group.

Finish: Denny wins and Voigt takes second. State champ jerseys for each of them. Tige rolls in at 10^th, and Steve and I cross the line 11^th and 12^th.

Congrats to Denny and John for sticking it for two laps and winning the jerseyes. Mad props to us and Johnny Van for playing the roles of domestique to perfection.

Epic

Nice writeup, Mark. I’m really proud of the way we, as a team, laid out our plan and executed it under extremely difficult conditions. This race used to be my nemesis, so it’s especially rewarding to have won it twice now, and doing it as a team makes it all the more so.

I recently agreed to serve as an industry representative on the Milwaukee Bike Plan’s steering committee. The committee is collecting data via a one-page survey. If you live and ride in the Milwaukee area, please take a minute or two to complete it.

Results are finally posted. My time of 52:09 gave me third place in the Pro/1/2 division behind Eric Bean (51:34) and Steve Scholzen (51:55). My second time out, I did a 55:05, which placed me fourth in the Masters 30-34 category. I was fourth fastest overall behind Bean, Jeff Otto (51:47), and Scholzen. Chapeau to all three.

As I said in my earlier post, I’m very happy to have gone just 34 seconds slower than I did last year, when the race was held at the end of July, a week after Superweek. I’m especially relieved to have finally adhered to my pacing strategy. Now I can confidently say that my legs and my head are in good shape.

This Saturday, I’ll do the 100Km route of the Trek 100, followed by the state road race on Sunday. The weekend after that is the state criterium championships. A week later, I’ll do the Badger State Games time trial as a final form-check before Nats. Just four weeks to go!