MATT FILE: Training races are for mistakes?

Matt: Second row - red jacket

Training races are for making mistakes right? Well I’ve now done 4 of them in Vancouver over two weekends and made a bunch of mistakes, almost all of which I really should know better then. They run the full gauntlet from eating at the wrong time (a little too late and timed almost perfectly with a fairly harsh acceleration on a hill, resulting in me getting gapped), remembering to think I should pack warm gloves while packing (without actually packing them and then racing in cold rain) to watching the race making break form from the second row of the peleton and thinking it would come back or getting bored in the opening K at piano pace and making the first attack (really just rolled off the front on a climb and set a steady pace but it probably wasn’t the smartest move). All the above being said I did actually manage to finish one in the group, and truth be told it’s early and I’m really none too worried about it.

Anyways, real racing arrives this weekend in the form of the Tour of Walla Walla, which is 4 stages over three days. Not feeling super confident about my form just yet, as last weekend was spent in bed riding out a cold instead of out on the bike, but a couple of people on the team are going pretty well so I’m hoping for the best.

I will let you know how the weekend goes. On a side note, this will actually be my first time racing in the states, so I’m a little curious myself to see how it goes.

Matthew O’Hagan

MATT FILE: Yoga, Back Country Snowboarding and a New Bike . . .

So the common consensus on flexibility from what I’ve read is that being flexible is good, but being extremely flexible results in a loss of power for on the bike. Now I’m not sure exactly what qualifies as “extremely” flexible but I doubt being able to touch ones toes does, and I’m… well… well short of that. So in light of this I’ve done something I’ve been meaning to do for far too long without actually doing and actually started to take Beginner Yoga. Hopefully it works, seems like it should.

Winter has been hanging on pretty good around here so to break up the monotony of the trainer rides I let a co worker drag me out for a couple after work back country snowboard sessions. Working up in pass it’s right there and the snowshoe up is great fitness. Plus we hit probably the sickest pillow line I’ve ever done this past week, untracked, fresh powder with nice drops for pretty much the full run, so that was cool to say the least.

So onto the more cycling relevant part of the last little bit for me. Team bikes showed up a couple weeks ago in Vancouver so I ran down that weekend and picked it up. It looked pretty sweet, unfortunately the weather here was anything but cycling friendly, see the above snowboarding comment, so it’s been not too much more than an attractive room decoration. . . .

(White bikes are best. . . . agree with the 'attractive room decoration comment. . . what's with the steerer sticking out? - ed)

 

Spring seems to have finally started to show here so I finished building it up other then chopping the steer tube and took it out for a short spin last Friday to get it fully dialed in, weather was less than stellar so it really wasn’t very long. Sun came out to play on Saturday so I took the bike out on a 'stock' out and back training ride for around here down to a ferry landing, round trip about 115k from where I’m staying.

One would think since I did pretty much the same kind of duration ride my first ride in Victoria in January and have not done anything over an hour and half on the trainer since I got back that I’d have know what to expect. Very much not the case, I bonked, and there was no convenience store with a chocolate bar this time either. So yeah, last 20min or so was pretty much done at a painful crawl.

On occasion I do actually learn from my mistakes so the next day I had significantly more food on hand for the same ride and even felt good enough to tack on a little extra distance. VERY NICE to be outside on the bike again I must say.

In response to Thomas’s questions:

Thanks. Training since I got back from Victoria has been pretty consistently 4 trainer rides a week generally in blocks of 3-4 days consecutively. Rides generally consisting of about 5-7min warm up, about an hour at a high but sub TT pace then a cool down of about 5min. And yes, Giro or Tour DVD’s and Mp3 player make this possible. Now that it’s actually ride able outside, but still not a lot of available daylight after work I will see what I can fit in and take it from there as I’m pretty well burnt out of trainer riding. My nutritional plan is a little laughable, I try not to pig out or under eat too often, it’s pretty high carb and fairly minimal in actual junk food (I will admit to mild chocolate addictions from time to time though, but dark chocolate is supposed to be healthy right?).

MATT FILE

Hey.

My name is Matthew O’Hagan and I’m an amateur cyclist trying to make it to the professional level on the road and a friend thought some of you might be interested in following the trip, so I’m going to give this blogging thing a shot.

I’m currently based out of Revelstoke BC, Canada, admittedly not your typical cycling destination, but some of the training around here is top notch once, and a key once at that, the snow has retreated up the mountains a bit. Winter training came down to a mix of skate skiing, pushing weights in the gym, and a couple times a week on the trainer/rollers. The last week of January and the first week of February I spent in Victoria getting in some solid base rides up to 6 hours in length in and now am back in Revelstoke working and putting in some quality trainer time.

ITT in the Velocity Stage Race, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Racing sits just around the corner (and hopefully summer weather too as it snowed outside again today), I have a couple training races coming up later this month and then I’m moving into stage races of stage races in April, Walla Walla being the the first, pretty excited for it, 3 days, 4 stages and full rolling enclosures for the road stages. Also in April is one of my favorite BC courses in Race the Ridge which has a pretty significant climb every lap. Later in the year I should be getting to a number of other stage races including Banff, Tour de White Rock, and the Cascade Classic in Oregon, as well as an assortment of crits and one day races.

Matt (the blur in silver far left) going fast at the Banff Criterium 08'. You have to go pretty fast to become a blur. . . .

A bit of background on my athletics. I grew up playing the traditional Canadian sport of hockey, was decent but was forced to retire due to a shoulder injury late in high school. Decided to try my hand at cross country mountain bike racing, really wanted to try down hill racing, but couldn’t afford the bike so cross country was what I did, raced for a year and was able to move up from Junior Sport to Junior Expert where I got soundly beat for the rest of the season (didn’t quite get caught by all the elite women at nationals with a 3 minute head start). From there I moved onto some rowing with the University of Victoria, found that didn’t work so well outside of school so bought a used road bike and started learning. Was super excited about that bike and loved it. It was the GT team Lotto-Mobistar replica frame in the super obnoxious florescent lime green.

In between all of that I’ve found a bit of time for snowboarding and more recently I’ve been enjoying rock climbing, which brought a tiny bit of balance to my athletics last season.

I will keep you posted as the season progresses and hopefully you enjoy,

Matthew

MATT FILE

Hi All,

recently while training a few local riders at the gym, one of them asked me "how do I become a pro?" and "If I was a pro, would I be doing the training we are doing now?"

Both good questions! (Of course I wouldn't waste their time with NON-PRO training! What do they take me for. . . . ) This got me to thinking - WHY NOT ASK A PRO!

PLEASE LET ME INTRODUCE YOUNG AND UPCOMING CYCLIST MATTHEW O'HAGAN.

Now, Matt isn't Chinese, doesn't speak a word or Mandarin or Cantonese. . . he's not even Asian. So this doesn't fit too well with Shanghaivelo (but what the hell!). He is VERY close though - he is Canadian (I understand a few of you are scratching your heads. . ).

Matt is a very good friend and aspiring pro (he is right on the cusp!) and I have invited him to write about the trials and tribulations of TRYING to get to the top right here on our blog! Each post will give you some insight into the effort and hard work Matt is putting in to live the dream.


This is Matt. Expect to see his installments soon . . . . we will also have an "ASK MATT" so please emails your questions to rob_w_lamb@hotmail.com