I’m looking forward to building on my three wins last year and having a strong 2005 season. My duathlon season officially will begin with two Powerman races in April and May. Powermen consist of an opening 10 kilometer run, a 60 km no draft time trial, and a closing 10 km run. First up is Powerman Alabama, followed by Powerman North Carolina (in the Chapel Hill area). After that, the US National Duathlon Championship will be in Ohio in June. I’ll also be sprinkling in some local duathlons, bike races with my Sakonnet Technology, and running races with the New York Harriers.

As for this past weekend, I took my rented “Flame Red” Dodge Neon to Pomona/San Dimas (a little east of Los Angeles) last Thursday to meet up with a bunch of Sakonnet Technology’s (www.skntcycling.com) espoirs for a three-day bicycle stage race. Sakonnet had a strong group entered in the Cat. 2 field, while I was on my own in the 3’s. Friday’s race was a 3.8 mile uphill individual time trial. It being sunny Southern California, the skies opened up and the wind kicked in as all of the faster categories got underway.

Even over a short distance, some big gaps opened up. The winner of the Cat. 3 ITT would have won the 2’s as well, and he put one minute into me (I came in 9th). The course wasn’t all that sleep, but it was very twisty with a number of switchbacks. I was a little too conservative in my gearing on some of the flatter pitches (I’d never seen the course before) but overall it was a solid climb. The Sakonnet Cat. 2’s were mostly in the high 15 minute range, while I rode 16:17. The worst part of the day was probably the descent off the mountain in the blowing rain. It was almost beyond belief how cold it was coming down the mountain. It wasn’t until a post-race Double-Double at In-N-Out Burger (that I ate in the car with the heat running full blast) that I stopped shivering.

Saturday was more of the same weather-wise. Wet roads but no rain at the start gave way to about two hours of really wet stuff during the middle of the race. I went for the first time bonus sprint from the bunch and was 5th, but time bonuses only went down to 3rd (which pretty much sums up my typical sprinting result). Two laps later, I attacked over the King of the Mountain climb and tried to solo for the 2nd time bonus, but I was caught within 200 meters of the finish (yes, it hurt). I had good legs, so I attacked a few more times, hoping a couple riders would bridge up to me, but it was a typical defensive and negative race, with the teams of the top general classification (GC) riders keeping a pretty tight clamp on the race. A guy from the Eclipse team even apologized to me once for reeling me back in after one escape. Still, all my attacking did some good: the pace caused three who had been top 10 to drop from the lead pack. With my 9th place finish in the final bunch sprint, I moved into 6th on the general classification.

Sunday was finally a Southern California-type day, with the sun peeking through the clouds every so often. My legs were still good, and during my warm up I had visions of getting away with a small group during the criterium. I probably attacked half a dozen time, sometimes countering during the lull after a prime lap, sometimes attacking off a fast pace. Unfortunately, the teams with the riders in podium positions were more willing to chase me down than others were to join me and commit to building a gap. Going into the final corner, I had the wheel of the Veloworx rider who was in the lead in the sprint competition, but the lead out man for the rider in 5th place (one in front of me) stacked it hard into the barriers on the final corner and I had to come to almost a complete standstill. The officials ended up giving the 5th place guy the same time as the front group despite his fall, so I remained 6th in the G.C.

All in all, it was a good race weekend, and I no longer have to labor in the Cat. 3 field since I now have enough points to upgrade to Cat. 2. I also managed to impress (or scare) many people at the race when I did a 5 mile, Jimmy Riccitello-prescribed transition run immediately following my 9th place in the road race.

That’s it for now. Thanks for all your support.

Lee