Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Vacation!

Igda and I are heading out now for some R&R up at Deep Creek Maryland through Sunday.  I’m looking forward to it!  Happy 4th!

 

Friday, June 26, 2009

Not a good sign

I dropped my bike off at Conte's on Monday to get the rear wheel trued along with a few other items fixed from my spill during the crit race. The wrench called me and asked me what the heck happened and that I needed a new rear tire? When he was removing the tire he noticed the bead had separated from the tire. I'm not sure if this was the cause of my slide out or not, but it's certainly not a good confidence booster for running Pro 3's. Here's the pic of the tire:







Work has been going berzerk this week. I haven't ridden all week. I may end up working all weekend so I can go on vacation next week. Grrr. Who knows? I may try to get to the RTC if nothing more to help a teammate.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Tour of Washington County (TofW) weekend

I will readily admit, I was pretty excited about my chances of doing really well at TofW. I think a stage race format suits me fairly well especially since this race was going to be based on time and it included an individual time trial.

During the week leading up to the race, we had some interesting discussions within the team. Like most teams, we started the process of identifying our roles, laying out strategy and establishing a battle plan for the weekend.

I’m going to regress for a bit here, but one of the primary reasons I joined WWVC was that the underlying philosophy of our racing strategy generally always puts an emphasis on team over individual accomplishments. Plus, I really liked the guys I had met and enjoyed racing with them. There’s one interesting dynamic to racing as a team which I hadn’t really given much thought to before TofW. It involves putting ego and ambitions aside to view the big picture for what we want to accomplish. I tend to think that many people and teams place a big emphasis on personal results. Heck, the way things are setup for upgrading, it basically drives this home. No fault of anyone really, but the system doesn’t always reward those team members who day in and day sacrifice themselves so others get the glory. It takes a lot for someone to risk blowing up during a race in order to set the chess pieces in place for a possible victory for the team at the line. Quite honestly, I don’t see this all that much. But the teams that do well always appear to sacrifice. Similar to DC Velo at RSR where I think 3 or 4 guys came in DFL. Those guys gave it their all to keep the pace hot and heavy. Personal results didn’t matter. You won’t see that in the results, but if you are watching someone sacrifice like that in a race it’s so cool to see. It’s motivation to do well. It commands total respect. Maybe even more than actually watching the finishing sprint. You don’t see a lot of books or literature tailored to this unselfish attribute. It’s generally all about how “you” can win.

Well to make a long story short, I believe we grew as a team throughout our preparation and racing at TofW. Sure, it took us a bit to get there, but in the end, all of the discussion eventually led back to the interest of the team. It was healthy for us. Everyone laid out their expectations and what they were willing to sacrifice to put the team first. That’s all that mattered.

For the first time, I was designated as the “main effort” to win GC. I’ll admit, I was a little nervous going in. There’s a bit more weight to carry when you know everyone is sacrificing so you can do well. I knew I had the fitness to do well. I just needed to command the confidence within myself to do it.

Saturday’s Road Race:

I have to give General Gus a lot of credit. He called how this race was going to go down to a tee. He did an admirable job making sure it happened as well. We expected the field to whittle down with about 15-20 guys going to the line. We had a good idea BikeRack had similar ambitions. My only interest was making sure nobody got any time gaps other than finishing time bonuses. I was pretty confident I could take back any time bonuses plus some during the time trial. My main objective was to make sure I finished with the lead group and not spend any energy unnecessarily. With Gus, Chris and Ryan all contributing at the front, I really didn’t have anything to worry about. A break wasn’t going to get away. As planned, I rolled across the line 7th in the RR, losing a few seconds + some time bonuses to the top 3. No biggie. Race #1 over and we’re positioned right where we wanted to be. My legs felt really good afterward.

Sunday morning TT:

I slept like crap. I could not stop thinking about the TT. I’ll admit, knowing when it’s your time to shine puts a little more weight on the mind. I tried to stay positive and focus on what I know I can do versus worrying about the competition. I knew there were a couple guys who can ride a TT well, but I just needed to focus on what I could control.

When I started my warm-up, I knew it was a good day. My legs were fine. I worked on mentally pumping myself beforehand. No pressure. This was just another training day. Do what you know you can do. Heck, before I knew it, I was lined up and getting ready to go.

I knew going out was going to be faster with the wind so I dialed it back a bit, but still pushed pretty hard up the rollers. I wasn’t sure how bad the wind would be coming back and I didn’t want to risk a blow up since that would be more costly than trying to make early time with the wind.

My estimate to the turnaround:
Duration: 14:09
Work: 271 kJ
TSS: 21.7 (intensity factor 0.959)
Norm Power: 331
VI: 1.04
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 6.241 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 833 319 watts
Cadence: 36 118 101 rpm
Speed: 10.3 39.5 26.4 mph

Turnaround to finish:
Duration: 13:26
Work: 267 kJ
TSS: 21.4 (intensity factor 0.978)
Norm Power: 337
VI: 1.02
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 5.825 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 716 331 watts
Cadence: 62 116 97 rpm
Speed: 11.4 36.7 26.0 mph


My last minute and a half was right at 400w avg, so I think I may have left a little out there, but all in all it was a good effort and I was pleased with it. The finish came a little quicker than I expected. I forgot the finish line was before the start. Finishing time: 27:34. Good enough for first, and more importantly, I took some big time on the primary GC threats. After a little warm down, I was happy to feel like my legs were in good shape. Race #2 over and I’m exactly where I planned to be.

Sunday Noon Crit:

ONE WORD – “DRAMA”!!! And it was all totally self-induced!

I had a pretty good idea after speaking with the other top GC guys that I was most likely in the lead. By exactly how much was a little unknown until about ~10-15 minutes before the start of the crit. When I finally had a chance to sneak a peek, I saw that Stu (ABRT) was in second and he was going to have to get every time bonus and win the crit to beat me. It was a pretty good feeling but I knew I still needed to be attentive throughout the race.

Maybe it was a sign of foreshadowing, but as I was setting up at the WWVC tent, the older gentleman living at the house came out and we chatted. He told me about 5 times as he pointed to the last corner, “There were a lot of wrecks last year at the corner.” Yeah, Yeah, I get it. Gus also repeated *warnings* about that damn corner and recounted the Bracken finish last year. Little did I know then that the WWVC curse was waiting to rear its ugly head.

The plan was pretty simple as Gus and I chatted. Stay near the front the entire race. Stay out of trouble! Cool. No problem. I didn’t need to contest any of the bonus points throughout so I bowed out of the BikeRack rampage for those. I was happy to see them gobbling them up. Kudos to Tim Brown for his aggressive racing and win. I could see Stu was working hard to grab those as well, so props to you to Stu.

Gus did a great job of keeping me on the ledge as we rolled by each other during the race. “Stay cool. You’re right where you need to be, etc.” He even chastised me for even thinking about bridging up to a small group. All in all, I pretty much made the race as boring for myself as possible. At least that’s what it felt like. I never really got too concerned since the pace was fairly tame. Gus and Chris did a great job at the beginning to help set the tempo of the race.

Great, the final lap. All I need to do is cross the line. I believe I was sitting around 5th wheel or so going into the last corner. And then the unthinkable happened. I slid out. As you’d expect, it all happened so fast that I don’t remember exactly how it played out. I’d been pretty happy taking that corner a little wide and on the outside for 27 times. I remember feeling like I was ready to push down on the pedal to accelerate and then whamo. I’m on the ground. It actually felt like my rear wheel slid out. One NCVC guy behind me pretty much fell on top of me. I spoke to him afterward and naturally apologized. He came through unscathed which was good. The thoughts and emotions running through my mind at that point were pretty much indescribable. It was a mix of “this isn’t really happening” and “F—k, get on your bike and get across that line!” Unbelievable. I tried jumping on the bike but the chain was all twisted so I had to get that back on. The rear wheel was out of true, but it finally started rolling. Those final last yards felt like an eternity. I was embarrassed, sad and absolutely ripping myself up for the stupidity. I let the team down. I let myself down. It was about the worst I’d ever felt in a sporting competition.

At first I thought I’d blown the GC lead. The ever level headed Gus began talking me off the ledge. Once he spoke to the officials, they said that under the Stage Race rules I was scored as the “same time” as the pack. Holy crap. Talk about running the gauntlet of emotions!

In the end, I held on to win the GC over Stu (13 seconds back). Damn, what a day. I never want to go through that again.

Gus, Chris & Ryan – Thank you all for your hard work and towing the line! Gus, you were a phenomenal DS and congrats on your 8th GC place. Chris, you were a rock out there and I enjoyed our time together. Ryan, it meant a lot to me that you braved through the Saturday race and didn’t give up. Having you there for support is what counted. Forgive me for the dramatic ending, but I wouldn’t be at the top without you guys. Thanks again!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

The difference in cornering between 1/2/3's & 4's

check this out - differences in skill level when cornering in a pack

Sample shot of Cat 1/2/3's cornering:





And now...the way Cat 4's corner as a group:







Notice the huge differences in CROSS WHEELS and the general level of relaxation.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Stuffed Pasta


Dang, Igda is becoming quite the Chef. Stuffed pasta shells with all sorts of yummy things for dinner tonight.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

I know the reason why it's called "The Race of Truth"

photo courtesy of Amy Jones


Well, the Church Creek TT didn't go quite as I planned. I was happy to take first place in the Cat 4's (by 1 second..yikes..way too close), but I just didn't have the mental focus I needed during the second half to put together a strong time. Legs were fine. At the halfway point, I was on track for ~55 minute time. Second half, not so good. I stopped the clock at 57:23.

I won't be pleased until I go 54-55 min on that course. So, I guess that only means I'll be back in the fall. The good news is that I know now what I need to do to hit those times. And it isn't all about power. I'm not sure where I heard the term mental FTP, but that's really what the 40k is all about.

Thanks ABRT for putting this event on.

here's the bike all dolled up Friday night

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

RSR update

Igda finally downloaded her photos from her photo camera and she had this little gem recorded which she forgot about. I wasn't hallucinating as bad as I thought. The official was ringing the crap out of that bell which I thought was the prime, but he didn't get on the loudspeaker until after I had already past. I don't feel like a complete idiot now...well maybe just a little. I'm just tired of reading about all these 4's who are whining about their placing in this first race. I can't tell but I probably had 8-10 seconds on the field. I wasn't about to kill myself for a prime.

Church Creek TT course

I'm going over to Cambridge Maryland on Saturday to do my first ever 40k time trial event. I'm looking forward to see what I can do there. I honestly don't know but I'd be thrilled with something in the 54-55 minute range. At the very least, I'll set a benchmark to improve upon. Here's the course (flat & fast..if the wind doesn't rear its ugly head):

Monday, June 8, 2009

Ride Sally Ride show time

This was my first chance to get a sneak peak at what goes on behind the scenes at a bike race. Everything was totally dialed in and smooth. RP did an excellent job lining everything and everybody up. Dave and Gus also provided excellent communication and organization. We had a ton of volunteers so nothing went unmanned throughout the day. Impressive! I also really enjoyed meeting more teammates and shooting the breeze throughout the day. It was a long day, but very rewarding.

**I must throw in here that my wife, Igda, was a huge help the entire day. Somehow I suckered her into coming...and she actually did. Once I got her up to speed on the registration process, she just took over. Between her, Peggy and Roger, everything was covered. Since there were enough chef's already in the kitchen, it gave me time to just generally goof off. Well, not really, but it was a huge benefit to have her there. Thanks for the support, babe!

Personally, I was a little caught out by the number of incidents throughout some of the races. It's always unfortunate to see/hear about a wreck during a race. The first thoughts are always, "I hope everyone is ok!" Fortunately, although there were some very serious incidents, it appears non were life threatening. For those that may be reading this, word is that the young Mr King that was seriously injured during the cat 4 race is going to be ok. It sounds like he has a strong fighting spirit and we hope to see him back on the bike soon. Very good news! I'm sure this won't have any effect on future races, but I really do hope racers in the upper categories that were racing on Saturday realize that we all need to look out for each other regardless of team or affiliation. There's no reason for us to take unnecessary risks. Be consistent and predictable!

Here's my race report for the Cat 4 race:
Hmm, what to say? First 4 only race. A lot of 4’s still ride like 5’s. Not sure why people love to overlap wheels. Such is life.

Now for a little more detail. Although I’d been up early and was standing for most of the time before the race, my legs felt amazingly well during warm-up…really well. Darn, no excuses there.

The overriding goal of the race for the team was to get some practice working together, maintain an offensive presence the entire race and get a good workout. We divided up: Gould/Callahan, Pheister/Dineen, Warner/Flanagan, Sharpe volunteered to tailgun. Each duo would take turns rotating, either attacking or bridging to anything up the road. A move shouldn’t be up the road without one of us in it and most likely will/should be initiated by one of us.

(NOTE: In hindsight, one thing we didn’t discuss was how to win the race. Yes, we had some other objectives which were more important to future races, but I’ve given some thought about this. On many crit courses, a 4 race will come down to a sprint. We should have a plan for this. Heck, it could probably be the same plan for every race. The Big Red Train will rear its head soon I’m sure. We’ll get that worked out.)

Although we all lined up at the back, it wasn’t all that difficult to get up front. We planned on taking the first 5 laps pretty easy anyhow. Everyone did a great job getting up front and being on the offensive. I love the fact that our red uniforms stand out. It makes finding people super easy. Although I will admit, there are about 4 of us that are close to the same size, and in the heat of the battle, I wasn’t sure who was who at times.

Things were going well until the bad wreck at turn 2 with about ~21 to go. I was just in front of it and I know exactly why it happened because for the first time in my racing I yelled at the guy who was about to cause chaos. I was near the outside coming out of the turn and this rider one up in front of me on the inside decides to just slide/push/wtf his way over to the outside for no apparent reason. I was seeing this all play out. He was pinching the guy to my left into me and me into the guy on the outside who was close to the curb. I just blurted out “HEY!!!” REALLY loud. It wasn’t “hold your line” which would have made more sense, but it appeared to be effective because the rider stopped coming over, saving a bunch of us from disaster. It just didn’t save everyone. The damage had been done by the guy’s initial move as I’m sure he caused others behind to lose control. Then I heard the crashing noise from behind. On the next lap, I saw Adam was caught up in it but was up and walking.
photos courtesy of Jim Wilson






Then things got a little weird. I will admit, I thought they were going to neutralize once I saw the ambulance. But we did still have half the road open after turn 2, and it wasn’t a problem getting through that turn especially now that everyone should have known by now not go too wide. Ok, race keeps going. What to do? Keep racing.

I see Gould throw out a good attack. He’s caught but he’s pushing hard enough to keep it single file with about 8 guys strung out behind him. Go time. I came up the right side from about 10-12 deep and hit the gas as I approached the front. I had a good head of steam. I didn’t look back for some time because I knew nobody was going to be able to match that move. They’d have to try to reel me back. Once I got off, I just tried to keep it pegged for as long as I could. I will gladly admit that I had some serious “tunnel vision” going on. I was working hard and focused. I completely missed the IMPORTANT, unexpected change to the race lap counter as I passed the start/finish line with what I believe was a healthy gap. I remember hearing the bell ringing and seeing 17 on the lap counter, but I just figured it was a prime lap since we hadn’t had one. There was lots of yelling, but it wasn’t registering. Now that I’ve had time to replay it in my head, I do sort of remember someone saying 1 to go, but I figured that person doesn’t understand what a prime lap is. How did we go from 17 to 1?


I just kept my head down pushing a slightly above threshold effort. Before turn 3, I looked back and the entire pack was definitely gaining on me. I thought, wow, they really want this prime. After turn 3, I decided I wasn’t going to burn my entire matchbook sprinting for the prime, so I started to sit up. I also figured that this would be a good opportunity for one of the others to attack. I’ll get back in and get recovered so I can go again later. Then I noticed everyone sitting up after the finish line just a little too casual, like the race was over or something. Wait, it was! I totally missed that the officials decided to shorten the race. Ok, I will admit. Initially, I was a pretty upset. Pretty sure I could have kept the lead. But honestly, once it sunk in, I was a little more upset with myself for not paying attention. Things like this do happen and you have to learn to deal with it. It was an important lesson.

1st part of Race:
Duration: 23:45
Work: 444 kJ
TSS: 41.4 (intensity factor 1.023)
Norm Power: 353
VI: 1.13
Distance: 10.539 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1052 311 watts
Cadence: 31 141 96 rpm
Speed: 5.8 34.4 26.7 mph

Attack:
Duration: 3:27
Work: 86 kJ
TSS: 9.6 (intensity factor 1.291)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 1.55 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1052 414 watts
Cadence: 52 124 100 rpm
Speed: 22 32.6 27.0 mph



It was sort of funny. When we finally started our cool down, we headed down to turn 2 where the road was blocked off. Flanagan and I discussed doing a 20 min threshold effort, but then they were calling us back. Crazy! But cool by me. We ride back to the start- get lined up and we’re off. The officials put 10 laps up and it is game on.

I gradually worked back up toward the front just trying to get my legs back to feeling normal. I still felt pretty good. I don’t know if it was Flanagan or Callahan that put in a good aggressive move. Then Dan put in a nice acceleration and had a small group off the front. With 3 to go, I was comfortable in the top 10 and stayed there.
photo courtesy of Jim Wilson




With 1 to go I saw Flanagan coming hard up the right side at the start/finish line out of the corner of my eye and made a bee line to get on his wheel before the 1st turn. After the turn, I yelled to him, “Michael, I’m on your wheel!” He kept the gas on through turn 2 and midway up the back stretch. I never did look behind me but knew things were probably strung out. In hindsight, it would have been perfect if someone from our team was on my wheel. I could tell Flanagan was losing a little steam so I had to make a decision…either go for it and see what happens and/or most likely carry the entire field to the finish. Maybe one of our guys is close enough to seal the deal if I can’t. I was worried I’d get swarmed at Turn 3 and get boxed in. My initial mistake was probably thinking that turn 3 was closer than it was. I probably should have turned to cheerleader and barked encouragement to Flanagan to get us through turn 3. I’m not so sure others were too inclined to take over the lead. He still had the pace pretty high. I peeled off Michael’s wheel hard to the left and just went for it. I knew I was in trouble shortly after turn 3 when I saw a few riders coming by on my right. I just tried to push all the way to the finish on the inside which netted fifth. Ah, well. It was fun racing aggressively with the guys. I also enjoyed that I was able to do my first race with Flanagan. Who knew he was going to give me a good lead out! It's good to see Flanagan have the fire back. It was his first race since winning the Turkey Day 3/4 race at the end of last year. Another 3-4 weeks of training and that guy is going to be ready to destroy it. Thanks, Michael! I’ll need to repay that in the future.

Race Restart:
Duration: 13:44
Work: 264 kJ
TSS: 25 (intensity factor 1.045)
Norm Power: 361
VI: 1.13
Distance: 6.235 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1135 320 watts
Cadence: 40 141 94 rpm
Speed: 10.4 34.5 27.2 mph

Finishing move:
Duration: 0:37
Work: 26 kJ
TSS: 4.3 (intensity factor 2.068)
Norm Power: n/a
Distance: 0.316 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1135 703 watts
Cadence: 90 116 108 rpm
Speed: 27.8 31.7 30.8 mph


Monday, June 1, 2009

Running from the Guillotine


Race: Clarendon Cup M35+
Result: Collapsed Lung & DNF (pulled on lap ~lap 15)
Cost Per Lap: $40 entry / 15 laps of 40 completed = $2.67/lap…sweet

All freakin’ week I’m pumped up to really suffer during this race, but c’mon Warner, starting nearly dead last didn’t quite get things started off on the right foot and it definitely wasn’t part of the plan. Yep, even after ALL of the warnings from the team about not being in the porto-john 15 minutes beforehand, I managed to screw this up.

Just to relieve any morning stress I went ahead and picked up my race number Friday evening. This gave me plenty of time to get to the race venue and get in a solid 45 minute warm-up. When I arrived, the course was already blocked off so I jumped out there and started hitting laps. I TRIED to mentally mark the sketchy areas in the road, but honestly there were so many that I switched to just trying to mentally mark the particular sections of the course I needed to really stay alert during. They did use some temporary asphalt filler on the really bad spots which was nice. I hit the turns at speed during warm-up and felt pretty darn comfortable. After I gained enough confidence in my ability to roll through the corners fast, I hit out off the course to get in a few more prolonged efforts to really get the blood pumping. My legs felt pretty darn good. Unfortunately, my PT on my Open Pro wheel is on the fritz so I didn’t have power during the race. Not that it really matters in the race, but it would have been nice to see the number afterward. I wasn’t about to throw on my 808 PT on this course.

It was just a little before 8 a.m. when the race director announced that staging would begin at 8:05. Cool. I’ll jump into the porto-john. I roll around on the course to the staging area and low and behold EVERYONE is ALREADY there. WTF. It’s not even 8:05 and I’m already last into the staging area for the 8:15 start. Great. I’m not making this mistake again! In technical crits, the first part of the race is really about getting staged as close to the front as possible. Screw the last 10 minutes of the warm-up. Getting staged correctly is more important in these fast races. They start announcing the call-ups and for some reason I’m not called up. I’m totally bewildered ;- ). The race doesn’t actually go until about 8:20.

I was a little nervous my “Custer warm-up as if my life depends on it” routine was all for not. I was mentally preparing myself to just start passing as many people as possible from the gun until I was about to puke. The gun went off. I clicked in flawlessly and I was sprinting to the first turn passing as many riders as I could. I just focused on being as aggressive as I could without endangering myself or anyone else. I was amazed at how many folks I was passing through a couple of the turns, especially the last one into the finishing stretch. I was easily moving 4-6 spots up every lap on that turn. I felt totally comfortable and rarely even had to touch the brakes. I kept my eyes focused through the turns which I think really helped…good advice guys! My warm-up seemed spot on as my legs were good from the get go unlike BikeJam.

Honestly, I lost total recognition of what lap we were on after number one. I was deep in the pain cave. I felt like I was doing Tabata intervals for the first 15 minutes. Interestingly enough, my lungs felt more on fire than my legs.

I knew the race would eventually whittle down to 20-25 guys. That meant I needed to pass about 50-60 guys to get where I needed to be to make the right side of the split. Well, I didn’t make it. I don’t know which lap it was, but the splits happened and I was now in a group of about 15 riders. Unlike BikeJam, I decided to try and stay at the front of this group and do as much work at the front as possible. I also wanted to get as much practice moving around the group as possible. I realized it was all about getting the workout in at this point since I knew my time out on the course was going to be limited. We made it 15 laps (~23 minutes) before the official gave the cut-throat signal and blew the whistle. Game over. I pulled off course with the others in my group.

Seriously, once I stopped, I realized my lungs were about to incinerate. I was like what the heck? I coughed up phlegm over the course of the next few hours. Interesting. I didn’t feel like I had any chest congestion before the race but now I do. It did make me feel better to know I gave it 100%. I did hit that point in the race where I considered throwing in the towel from the pain, but I’m happy I pushed through it. I gained a TON of confidence in my ability to handle my bike through a technical course. In some ways, I felt like a leaped to another level in that regard. That was the first really “technical” crit I’ve done. I also feel like I’ve reached the point where I can generate some repeated out of the saddle sprinting and feel comfortable doing it.

The winner, Pete Cannell, put in an impressive performance to say the least.

Here’s a link to some cool video of the race:
M35+ race