Age Group Nationals

Last Saturday, Tuscaloosa, AL hosted the USAT Age Group Nationals. This was the national championship triathlon for age group athletes that had qualified (based on the qualification standards provided by USAT). Overall, the event was good, but not every part of it. Here we go...

On Friday, my brother-in-law and I took off of work to go down to Tuscaloosa and pick up my packet, drive the race course (both bike and run), and to drop off my bike for the night---this was hard to do knowing it would rain overnight. I had a rules meeting just after the packet pickup that I had to attend. The officials really make you nervous talking about all the things you can't do, even though you don't normally do them anyway. Needless to say, it was an interesting experience.

On Saturday, the transition area was to be closed by 7:00 so the waves of racers could start. I arrived at 6:00 or so that morning, and I was nervous!!! I felt like the Hickory High basketball team from Hoosiers when they went up to the big gym to play the high school championship. Everyone looked in great shape, focused, and somewhat intimidating. I layed out my transition area, then headed for the usual bathroom stop(s) and I wanted to get my sunscreen on as well. My family arrived about this time which included my family, Rachel's family, and one of our friends. That was a reassuring sight seeing all them. They were all trying to pump me up and remind me that I DID belong here. I ended up getting everything ready and warming up a bit before heading down to the swim start.

7:51 the gun went off, and my wave of Men 25-29 took off (1500m swim). The next 41 minutes would be one of the most awful athletic experiences I've ever had. I seemed to stay with the group for the first part, but once we made the turn for the long 1000m straightaway, I lost them. Also, I didn't feel like I was moving, and the sun was HORRIBLE. I couldn't see a thing in front of me, and it took forever to see the first buoy. On a side note, I had started a 10 minute timer just prior to the swim as a reminder to drink on the bike. I expected to hear the timer two times during the swim which would mean that I swam betweeen 20 and 30 minutes (which was my expectation). I heard the timer go off for the second time just past the first buoy on the long straightaway. This was a BAD sign. I ended up getting passed by the faster swimmers from the next two waves after mine--including one swimmer who must have thought I was a stick in the water because he swam right over the top of me. Yes, OVER THE TOP OF ME!! When I finally exited the swim, I looked down and saw 41 minutes on my stopwatch and my heart sank. I knew I had no chance of placing in the top 10, 20, or 50 for that matter in my age group.

I got to the transition area with my family cheering me the whole way, I got ready and took off for my bike ride (40k). The bike went fairly well. I kept a close watch on my power meter and kept my wattage fairly regulated. Every time my timer went off, I drank or consumed gel. I passed a ton of people on the bike ride, but I was passed by two guys as well. I did everything in my power to stay away from other riders so as not to get penalized by the officials. I ended up riding in just under an hour which was a 25 mph average. That was more like it now!

I again returned to the transition with my family in the background (less of them now). I had opted to not wear socks on the 10k run which I would later learn was a mistake. I took off and for about 4 minutes I felt good. After that first 4 minutes, I started to feel hungry, thirsty, and I had a horrible side stitch. I had set a goal to run around 6:00-6:10 pace for the entire run and see if I could go faster towards the end. Just after the first mile mark there was a significant hill that really compounded my side stitch problem. However, I did have two family members in the middle of the hill cheering me on, and to my surprise, my dad was at the top of the hill. He was being calm trying to talk me through my side stitch (which I think was caused by being in the TT position on the bike for longer than usual). Two more hills were on the course, and each one was extremely tough (although the second hill had my wife and my brother cheering for me). By this time, I had readjusted my goal to be 7:00 pace for the run. I was drinking gatorade and water at every aid station, and I poured water on me to keep me cool because the humidity was MUCH worse than the weatherman said it would be. Also, as previously mentioned, I didn't wear socks, and by mile three, I could feel a blister coming on. Within the final mile, I knew I was bleeding because it had passed the blister pain and was going numb which meant I'd broke through the skin. I finally got rid of the side stitch by mile 4, but by then I could not get out of 7:00 pace. I crossed the line, and I was not very happy. I was hot, my feet were hurting, and there was a strong smell of mexican food under the tent I had to pass through. I LOVE mexican food, but after racing for 2 hours and 27 minutes, I didn't want anything to do with mexican food.

I found my family after the race, and I was SO glad they came. I needed someone to vent to and obtain reassurance from. I HAD only decided to do this race two months before, but I just felt that I had put in a lot of work and the swim killed it all. I just assumed I was a terrible swimmer. I later found out (that night) that the Tuscaloosa dam had been opened on Saturday morning two different times to allow some of the rain water from the night before to escape. So that means I was swimming AGAINST THE CURRENT for 1000m. That was a PERFECT explanation for why I was so slow. It helped me to let up on myself some, but I'm still not a good swimmer. The real good swimmers only lost 5 minutes or so, but those of us mediocre swimmers lost 15-20 minutes.

I ended up 56th in my age group which was a long way from my original goal. If I have the chance to do the race next year, I will check on the swim before signing up. If USAT hasn't made a correction to the course, I may not do it again. There you have it, me at Nationals getting my butt kicked!!

State Championship Weekend

The Alabama State Championship weekend had lots of promise. There was a road race (40 miles) in New Hope on Saturday morning, a hill climbing time trial on Saturday afternoon (4 miles total with 1 mile of climbing), and a downtown Huntsville criterium on Sunday morning (30 minutes). I had driven the course for the two Saturday races prior to showing up on race day, and I found a couple of places that would allow an attack; however, the places I selected (two separate short, steep hills) weren't great, but I didn't see any other areas for attacking.

So, on Saturday morning we (Barrett, my brother-in-law Scott, and myself) arrived at the race course, completed a warmup, completed bathroom stops, and got to the starting line early so we could start up front. Once the riders were allowed on the starting line, we noticed that there were around 50 riders which was not a good sign. We had a one mile neutral zone where no one can attack and the pace is supposed to be somewhat controlled. Well, I was around 5th right at the start of the race, but during the "neutral" rollout I lost about 10-12 spots. If anyone has ever seen the movie Office Space, I looked just like Peter at the beginning in traffic---no matter what lane I chose, the traffic quit moving. So, I just hung around in the back for the first 20 mile loop mostly because I wanted to get a drink from Rachel at the feed zone. As soon as I got through the feed zone, I tried to make my way forward to plan for an attack. Big mistake. I could never make up any ground except when we went around a turn, and even then it was only one spot at a time. So, my plan of attacking on the last steep hill was looking tough, and as it turned out, I couldn't get myself to the front. The furthest forward I got was about in the 5th row from the front. We couldn't pass in the left lane, and we were already riding three across in the lane which equals NO PASSING! My attacking point came and went and I couldn't do anything because I was boxed in. With about 2 miles to go I here horrible yells and brakes and scraping sounds and of course there is a wreck on the FRONT ROW!!! The rider in front of me rode his back wheel across my front wheel which ALWAYS leads to the rear riding going down--and I did. I curled into the fetal position to keep from getting ran over by the other 20 rides behind me. Once all the danger had passed, I realized the Barrett had went down as well and his bike was unrideable due to the rear wheel being horribly bent (similar to a wheel that I ran over with my truck one time). My bike on the other hand was fine except for one of the brake hoods being bent in. Yes, I did check myself as well for injuries (and Barrett). All I got was road rash which does suck, but it isn't the worst thing---especially considering some folks left with broken bones. So, I was able to limp into the finish for a 34th place finish. So much for my plan on the road race. Below is a picture of me limping to the finish with blood on my right arm and leg.




The next event was the hill climbing time trial. Prior to starting it, I had went to Subway for lunch, went to the bike shop to have my bike checked on, and went to the store to purchase medical supplies to cover my road rash. So, as you can guess, I had no idea how the hill climbing time trial would go considering I had wrecked just 3-4 hours earlier. The course was mostly flat for the first 2.8 miles, but kicked up sharply afterwards for a 1 mile climb averaging 10% (max 13% grade). I rode my Specialized road bike instead of my TT bike simply due to the hill climb. I thought I would rather have the climbing-friendly gearing of my road bike rather than the TT bike. The starter set us off in 30 second increments, and I immediately got into the most aerodynamic position I could on my road bike (with no aero bars). I made the turn onto the hill and it got tough quickly! I sat down for most of the hill until the top (which is where my family was to take the picture included below), and then I gave everything I had on the final 100m flat section at the top (which was all of 15 mph). I didn't know how I did compared to everyone else in my category until the next morning. I won by about 8 seconds!!! That was sweet redemption after the way the road race went.




Approximately 15 hours, 1 ice bath, 2 peroxide washes, 2 bandage applications, and 8 hours of sleep later we arrived in downtown Huntsville for the criterium. It was an interesting "L-shaped" course with five right turns and one left turn. I had already made up my mind (along with my teammates) that I was staying towards the front today. I had also made up my mind the night before that if I wrecked during the criterium that I was not going to do any more mass start road races. I just can't enjoy them if I'm wrecking all the time. Anyway, the starter set us off, and we (teammates) along with a guy we know from Birmingham (Andrew Boyd) all went to the front to get to safety and push the pace. After a few laps the pace settled somewhat and there were attempts to breakaway in the first 15 minutes or so but they were caught (mostly by me and my teammates). I must admit that I did pull quite a lot during the criterium, but I never tried to put myself into serious difficulty. I wanted to be able to through everything I had into the final lap or two. With about 10 minutes to go, Barrett pulled up to the front and blocked the wind for me for about a lap or so, and that was really what I needed to rest up. With 4 laps to go Andrew attacked along with another rider. The group just let them dangle out there for two laps, and the second attacker fell back into the group. With one lap to go, I surged hard right on the start/finish line to go after Andrew. By the time I reached him at the second corner, he said he was toast. I looked at him, and he didn't look like he had anything left. So, I knew it was mine to win or lose. I pushed the pace as much as I could into every corner, and when the final corner and hill came, I jumped up and put everything I could into the pedals. I never looked back, and I was able to hold everyone off for the win (see picture below). It wasn't until later that I found out that Barrett had a flat with 2 laps to go, and that's why he was nowhere in sight.




In hindsight, I could've fought harder for a spot during the road race, but finishing first in two events was pretty satisfying--also, for this year I am the Alabama State Criterium Champion for Cat 5. I'm pleased with this considering I've only raced about 5-7 times in mass start races. I must give glory to the Lord for keeping me from breaking any bones, giving me the ability to mash on the pedals, and for giving me such a great family for coming and supporting me!!!

Cycling Camp

Here's a picture from our cycling camp in Asheville, NC.

I went to cycling camp with my youngest brother (Barrett), my brother-in-law (Scott, aka Scooter, aka Scoot-dog, etc.), and my father-in-law (Wayne). The cycling camp that we attended was put on by Carmichael Training Systems. It was a blast!! We got nicknamed the Alabama Horsemen during camp which was cool.

All in all, the camp was manageable, but there were definitely some things that I didn't know (and now need to work on). I thoroughly enjoyed the drills section of the camp which included riding in a grass field and pushing each other, picking up bottles from the ground while riding by, and attempting to just stop on our bikes without falling off (very tough!).

We did a field test the first day just so the coaches could see where we stood compared to each other. I was pleased with my output (351 watts avg for 2.7 miles--uphill of course), and the rest of the crew was pleased with theirs as well. We then worked on drafting, cornering, and various other skills that are important on the road.

I strongly encourage any riders to go to a CTS camp--we were treated like pro cyclists the entire time. We had bottles at all times, mechanical support, and LUNCH!!

Sunny King Criterium

Well, my first criterium was VERY interesting. First of all, God sure must of wanted it to be a challenge for me because it was raining intensly prior to and during the race. So, that added another thing to drive up my blood pressure (besides the fact that I'd never done a criterium before).

The race started much differently than I expected---FAST!! When the gun went off, the front guys took off so fast that I was left off the back of the group. I found some other guys in the same predicament that I was in, so we worked together drafting back up. The only problem was, these guys weren't gaining ground fast enough. If someone would've went off the front at that point, I would've been in huge trouble. My brother, Barrett, was about 2-3 guys in front of me during the opening five laps or so. Eventually, I noted that he had made it back to the front group, and I was only about 3-4 seconds behind them. At this point, I'm wondering how in the world I'll ever have a chance in this race.

So, I set my goal to move up one place every lap. I would draft on a guy up until the last turn, then I'd go around him and move up to the next guy. Eventually, I found myself in the lead group, albeit at the back. This went on for a couple of laps (15 minutes of time had elapsed already), and I was noticing that on the front stretch I would gain ground easily because it was a slight uphill. This is where I figured I'd have to make my move because the other side of the course was downhill, and it would be scary to go into a turn at 30+ mph.

So, with 8 laps to go, I moved up on the outside of the group just past the start/finish line and went into the first turn and poured on the gas. My HR skyrocketed, and I didn't look back until the third turn on the course and I didn't see anyone right on me. At that point, 8 laps was a long way to go solo, but I don't have the sprint speed to stay in the group. Also, I didn't see Barrett anywhere, so I decided to keep the pedal down and go for it. Each lap that passed, the announcer (Frankie Andreau--former US Postal rider and commentator for Versus cycling coverage) would say lets hear it for our solo leader. That was inspirational I must say, but I owe a ton of gratitude to Barrett. He really held the group up by playing around with small sprints, etc. I put in hard work, but I think his help sealed the deal for me.

Now, you'll probably think by now that everything went smooth and I won. Well, with two laps to go, I went into the first turn and my rear wheel JUMPED to the side, and I almost went down. That really got me nervous, and to add to my nervousness my rear wheel seemed to be fishtailing. I didn't know what was going on, but I had to take the turns way slower than I had all race. I was afraid the guys would catch me because I was slowing down so bad. Thankfully, everything held together, and I did win the race. Afterwards, I got interviewed by Frankie Andreau (which was a cool and very nervous moment) over the loudspeaker. It wasn't until a few minutes later that I asked a mechanic to take a look at my bike that we found I had broken a spoke (and it was completely missing from the wheel). I am so thankful that it happened when it did, because I couldn't have ridden long like that with the brakes rubbing on the wheel!!

I am including a picture of my interview with Frankie.

Racing, Swine Flu, etc.

I haven't yet written about my first cycling race which was 3 weeks ago mainly because I was waiting on pictures to include on my page as well. Well, without further ado, above is my picture from the race. There are no other people in the picture, but that's because--I WON!! It was an exciting race to say the least. I spent the first two laps riding in the back and adjusting to riding in a big group of people. After we finished the third lap, I tried to break away, but when I looked over my shoulder, there was a big group right behind me, so I backed off the pace.

My brother, Barrett, had also tried to break away during the third lap, but he was also brought back. He and I were talking on the next to last lap, and I told him I wanted to go one more time. The place I thought would be good was too far from the finish though. So, Barrett told me where he thought would be a good place to go for it, and when we got there, I had to ride on a concrete banking surface because everyone was jockeying for position. I noticed that one guy had already took off from the group about a 1/2 mile from the finish. I looked around and noticed that no one was going for him, so I took off (precisely in the spot that Barrett had suggested). This turned out to be a brilliant move because I was slowly gaining on the leader with each passing second. When I looked over my shoulder, the peleton was crazy with guys going all over the place trying to prepare for the final sprint. I realized that no one was right behind me and that I was catching the leader at a pace that would put me ahead of him just before the line. As it turns out, I did get in front of the guy who had went early, but I was ALMOST caught by another guy sprinting his guts out!

When the race finished, I wasn't even sure it was over because no one said anything for a minute or so. After a few minutes a guy rode up and asked if I won the race, and I told him I guessed I did, but I wasn't sure. Turns out, I did win, but if the finish had been 25 feet more, I probably would have lost to the sprinter.

On another note, Barrett got pinned in behind some folks, and while he did get to show some of his sprint speed, it was only enough for 7th place because some of the people in front of him were not pinned in coming to the final turn.

We were both pleased with the race in general. Obviously, I was happy with where I finished, but Barrett said he thought he could've done more. Well, he has his chance this weekend at the Sunny King Criterium. We'll both be competing again, then.

As for the swine flu, my wife (Rachel) is off of school for the next two days because her school system is shut down due to two kids testing positive for it here in Madison. Is it just me though, or is the media hyping this up terribly bad?

One everyone should see

This past weekend I watched a movie called Taking Chance. It was a very interesting movie, and it will definitely stir up emotions. I am placing a link here so that anyone that hasn't seen it can read about it. (http://www.hbo.com/films/takingchance/) I think all Americans should see this movie because it really lets us know the sacrifices that are being made, and that any soldier that dies overseas is taken care of all the way to the grave.

There are a lot of Tea Party's this week throughout the U.S., and this is a great peaceful opportunity to go out and show that the people still have the power in this country. If we let the government make all of our decisions (as they're trying to do now), then we are doomed to become a Socialist and Communist-type nation. Is that what we really want? I don't think that's what our country's founders were all about either.

Headline: Sickness runs through Eubanks'

Rachel (my wife) and my dad are both battling with sicknesses. Rachel was sick all last week, and even took a day or two off of work (that's serious for her). My dad has been sick for the same amount of time, and he isn't mending quite as quickly as Rachel. I have been thankful to dodge this sickness since I have my very first cycling race this weekend. I'm extremely nervous about it, and I need to be in peak condition both athletically and overall healthwise. The race I'm doing is the Ride to Live circuit race at Barber Motorsports park on Saturday morning. I'm in the lowest category (cat. 5), and the race is on at 7:30 a.m.

Until then, I'll keep taking care of Rachel and checking on my dad. Peace out all!!