Trek Race Report: 2nd Place 트렉 레이스데이 후기: 2등했어요!

Last Saturday I participated in the Trek race which was held in Tae An on the west coast of Korea.  Tae An is one of my favorite places to race and I have a pretty good record of racing there.  In 2010 in my first race there I won and then last year I finished second.  I was hoping to step back up to the top of the podium this time. 
It was a super windy day and I was racing in the Men's Senior (age 20-30) MTB road division.  On the start list there were nearly 100 riders listed but there were a lot less who actually showed up and due to the wind the pack broke apart really quickly.  After just a few miles it was just me, MunSu Jin (a really fast rider in just his 3rd year racing) and Yujin Jeong (a rider from the Giant team who I am usually close to in races).  I thought I had the best sprint of our group so my goal was just to maintain my energy to the finish but Munsu had other plans.  There are 2 hills on the course and going up the second one he attacked hard.  Yujin and I were unable to follow and he opened a gap up.  We continued to chase on the flats and finally caught him with about 10km of flat windy road to go.  Also at this point my old teammate Ji Haeng who was racing in the veteran category had caught up to my group and began pulling us at a pretty high pace.  With one K to go he told us to start sprinting for the win in our group and backed off the gas.  I sat back and then Munsu attacked.  I waited for Yujin to chase but he couldn't get on MunSu's wheel.  At this point he had a few meters on us and then I went.  I had let the gap get too big however and couldn't close it.  I sat up and got back in Yujin's draft then passed him again right at the line.  I was happy with second place but disappointed that I didn't immediately follow MunSu when he attacked since I think I maybe could have gotten him on the line.  Second was still a great result though considering I'm not in as a good of shape as I was this time last year.  This weekend I have a break from racing since I have final tests next week and in 2 weeks I have a flat road race which is the next stop in the Korea Cycling Federation's Amateur race series. 

지난주토요일 태안에있는 트렉레이스데이 다녀왔어요.  저 태안에있는대회 좋아요왜냐하면 나거기서 좋으결과 나왔어요.  2010년TDK 프리테스트에서 일등하고 장년 2등했어요.  이번에다니 일등으로 올로가고싶었어요.  나 이번에 남자시니어 MTB타로왔어요 그로기 이거 내새캐논대일산악자전거 첫경기이얐어요.
토요일에 바람너무 열심히 불렀지만 날씨좋았어요.  스타트하고 5분타고 내그릅에 3명 남고있었어요!  나 진문수랑 정유진형이랑 같이피니쉬까지 타면 나 라스트치고 할거예요 햇어요.  하지만 문수가 다른계획있었어요!  두번째언덕에서 문수 어택하고  나갔어요.  나 유진이랑 잡아봤지만 차이있었어요.  하지만  평지 나오고 우리 10키로 정도 남을때 잡았어요.  그리고 지행형 우리 3명 잡았어요.  지행형 앞에타고 너무 빨리뒤였어요.  1키로 남을때 형이 안녕하고 우리 3명 스프린트시작!  나 뒤에 다다하고 먼저 문수갔어요.  유진형 잡아봤지만 못잡고 나 좀다다하고 나갔어요 하지만 나도 못잡았어요그래서 다시 유진형 다다하고 마지막 50미터에 갔어요 2등하고. 아쉽지만 2등 하고했어서 좋았어요.  문수 스프린트 시작 할때 꼭 가야했는데 기다렸어서 못잡았어요.  문수 이번시즌 너무 잘탈거같아요!! 
대회 타고 다시 만리포 혼자 자전거타고갔어요 그리고 주형형이랑 승용이랑 낙지복음먹고 집으로갔어요! 

Gapyoung and New 29er 가평이랑 첫 29인치라이딩 더보기

I had my first race of the season last weekend.  It was a 60kmish road race in Gapyoung north or Seoul.  The pack was 300 riders but luckily the course had a pretty big climb that we did 4 times that thinned out the pack pretty quick.  The race also finished with a 3kmish climb meaning I didn't have much confidence for a good finish since I'm normally more of a sprinter than a climber.  My goal was to hit the final climb with the lead pack and then just ride steady to the finish.  I also wanted to help one of my teammates Hwan Geol who had won the first race of the 6 race series this was a part of.  Unfortunately though he was suffering from a cold and didn't have great legs. 
I acheived my goal of making it to the final climb with the lead pack and finished 39th.  Hyung Mo Lee, a super strong rider who consistently beat me when we were in break aways together last year, broke away solo and finished more than a minute up on the pack.  But the best finish of the day came from my two teammates Myo Jin and Sang Jun who both won their age categories.  Sangjun is a high school student who joined my team last year and is a really good climber but doesn't have much power for the flats yet.  He was riding well and stormed the final climb to win the under 30 age group and finish 6th overall.  It was a pretty amazing result considering he is only 16!  Myo Jin is our star girl rider and it wasn't a big surprise that she won the women's category.
This past weekend I finally got to take my new Cannondale 29er off road.  I went down to Yongin near where I used to teach to ride some fire roads and was very impressed.  I climbed a hill that I never cleared in 3 years of living in Yongin.  I think the big wheels help keep traction better when climbing steep stuff.  I'm looking forward to taking it out for some mountain bike races soon.  This weekend I'm doing a 50km road race on it which should be pretty fun. 

지난주못썼지만 나 가평 마스터즈 대회 갔다왔어요.  가평 코스 너무 어려워서 내 하고싶은거그냥 마지막 언덕까지 앞그룹이랑타고싶었어요.  환걸형도 도와주고싶었는데 코스 너무 힘들었어서 잘못도와졌어요. 나 39등하고탔어요! 첫대회이야서괜찮아요.  내결과별로이얐지만 우리팀 막내 상준이 너무 잘탔어요.  상준이 원래 언덕잘타니까 이코스 너무 잘탈수있었는거이얐어요.  마지막언덕에서 상준이 너무 빨리타고 전체6등하고 시니어 1등했어요!! 묘진누나도 여자부1등했어요! 
이번주 나 두디어 새 캐논데일 29인치 오프로드 코스 타로갔어요.  용인에 친구 파티있어서 자전거 가지가고  묵리 임도코스 탔어요.  29인치 바귀 찐자 생각 보다 좋아요.  원래 못타는언덕 잘올로갈수잇어요!  큰바귀 grip 너무새요!  첫 어프로드대회 기대해요 하지만 이번주말에  트랙대회 엠티비로드로 나가요!  아마도 가평이나 무주 첫  찐자 엠티비대회이얄거같아요. 

Riding with the Korean Pro Team LX Systems 엘엑스 선수단과함게라이딩후기

Last Sunday my team got a pretty cool opportunity.  We went for a ride with one of the Korean professional road teams and then went out for lunch and coffee with them.  The team consists of just 6 riders but they were all really nice guys.  It was a really great opportunity for me to ask some questions about how pro cycling in Korea works.  The team Captain Seon Jae Jang was really good at English and helped answer a lot of my questions.  Pro racing in Korea is much different than the US. 
First all the distinction between pro and amateur in Korea is very strong.  The pros have a completely seperate set of races they do and amateurs are not allowed to participate.  There are about 100 registered pro riders in Korea so they still have ok size fields at most of their races.  Also they only have pro racing about once a month which is usually a road stage race or a set of track competitions.  Most of the pro riders do both road and track as a result of this.  Finally the biggest difference is that even though most of the teams aren't registered as UCI continental teams all of the riders get paid a decent livable salary and as a result can focus on nothing but training and racing.  Also their races don't give prize money but if they do well they will get a higher salary the next year.  Definitely a big difference between many of the continental pro racers in the US.  Also basically every pro rider started biking in middle or high school at a sports high school and were basically brought up through the Korean pro development system.  There aren't many riders who are pros who didn't participate in an organized high school racing team.  It was interesting to finally get a lot of my questions answered about how pro racing works!
Overall it was a really fun and informative day and a nice ride with some great guys.  The pros are doing a 3 day stage race that starts tomorrow in Gapyoung north of Seoul.  Following this race there is a one day race for amateurs that I will be riding in.  I can't wait to get my season started! 
I didn't take many pictures but my teammate Myo Jin did so I'm putting a link to her blog here if your interested in seeing them.  She writes really nice detailed blogs about every team ride and race.  Click the picture with the rider in the red jersey to see the blog about our ride. 

http://blog.naver.com/miao333

지난주 일요일 너무 특별한라이딩있었어요!  우리팀 LX 시스템 선수단이랑 같이달렸어요!  나 한국 프로선수들에게 물어보고싶은거 너무많있어서 신났어요! 장년 투르두코리아에서 장찬재선수 한번만났지만 이번에  찬재선수형 장선재선수만났어요.  선재선수 영어너무 잘할수있어서 얘기 많이했어요.  한국 선수 생활은 미국 프로 선수 보다 많이 달라요! 
우리 자전거 40키로 정도 타고 칼국수 먹으로 갔어요!  너무 맛있는 가평 칼국수 먹고 유명한커피샵왔어요!  이커피샵바리스타 몇년전에 월드바리스타 대회 일등했어요!!!  선수들이랑 우리팀과함게 너무 재미있는하루보냈어요. 
이번주  토요일  내 올해시작이다.  가평에서 열심히타고 환걸형 일등다시하기위에서 좀 도와지봐야해요! 
나 이번에 사진 많이 안찍었지만 묘진 누나 브로그 보면 좋은사진이너무많아요. 

Getting back in shape 자전거 몸 좀좀 좋아지고있어요.

첫 라이딩 보다 여즘 몸이너무 많이 좋아졌어요!  2월마지막주 부터 훈련 조금했어요.   매주 월수금 나 학교에있는 헬스장에서 웨이트트레이닝 하고 다는 날 시간있으면 자전거 탔어요.  이번주는 나 내친구 어익선 우리 동내로 라이딩 하로 왔어요.  익선 1년동안 호주에있어서 오랜만에 만났어요.  우리 화요일 오후에 성대에서 송추, 장흥관광지로 탔어요 그리고 마지막에 부각스카이웨이 올로갔어요!  자전거 타고 우리 내 같이 공부하는 외국인친구들이랑 밥먹었어요. 익선 호주가기전에 보다 영어 많이 늘었어요! 
다음주 내시즌 시작이에요 그래서 좀 탈거에요! 가평 부터 대회 많이 나갈거같아요! 
그리고 저 지난주 모델링 했어요!  바이크온 자전거 옷회사 여름 옷 입고 4시간동안 사진 찍었어요!  재미있었지만 너무추웠어요!!  밑에있는사진은 나익선이랑 일영리에서 찍었어요, 내새로 받는헬멧입고있어요! 

I'm in much better shape than I was for my last post!  I've been lifting weights 3 times and week and riding when ever I have time.  I had a really great ride on Tuesday since Ik Son, a Korean friend of mine from Suwon, came to visit me up at my school.  He was the first Korean bike friend I made who was my age.  I met him at the first club I rode with in Suwon.  He just spent the last year in Australia working as a bike mechanic and traveling and his English has gotten way better.  We did a nice 3.5 hour ride north of Seoul on some new roads I discovered that have some nice long gradual climbs.
 The first race of my season is next week.  Its in Gapyoung north east of Seoul and the course is pretty hard. Its a 20km loop with a 4km ish climb each lap and a finishing climb of about 3km.  There are going to be over 300 riders in the race though so having a pack that big will make the climbs seem a lot smaller.  I need to get out and do some more climbing this weekend to get ready for it.

Also, last week I got to be a model for a Korean bike clothing company.  Its called Bike On.  We did a 4 hour photo shoot in a park north of Seoul.  It was for their summer line and it was only about 45 degrees so was freezing.  Once I get some picks back I will post them on here.  The pic below shows me and Ik Son plus the new helmet I got from Bike On. 

Back to Training! 이제 훈련 다시 시작이다!

Sorry I haven’t updated the blog in a while.  I had a long and eventful winter but it did not involve much training.  School was really tough for the past 7 weeks and I had an awesome trip to China 10 days too.  I also spent a lot of time skiing and organized a ski trip for my classmates in January.  Its time for a new semester at school though and I’ve arranged a pretty good schedule for training.  Also the snow that has stuck around most of the winter has finally melted making it a lot easier to train outside. 

The first race of the season was actually last week but since I haven’t been training I decided to skip it.  My teammates Hwan Geol Lee and Myo Jin Kim won the race though for the men and women overall though so for the team it was a big success.  The race was the first in a 6 race series that is being promoted by the Korean Cycling Federation.  Other than the Tour de Korea this is their first foray into organizing amateur races.  Basically they have pro stage races in Korea about once a month and along with every pro stage race they are going to have an amateur road race now.  These races are a points series and serve as the qualifying process for the Tour de Korea which is being moved to October for the amateurs this year.  The courses all look pretty tough and there is another race at the end of the month, which I will do.  Its exciting to see amateur racing in Korea progress like this. 

April has a lot of races too.  There is either a road or mtb race every weekend for the whole month.  I’m hoping to get a lot of good training in for the next few weeks to be in shape for the April racing. 

오랜만에 브로그 쓰고있어요!  이번겨울  자전거 안타고 너무빠브고 안썼어요.  하지만 재미있는거 많이했어요.  설날때 중국 갔다왔어요그리고 스타힐리조트에서 스키랑 보드 많이탔어요.  하지만 3월부터 자전거 훈련시작햇어요.  이번 학기는 일정 너무 잘됐어요.  화목금 자전거 타는시간 너무 많아서 훈련 많이 해볼거예요. 

지난 주 올해첫대회있었지만 훈련안했어서 안나갔어요.  가평대회 부텨 열심히 달릴거예요.  나 안갔지만 우리 팀 너무 잘탔어요.  환걸형, 묘진 누나 둘이 일등하고왔어요!  대한싸이클 연맹 마스터즈 시리즈 만들었어서 올해신난다!  그리고 4월에 대회 너무 많아요.  그래서 3월동안 너무 열심히 탈거에요!  매주 산악이나 싸이클대회있어요.  훈련 잘하고 4월달 대회 잘타면 좋겠어요!  

India 인도여행

I had a great winter vacation visiting one of my best friends from college Naveen John.  The trip was basically two parts: the 9 day Tour of Nilgiris and then a 10 day trip with Naveen around central southern India. 

Tour of Nilgiris
This was a 9 day tour/ race.  Everyday we rode anywhere from 60-170km and on 5 of the stages there were individual time trials that were fairly short (all under 30km).  Since I'm not a very good time trialist I wasn't expecting anything spectacular from the race but I was still hoping to do ok.  After the first 2 TTs I was sitting in 6th overall and thinking I could move up a bit but then disaster struck!  I got food poisoning and ended up spending all night on the toilet before the one of the big stages and I couldn't ride it.  I was pretty sick for about a day and a half and then I stared recovering. After missing one day I was out of the race classification and just rode the other 2 TTs for fun.  My friend Naveen (who is a really good time trialist) ended up getting second overall to his teammate Lokesh.  Other than getting sick the tour was a lot of fun. 
I met some great new friends and got to ride on some amazing roads in addition to seeing a lot of southern India.  The riding was half in an area called the Nilgiris which was a mountain area that sat at about 2000m.  The mountains however were basically 99% covered in team plantations which made for some pretty scenery and allowed you to constantly have a great view of the terrain around you.  The rides we did on the middle stages of the tour definitely rank with some of the best rides I have ever done in my life with awesome roads and tons of climbing.  The second to last day finished with a 40km+ long descent which was by far the longest downhill I have ever done. 
Riding in India was nice too as all along the road there are little shops selling snacks that are super cheap in addition to other people selling things like coconuts and fresh fruit.  The roads were pretty bad in some areas but overall they were much nicer than I expected.
I was impressed by the organizers and volunteers of the tour too.  They really put in a lot of effort to make sure everything ran smoothly and we stayed in some really nice places also. 

After the race we headed back to Bangalore which is where Naveen lives and got ready for our big road trip!  Christmas was nice too, we spent it with Naveen's parents and had a lot of amazing food.  Naveen's mom and dad are both great cooks and every day we spent at their house we were completely stuffed from eating all of the amazing food they would make for breakfast, lunch and dinner!  The best food I had in India was definitely had there!  They also taught me the fine art of eating with my hands which is how most people in India eat! 

We set off on our trip together first by taking a night bus to Kudremukh National park.  The park is north of Banglore about 9 hours on really bumpy twisty roads.  Needless to say neither of us slept very well on the bus however when we arrived at 7am we were ready to go.  Kudremukh national park is an old iron ore mining area that has now been turned into a park with great hiking.  After arriving at the park office to get some more information we were informed that we could stay at a guest house at the start of the trail.  We then took a local bus and an auto rickshaw (three wheeler taxi) up a crazy dirt road and arrived at our accomodation.  After dropping off our bags we headed off on the hike to the top which was about 10km each way.  The hike was on a pretty tough trail but Naveen and I kept our pace up to make sure we would make it back before dark.  The whole hike was on these huge hills covered in knee high grass making for really nice views in all directions.  The top of the mountain was amazing too and had about a 1000m drop off one side!  We also got to see some wild buffalo along the hike.  After arriving back at the house we cleaned up by swimming in a waterfall!  For dinner the wife of the owner of the house cooked us the spiciest chicken either of us had ever eaten.
There is a lot more to write but I will have to write it in my next blog!  Look at my Facebook page if you want to see some pictures too! 

이번 겨울방학나 인도갔다왔어요!  여행부분주개있었어요: 9일동안자전거투어대회타고 10일동안 친구랑그냥여행하고했어요.  내친구 이름 나빈이에요 그리고 방가로루 살고있어요.  친구인도 사람인데 우리 우리 대학교 자전거 동호회에서 만났어요.  

자전거대회는 이름투어어브 닐그리스 이얐어요.  닐그리스 가 인도 남쪽 유명한 산 이름이에요.  이대회는 완전 대회이니얐어요.  매일 60부터 170키로 타고 5번 개인 타임트라이얼 있었어요. 나 원래 TT 잘못타지만 이번에 그냥 좀해볼거에요햇어요.  2번재 티티 끝나고 나 6등하고있었지만 그다음날  장염 걸렸어요ㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜ. 배완전 아파서 나 대회날 하나 바졌어요 그래서 내결과끝났어요.  36시간정도 쉬고 자전거 탈수있었어요.  이투어 생각보다 좋았어요.  인도 산이 찐자 아름답고 도로 도 재미있었어요.  7번재 스테이지에 40키로 자리 다운힐있었어요!  이렇게 킨 낼이막 길 처음탔어요.  인도 산에서 타도 왕승이 많았어요!  나 야생왕승이 처음보는거이니까 너무 신났어요!  이투어 너무좋았고 새 친구 도 많이 만날수있었어요  여시 투어 하는사람들 다 영어 잘할수있어서.   
나대회 결과없었지만 내 방문하는친구 나빈  2등했어요 나빈 팀메이트 도 1등했어요!  자전거투어 끝나고 우리 다시 친구 집으로 갔어요. 
친구 부모님 크리스쳔 사람이야서 우리 특별한 크리스마스 저녁 먹었어요.  내친구 부모님 요리 너무 잘할수있어서 우리 매날 배 아플때 까지 맛있는음식 먹었어요.  그리고 인도 에서 사람들 그냥 손으로 음식먹어요!

크리스마스 끝나고 우리 여행하로갔어요!  첫가는 거 쿠더묵 국림공원이얐어요.  9시간동안 밤에 타는 좌석 버스 타고 아침7시 도착했어요.  도착하고  공원 사무실에서 안내 좀찾았어요.  이공원입구에서 괜찮은 게스트 하우스 있어서 고기서 자야해요 음식 준비도할수있었요.  숙소 도착하고 우리 20키로 왕복등산갔어요.  이공원 원래 철광석 단지 야서  나무 많이 없었어요.  지금 풀많아요 그래서 360 뷰있었어요.  항상 아름다운 언덕 볼수있어요.  정상에도 엄청 큰 cliff 있었어요 한 1000m 낼리막!  정상에도 야생 buffalo 봤어요!!  우리 등산끝나고 숙소옆에 폭포 수영하고 너무 맛있는 인도식 불닭먹고 잘잤어요. 

다른 쓸게 너무많아서 다음 브로그에서쓸거에요!  사진 보고싶으면 내 페북으로 가보세요! 

The start of the sort of off season/ 시즌끝났지만 좀타야겠다

My race on November the 11th was the last one of my Korean racing season.  There was actually another cyclocross race scheduled for the 25th of November but it got cancelled/delayed until an unknown date due to the presidential election in mid December.  I was really looking forward to doing another cross race here in Korea, maybe they will reschedule it for January or February next year.
Since racing is over I've been starting to think about wanting to go skiing but since I moved to Seoul for business school this year didn't think I would be able to get a season ski ticket anywhere.  However lucky for me one of my other classmates bought one for Star Hill resort (starhill.co.kr) which is located only about 20 miles from our school!  I'm going to get one too and we are going to hopefully go skiing after school at least a few times a week.

While I'm excited for the ski season I'm also trying to stay in shape for my trip to India which will involve an 8 day tour/race.  Saturday I went out and did a 100km or so ride with a group of guys I've been riding with.  We went out to a Namhansanseong which is a pretty nice climb just south of Seoul.  It was gradually up hill for 5 or 6 km and then had a really awesome twisty downhill back to the outskirts of Seoul.  This weekend I will hopefully get out for another nice ride and hopefully by next week the ski resort will be open!

지난 강진 산악 자전거 대회 내가 이번시즌 마지막 시합아얐어요.  11월 25일 한국사이클로크로스 연맹대회  있었지만 대선 때문에 연기/취소 됬어요.  나 그 대회 너무타고싶었어요!  내년 1월이나2월 하면 꼭 가야겟다.
자전거 시즌끝났어서 나 스키 생각시작했어요!  이번에 대학원때문에 서울 로 이사했어서 시즌권까지 못할거같았지만 우리 학교 에있는 재호형  스타힐 리조트 시즌권 사자했어요.  리조트작지만 우리 학교랑 제일 까가운스키장 이니까  시즌권가고 많이 타볼거에요!
지난주에 시즌끝났지만 인도 대회 위에서 나 좀탔어요.  같이 타는 형들 몆명 이랑 남한산성갔다왔어요.  생각보다 남한산성 재미있었어요!  내리막 길 완전 좋았어요!  이번주말에도 조금 긴라이딩 코스 해봐야겟다 그리고 다음주 스키장 오픈 하면 갈거에요!