Herriott Sports Performance

Last week the Pro Shop opened, I turned 40 AND I won a bike race. The week before I was CLOSE, but on Saturday plan A went as planned and the HSP hit squad squad took a 1-2 in a local 68 mile road race. I’ve not won a race in a few years and I can honestly say that I am not back into racing because I want win bike races- I“m back into racing again because it has been a part of my life for 24 years and it’s simply part of who I am. BUT…… it sure felt good to cross the finish line first. However, I took more satisfaction from how our team rode the race than from the actual results.

The HSP shop team is comprised of myself (ex pro), Dave Richter (ex pro), Dave Fleishhauer (up and coming and coming up FAST!), Aaron Levin (ex national level road and track rider) and Thomas Broderick ( ex semi pro mtn bike, and national level junior roadie and tt ninja. TBrah is out for a while dealing with an old injury which leaves four of us on any given weekend. And on most weekends, there are only three racing due to family commitments. So with limited numbers most days, there is not a lot of room for error in terms of tactics if we want to factor into the final results.

I changed nothing last week in terms of my training routine. Monday was off, Tuesday was a super secret 50 mins. training protocol on the POWERCRANKS (if you think pc’s are “hokey” that’s fine by me, they have been a regular part of my training routine for a decade now and they REALLY give back), Wed. was a short gym session (more super secret training), then on Thursday I planned to race at Seward but the opening party left me HUNG over and not to g’d up for anything more than basic human communication and walking. Friday I checked to make sure my GURU was dialed in and ready to race and then I spend 40 mins on the rollers doing a high rpm workout with a few jumps- nothing secret about that. Saturday I got up, ate a basic breakfast as I always do: 2 pieces of toast with peanut butter and good jam, cup of premium coffee, 4 premium insurance caps a la Hammer Nutrition and 2 salmon oil caps, also from Hammer nutrition, and 2 cups of water. SNAP! Then it was time to go to the shop and meet the boys and head to the bike race.

I LOVE going to races- big or small. The whole routine of it is timeless for me.

This weekend was a Wa. Cup race and since Richter was in 2nd overall in the standings and I was in 4th it was a race that we all wanted to perform well at. I don’t think to much about results because as you can see from my training week (and that’s a pretty standard week) my form is pretty hard to predict. Simply put, it could go either way. And it’s true that I have a pretty broad training base in my legs after so many years of training and racing. BUT, I am racing against guys who have plenty of training and racing experience who may not train a lot during the week, but certainly more than I. It could go either way. Most weekends I am in the mix but I pay a heavy price for many days after beating my system to pulp. I“m 40 now and every hard day seems to require 3 days of easy brah. Anyway.

Long story short, the race went off hot and stayed hot all day- just the way we like it. Many a group bolted off and came back- some with me in them and others with Dave and Dave and Aaron. It was good to see a local race with some SNAP! Guys were making it hard and the counter attacks made it harder and THAT’S the best time to put in the dagger and stab the best: when it’s HARD!!!! A group of 5 or 6 rolled off with 3 laps of 7 to go with myself and some fast local talent. When Richter came across with 1 other guy that was all I needed to see. GO TIME. The group ended up being 6- Richter, myself and 4 others. THAT is plan A for this team, the best case scenario.

Dave is FAST and can sprint with the best around and usually if it comes to sprint finale, he takes one of the top if not the top spot- no one is perfect! That’s not me blowing the horn for Dave, that’s me stating a fact that most everyone around these parts would have to agree with. I’m not a fast finisher but I am good for multiple freight train pulls and continuous attacking. So for us to be together in a small group means that at some point I will start attacking and either I get chased, in which case Dave follows and counters or simply (as in the case of this weekend) rides the wheels and sprints. OR I bring back the attacks that should come and set Dave up for a good counter. Either way the scenario is a good one. Turns out that on Saturday, no one started to attack us in the last few k’s. I then took a big dig with about 4k left to test the waters and there was one guy chasing me back- Dave sat and waited. When we made the turn for the final 1500 k, I waited for the guy who brought me back earlier to take a turn and then I hit out one last time at full gas. THAT was my last bullet. And no one jumped to cover. I got the gap I needed and groveled all the way to the line. Dave followed me in for 2nd and that was that. Plan A. SNAP!

It’s nice to have things go your way in a bike race as things SO often go totally pear shaped. It was satisfying to race our race and to have the best case scenario play out. Who knows when that will happen again, but I can tell you that we will push for it every time we show up. We have a lot of experience between us and broad base of fitness to fall back on, so if teams are going to stick it to us, they are going to have to work for it and THAT makes racing fun.

I got in my POWERCRANK ride today and I might break my code and do a longer ride tomorrow. I’m not recommending my training program to anyone other than myself- it’s what I have time for and it works for the kind of racing I’m doing. If I showed up at a national event I would have much harder time – I’m not pretending to that a few hours of hard riding a week will prepare me for much more than 60ish miles of racing. I’ll admit to thinking about doing more training and bigger regional races but the jury is out. I’m good for now.

Now what?

Best,
TH