This is a site about me (Andy Vaughn) and my dream of becoming a top–level professional cyclist. You can read my story here. I will do my best to record the process, including the struggles, successes, and failures all honestly on a regular basis.
Please feel free to offer support, guidance, criticism, or even good ol' trash talk. Thank you for visiting.
I read about this new mountain bike race in Brian Head, Utah this morning. This stage race looks awesome, with three long stages plus a prologue. It takes place August 21-24, a nice hot time to be spending four days in the desert sun.
The problem: The $400 entry fee is a bit steep. I know that I am not able to afford it without help. With gas, food, and lodging we’re looking at another $500 probably. If I manage to dig up some support or sponsors to back me in this race, I would definitely love being out there in Utah late Summer. If anyone is interested in offering support, I can be contacted at vaughn[dot]andy[at]gmail[dot]com or by phone at (541) 908-0713.
Anyone else planning on doing this race?
I’m down to 166lbs now. I have been stable at this weight for the last week and a half. With my goal of 156lbs, I only have 10 more to go before I reach it. Yay for me!
I have been wanting to share this for a while now. Here is my ipod playlist that I listen to while warming up for a race. It’s a bunch of angry, hardcore rock music. So, cover your eyes if you don’t like that type of music.
The list is also not ordered, as I have an ipod shuffle, and love that I get to be surprised by what type of angry music I get to listen to next.
The training has been going well. I am improving in speed as well as overall endurance. I think I will be ready to actually compete in the next week or two at the Banana Belt races. I probably will not be doing the BBII, but am definitely writing it in my schedule to do the BBIII, since it’s part of the Oregon Cup, and also a good distance for racing (77 miles).
So, with my own training, I have also been doing some coaching. And, one thing that I have done with some of my athletes is test their fitness and strength to see where they are compared to where they were. Here’s a quick run-down on how I test this:
For these, I give a fixed duration interval and fixed duration rest (for example 2 minutes all-out, 3 minutes rest). When your overall power starts to really drop, and you are no longer able to complete another full interval, I call that the end-point or maximal number of intervals. By measuring exactly how many of these you are able to do before complete exhaustion, you can monitor your progress.
Similar to the other intervals, except that you mix up the length of interval and/or length of rest. After doing these a number of times, you will find that you can hold the efforts longer and recover faster.
In cycling, there are few things that will make you as fast in the hills as losing pounds off your total weight. Some people will spend thousands of dollars trying to lose ounces off their bikes, but forget that donuts and cinnamon rolls make their purchase in vain. Another benefit, is that for men, who tend to carry much of their extra weight in their abdominal region, losing weight will make it so that they can be much more comfortable on the bike and reach a more aerodynamic position.
This is something that I like to take a look at on my rides after the ride. And, I particularly pay attention to it on easy-medium days. Everybody likes to test their speed on hard days, but I find that an increase in my easy-medium day average pace truly shows an increase in fitness. If I used to average 15.6 mph on most of my easy-medium rides, and I now average 17.1mph, then I have really shown that my comfort level at higher speeds has increased as well as my fitness. I also tend to look for trends, not specific days. Because a single day may be high due to group riding, tailwinds, or some other particular vigor. But, trends across weeks or months speak much more highly about your fitness.
My favorite test is to seek out the hardest hills in the area, whether by gradient (steepness) or length, and just do them. I don’t race up them, and I don’t particularly aim to pace them either. I try and make it so that just accomplishing the hill is a test in itself. We have a couple hills like this in the Corvallis area. Heather drive off Ridgewood is one of them, and I have a few secret others. But, I love to do these hills and see if it made me cry or dance with joy when I accomplished it.
Cherry pie was a tough race for me. Mainly due to the fact that I lost contact with the pack after a couple of surges and poor pack placement early on in the first lap. But, faced with the daunting idea of riding 40 miles alone, I was pleasantly surprised when Guinness’ rider Marco Rullo spun up and joined me. We rode together and finished the two laps significantly behind the field.
But, it’s a long season, and my fitness is increasing while my weight is dropping, so it’s only looking up from here.
Cheers!
-Andy
Hi, I know it’s been a while since I’ve put something new up, but with work and training, there’s little time to annotate it all… So, I thought I would share one of my staple workouts this time of year. I call it the”Hour of Power!”
For the indoors version, I do my workout at the Timberhill Athletic Club using their Expresso stationary bikes. Here’s a breakdown of the workout:
Wicknasty and Tree-Farm better watch out…looks like there’s a new bigfoot on the loose in Malaysia.
I saw this picture as I was scanning the preview of the Tour of Langkawi in Malaysia. I’ve always wanted to race in a tropical place like the island of Langkawi. Although, I once read that Tom Danielson trained inside a sauna on his trainer to get prepared for the heat and humidity - now that’s an animal!
Only 15lbs (6.8 kg for you Euro-folk) to go, until I reach my race goal weight of 156lbs! Yay!
I have been stable at between 170 and 172 for 5 days now, and this morning was at an even 171. So, I’m proud…6 percent, here we come!
Here’s some pictures of me with my off season weight *haha*:
I received my OBRA license in the mail today, and along with it came my MTB and Road numbers. Here’s a couple of pictures of me showing off my new numbers:
Here’s another one of my favorite snacks/lunches. This one you can even pack/slice up and bring on a training ride:
Roll it up in burrito-like fashion, and slice into 2 inch-long segments. Wrap in plastic wrap and pack for your next long ride. Mmm, mmm, good!
Andy Vaughn with wife Stacey. Read my story.
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