tag:mikezagorski.com,2010://1 2010-01-14T22:52:42Z Movable Type 4.3-en tag:mikezagorski.com,2010://1.586 2010-01-14T22:44:31Z 2010-01-14T22:52:42Z

Wow, it only feels like a few days since my last post, but it's been 11... I swear I was celebrating the transition from 2009 to 2010 a few days ago, but January is already half done! Training is going...

mzagorski www.mikezagorski.com Wow, it only feels like a few days since my last post, but it's been 11... I swear I was celebrating the transition from 2009 to 2010 a few days ago, but January is already half done! Training is going pretty good... After a few months of banging out the miles, I'm now a few weeks into intervals. The first interal session was a shock to the system, but every intervals workout I'm doing has been at higher watts than the previous. Nothing like a consistent gain in watts to boost the pre-season morale. I've been doing a fairly regular Saturday ride with 1-2 training partners, which turned into someone's birthday ride, and is currently snowballing into something even bigger. This weekend could be somewhat epic in terms of a long distance / quality o'ahu training ride! It also seems that luck, or at least avoiding serious injury, is something I've got going for me right now. Bullet-dodge numero uno was having some safety tape on a construction site blow into the road and wrap around my bars at speed. I managed to rip through the tape... Just! Bullet-dodge number two was last night... About 100ft from home, doing 25 mph, a black cat ran across Kalakaua Ave and BETWEEN my wheels. Cat lived and so did I! I still can't believe that I kept the rubber side down, and that the moggie retained a full coat of fur. I guess I had a lot more luck that poor Andreas Kessler who is in critical condition after a bike vs. cat run-in over in Mallorca at Astana's training camp. tag:mikezagorski.com,2010://1.585 2010-01-04T08:33:12Z 2010-01-04T08:46:58Z

Wow, it's already 2010... A new year and a fresh start! I've been getting a bit lazy with writing blog updates... Probably as a result of Facebook / Twitter... Anyway, here's a quick post on what I've been up to....

mzagorski www.mikezagorski.com Three SRM files from mid week rides... Short intervals on day 1 and 2, then longer climbs on day 3. So far, so good. I wrapped up this weekend by waking up at 6am to get in a couple hours of surfing, then met up with Casey Tucker for 4hrs of training on the bike... The ride culminated with an ascent of Kamehame Ridge which is one of my favorite places on O'ahu... The view is simply amazing. Kamehame Ridge. The CTL points are still being racked up, but I need to start getting in more intervals and a few more miles each week!]]> tag:mikezagorski.com,2009://1.584 2009-12-07T02:06:11Z 2009-12-07T02:27:40Z

Now that I'm back to getting in some time on my bike I figured I should post a blog update! I started training again in early November, gradually building up to riding most days of the week, keeping mon/fri and...

mzagorski www.mikezagorski.com This time we had a larger group of guys and made it around in just over 4hrs of actual ride time. The weather was perfect with little wind to be felt, we stopped at Waimea to watch some epic surf conditions that only slightly fell short of being able to run the Eddie Aikau contest, shave ice at Matsumoto's in Haleiwa, then back to town. Group shot at Waimea. (l-r) Mike Zagorski, Casey Tucker, Mark Little, Ed Kurzenski, Bill Jarvis, Nguyen Le. For the data junkies out there, those 4 days of riding put my CTL from 47.4 to 61.4, ATL went from 75 to 140.2, putting my TSB from -29.7 into a deep hole of -78.8. Nothing like taking mediocre fitness and giving it a swift kick in the balls to get it jump started! My happy time of living the life of not setting an alarm to wake up, and riding for however long I feel like screeches to a hault next Wednesday when I start a new job. I'll write some more about the job later, but it's going to be awesome and a lot of fun.]]> tag:mikezagorski.com,2009://1.582 2009-11-18T21:55:42Z 2009-11-19T00:00:39Z

As some people already know, I've decided to not race for Pacific Velo in 2010. I had a fun 2 years of being involved with building a team from zero, into a bigger monster, but I want to get back...

mzagorski www.mikezagorski.com As some people already know, I've decided to not race for Pacific Velo in 2010. I had a fun 2 years of being involved with building a team from zero, into a bigger monster, but I want to get back to enjoying my racing and not being so involved with the running of a team. My main goals for 2010 will be based around qualification for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, US National Championship events, and I'm currently looking for sponsors to help me. I do have some equipment sponsors lined up (which I will announce on January 1, 2010). Should the sponsor search come back fruitless, I may switch to Plan B :) tag:mikezagorski.com,2009://1.581 2009-11-09T02:45:00Z 2010-01-07T21:50:53Z

About a week ago while sitting in my car after work on a rainy day, I received a phonecall... First though, who the hell is calling me from an unknown mainland number? I decided to answer. "Hi, this is Sunny"......

mzagorski www.mikezagorski.com I'm going to get wet anyway and it's going to take more than a little precipitation to make me bail out. At about 8am, I met Sunny somewhere along the north shore, then drove to the house he's staying at while on island for the winter surf contests. He pulled out one board that was victim to some rocks earlier in the week. (Note - He prefers to surf without a leash because it makes him swim more!). Amongst the pile is a new board in his quiver that he sticker'ed up with his sponsors stickers (Rockstar / Affliction Clothing / BYB / etc.) After that we drove along the north shore to the Oakley house (They rent a beachfront house year-round)... Some Oakley guys were there to shoot some photos for their catalog, as well as various pro surfers. Not only was I going to surf with a legend, but I was riding one of his boards - A 6'-1" X 20" X 2-3/8" Patterson! We walked down some steps to the beach, then trekked along the sand to what seemed like a good entry point. After 5mins of fighting waves just trying to get out, it was quite obvious that this isn't town! The north shore seems to be a lot more powerful. We abandoned that location, walked further up the beach, and finally made it out. After taking a few poundings from the whitewater and duck diving some waves, it's actually happening, I'm paddling out with one of the best surfers in the world! We made it out to the lineup, amongst a mix of surfers and bodyboarders. Sunny was talking to an older surfer, and introduced me, and I later found out that that "older surfer" was Derek Ho! After a few failed efforts at getting into a wave, Sunny said that he was going to get me a wave... He told me where to go, when to paddle, and pushed one of my feet to give me a little boost... Bam, up and riding! I rode that wave all the way to the beach and it was so awesome. More, more, more!!! I caught up with Sunny and we paddled back out, and were passed by a surfer - Pancho Sullivan! Wow, I'm in a fishbowl of pro surfers. We spent about 3.5hrs in the water, and I caught some of my first north shore waves. Success! It's funny the image that you can have of someone based on what you read about them in the media, but Sunny is one of the friendliest and patient guys I've come across. Just don't push his buttons! =) One cool fact is that he just bought a road bike! Not some piece of crap from Walmart either. He rolls on a Giant TCR with clipless pedals! I feel so bad for the first driver that skims him on the north shore - "Cracks" will ensu!]]> tag:mikezagorski.com,2009://1.580 2009-11-06T08:04:18Z 2009-11-06T18:17:13Z

That's how I feel about my 2009 off-season! I swear it feels like I only just stepped off my pursuit bike at elite track nationals a week ago, but it's been a whole month. As I mentioned in my last...

mzagorski www.mikezagorski.com This is the damage from 15+ sea urchin (aka "wana", pronounced vah-nah). Surf lesson #7: Don't pet the wildlife, even if they look fluffy! Doesn't look too bad, but it's not the most enjoyable experience! Today, I got in my first real training ride after my time off. Nothing spectactular, just a 1hr 15min cruise to make sure my legs have retained a hint of fitness, and that my new winter bike functions properly. Legs and bike both function. Winter bike = 22lbs... That makes the legs feel a little less awesome than when I was riding my 15lb race bike. Right now I'm enjoying surf so much that getting back into serious bike training isn't the most appealing thing to be doing. Bike is a known quantity, whereas surfing still has a lot of unbroken ground... This weekend I'm meant to be going surfing with someone that REALLY knows what they're doing. I can't say much more than that until after the weekend, but trust me, it's unbelievably awesome!]]> tag:mikezagorski.com,2009://1.579 2009-10-19T06:05:01Z 2009-10-19T06:24:15Z

After a long season I'm currently about half way through my off-season... The last time I touched my bike was at track nationals and currently don't have any of my bikes built up to the point of being ride-able -...

mzagorski www.mikezagorski.com "Wax on, wax off!" - Miyagi-san. I caught my first wave on a long board a few years back, but this time I'm doing in the hard way... Trying to ride waves on a short board. Right now I own a 5' 11" board that proved hard work when it came to catching waves, and a loaner board that's a 6' 10'. Only a little bigger, but a noticeable increase in buoyancy, which has helped make the learning curve a little less steep. So far I've been out in waves up to about 3-4ft range (3-4ft = Hawaiian, which is 6-8ft face) and so far I've not reached what I feel is my limit of comfortable level. I've had enough wipeouts to have my technique for that dialed in... The surfing part is coming slowly but surely. It's fun to be out in the ocean doing a sport that I suck at, vs. bike racing where I've got a little slice of talent. Figuring out new stuff and experiencing different wave conditions is fun. Picking sea urchin spikes out of my foot was less enjoyable. Surfing is definitely humbling, and a bit stress reliever. My bike collection isn't up for sale yet, but damn surfing sure is addictive!]]> tag:mikezagorski.com,2009://1.578 2009-10-05T17:27:35Z 2009-10-05T17:31:44Z

mzagorski www.mikezagorski.com ]]> tag:mikezagorski.com,2009://1.577 2009-10-03T03:22:11Z 2009-10-03T09:34:30Z

Riding the Individual Pursuit (IP) at Master Nats had been on the plan since the end of 2008, but IP / Elite Nats was thrown together only a month ago. Dick Evans RR was meant to be the bookend to...

mzagorski www.mikezagorski.com In the end, I was 7th place overall with 4:53.829 at an average speed of 49.008kph (30.5mph) at 112rpm and 400w. 5 seconds faster and I'd have been in 5th and in the medals. Phinney qualified fastest with a 4:30.855 ahead of Roman Kilun's 4:41.340, Julian Kyer's 4:46.967, and Daniel Harm's 4:48.929 (2nd place behind Phinney in 2008). I did the first 3km in 3:39.534 which is about 5 sec faster than I went at Master Nats in Co. Springs back in August. 1km extra distance and at higher watts... Not totally the result that I wanted, but I'm somewhat content with it given that I don't have a track to train on in Hawaii. Thanks to everyone that helped get me to Elite Nats - Shannon O'Shea (expert motorpacing), Nguyen Le / Momentum Multisports, Hawaiian Airlines, and my sponsors for the 2009 season... and Stu Press / LaGrange (my old team) for helping me out with a place to stay while in LA.]]> tag:mikezagorski.com,2009://1.576 2009-10-02T06:59:50Z 2009-10-02T07:40:28Z

Today was my first day of racing at the 2009 USA Cycling Elite Track Nationals in Carson, CA - The 4km Team Pursuit. My trip here has been planned around the Individual Pursuit, but I put together last minute team...

mzagorski www.mikezagorski.com Me with not so mini-Phinney. Younger than his dad, yes... Mini, not so much! I'm 5'10' and he made me feel like a short ass. Photo taken by his mom - Connie Carpenter-Phinney ('84 Olympic road race gold medallist!) Tall dude = Tall bike! Top 5 places at Nationals get medals, so I get to take back a little piece of bling to the islands. Next up for me is the Individual Pursuit qualifying session tomorrow afternoon. Game on!]]> tag:mikezagorski.com,2009://1.575 2009-09-26T00:52:17Z 2009-09-26T01:05:17Z

In less than a week from now I'll be doing some hot laps of this place at USA Cycling Elite Track Nationals... ADT Velodrome, Carson, CA. Going to be racing the Team Pursuit (4km) on Oct 1 with Danny Finneran...

mzagorski www.mikezagorski.com ADT Velodrome, Carson, CA. Going to be racing the Team Pursuit (4km) on Oct 1 with Danny Finneran from Rock Racing, and 2 other guys, then the Individual Pursuit (4km) on Oct 2. Training has gone perfect this week... I lowered the front end of the track bike and wasn't sure how well that would work out, but I managed to tear up my Tuesday moto workout on Lagoon maxing out at about 41mph each way at 135rpm (53 x 14). The lower front end of actually more comfortable and no drop in power. One cool thing about racing on the indoor velodrome is that I can rock out the front disc and not have a repeat of the Co. Springs master nationals "oh shit, it's too windy to run a front disc" moment. Who's bright idea was that anyway?! No huge changes over the setup that I used for master nationals other than using an adjustable stem to get my front end lower, different helmet that works better with my aero position, and maybe a reduction in gear inches seen as I've got no problems with high cadence. Lots of lessons learned after master nationals which I'll hopefully not repeat at elite nationals. I'll have a world champion to race against in the form of Taylor Phinney! Ouch!!]]> tag:mikezagorski.com,2009://1.574 2009-09-12T00:02:27Z 2009-09-12T00:04:40Z

Dan Miller (Quick Release) just had his Trek Madone 6.9 stolen from the University of Hawaii... It's mostly white with red trim. Dura-ace groupset (not sure yet if it's 7800 or 7900) with look pedals. If you see it or...

mzagorski www.mikezagorski.com Dan Miller (Quick Release) just had his Trek Madone 6.9 stolen from the University of Hawaii... It's mostly white with red trim. Dura-ace groupset (not sure yet if it's 7800 or 7900) with look pedals. If you see it or have any info give BikeFactory a call (808) 596 8844.]]> tag:mikezagorski.com,2009://1.571 2009-09-08T23:54:04Z 2009-09-18T02:10:21Z

My final prep for the 2009 edition of the 112-mile Dick Evans Memorial Road Race was bike cleaning at 9pm and hitting the hay at 9:30pm. By far the earliest that I've got to sleep before DEMRR! Race day started...

mzagorski www.mikezagorski.com (l-r) Mike Zagorski, Alika Chee, Thomas Novikoff, Ray Brust, Carl Brooks SRM File (Entire Race) SRM File (Initial attack on Kunia) peaking at 950w, and averaging 434w for 3mins at 15.6mph and 185bpm.]]> tag:mikezagorski.com,2009://1.570 2009-09-05T04:36:42Z 2009-09-05T04:56:57Z

So there was me thinking that after Master Track Nationals at the tail end of August, I could just cruise along for a couple weeks, then bookend my season with Dick Evans. Fast forward to Sept 2nd, when I receive...

mzagorski www.mikezagorski.com So there was me thinking that after Master Track Nationals at the tail end of August, I could just cruise along for a couple weeks, then bookend my season with Dick Evans. Fast forward to Sept 2nd, when I receive an email from USA Cycling letting me know that I'm good to go for ELITE Track Nationals in the first week of October. There goes my end of season rest!... Well, at least it's been placed on hold for another month. Normally I'd want to end my season about now, but I had a more relaxed build into this season and don't have any feelings of burnout that I've had in past years. Game on! I've wanted to race Elite Nationals for a while now, but the previous hurdle had been rules concerning citizenship requirements - Previously, non-citizens were restricted to racing Master Nats, and ineligible for Elite Nats. I'm not sure if it was some of my doing, but this year the rules have been re-written as I found out by accident. This has worked out perfectly because I really needed to do a 4km pursuit if I want to have any hope of qualifying for the 2010 Commonwealth Games team (Scotland). It's still a big if, but based on how things went at Master Track Nats, and knowing I have a faster pursuit in my legs than a 3:44, gives me some hope for the future. Getting on the podium at Elite Nats is more of a secondary goal... The main one is knocking out a fast enough time to quality for the 2010 CWG. For a Scottish athlete, the CWG are the highest level of the sport (cycling) that you can represent Scotland. Beyond that would be the Olympics or World Championships where you race under the British flag. I'm no Bradley Wiggins, but I really hope I can earn my chance to represent Scotland, and do it in absolute peak fitness. Anyway, before jumping back into the track-specific training, i've got one final Hawaii race to get out of the way. This Sunday is the Dick Evans Memorial Road Race - 112 miles of fun. OK, there's about 30 miles of neutral before the party starts, but it's pretty much the highlight race of the season for any serious cyclist living in Hawaii. In a way, it's as good as the unofficial state road race championship, and I've yet to win it. I've bagged the KoM for the past 3 years, and attempted a Jacky Durand-esque do-or-die solo breakaway 60+ miles from the finish. Each year I've clawed my way a little further east along the windward coast before getting reeled in. Maybe this will be there year that I can make that move stick... Check back on Sunday afternoon to see how the battle played out! tag:mikezagorski.com,2009://1.569 2009-08-20T00:32:06Z 2009-08-20T00:49:57Z

Today was the event that I've been training for since January this year... The 3k Pursuit! Lots of unknowns... Minimal velodrome time, and having not ridden a pursuit for about 5 years, I really didn't know what to expect. Based...

mzagorski www.mikezagorski.com Not quite the result that I was expecting, but I guess taking home two bronze's from my first attempt at track nationals isn't a total failure. Bring on 2010!]]>