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.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
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
**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 WilsonThen 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 WilsonWith 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
Sunday, May 17, 2009
BikeJam - M35+ Race...welcome to fast racing
Wow! What a race!? I just upgraded to Cat 4 and decided to step up and race with some big boys. I wrote down some of the highlights.
Here are just a few of the many things I learned today:
1) If you're in a race and there's enough big hitter's in the race to have call-ups, you'd better be ready from the gun.
2) If you start hearing things like, "Navigators Pro Team", "Olympics", "National Champion", "Champion of this or that"- you'd better be REALLY ready from the gun.
3) If the whole team (Kelly) gets called to the front with a stacked team- well, sh!t. It's just gonna hurt really bad. Hang on!
4) A cat 5 warm-up strategy doesn't work when you line up with 1,2,3's.
Things I already know but painfully forgot:
1) If you get unlucky and end up at the back of the field start, get your ass off the back ASAP no matter what your legs are telling you. Hauling ass in a pack, cross-eyed from the effort level is very cool. Lots of interesting conversations go on in your head. But when a few guys crack scattered about in the field, gaps explode instantly. Ticket punched no matter how fit you are if you're in the back.
2) See #1
Things I'm happy about:
1) Stuck it out and didn't quit.
2) I felt like I was getting stronger after about 7 laps
3) Power- I'm sure I set some records, but my PT suddenly stopped working Saturday, so I didn't use it.
4) Definitely built some mental toughness from this little excercise
5) Had a good training day on Saturday. I am happy to be able to race hard on Sunday. GREAT workout!
Seriously, this was one damn fast race. I thought I was doing well slowly moving up during the first 2 laps, but when the pace started furious, I just thought it would settle down and I'd be able to get up without burning my matchbook. NOT SO! I think on lap 3 or 4, the field split as fast as you can snap your fingers. Folks popping all over the place. Dang!
Group 1 (insanely fast dudes)
Group 2
Group 3 
It was really weird. With I believe 6 to go, they rang a prime and said to our group, "Last Lap for you guys- free Bontrager tire". We definitely picked up the pace, but not crazy fast until after the final turn. Well, as we are sprinting to the line, we run into the group ahead of us. Huh?! I remember hearing the announcer say, "Well, maybe that wasn't such a good idea." I think I sprinted for 3rd or 4th out of our group. I don't know. It sort of caused a little chaos because nobody knew what to do. Some guys tried to keep going, but I think they eventually pulled everyone except like 8-10 guys who finished. So I guess I'd call that a DNF. BUT, MAN WAS IT FUN!!!
Friday, May 15, 2009
BIG News
Well, the official USAT rankings were published for 2008. I was pretty happy to make All-American in the 35-39 Age Group. It’s not really something to brag about, but I will admit, it is nice to see the hard work I put in last year paid off. Congrats to the rest of the crew I train with, too. There were quite a few us on the list.
The second bit of news is that my Cat 4 upgrade came through. Yippee! I’m pretty stoked about this since it enables me the flexibility to enter more races since I can race the Master 35+ races. I’m also looking forward to stepping up the competition level.
I’m racing the 35+ at BikeJam up in Baltimore on Sunday. It looks to be a really wet day.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Tour de Ephrata 2009
Tour de Ephrata 4/5 category
Results
I headed up with Tom around noon on Friday so we could run a few loops of the road course that afternoon. Now that was time well spent! It’s a really fun course with a nice mix of terrain and somewhat technical turns/s-turns. Riders sitting mid to rear in the pack were going to get hurt at the tricky sections due to the accordion effect. On Friday, the wind was fairly stiff, but on Saturday the wind was hardly noticeable. The element of wind would definitely have a major impact on this course.
After the recon, Tom and I discussed the various spots to get away. One was at the small climb. If that failed, the second spot was before the little bridge with a technical chicane followed by a short power climb roughly 1.75 miles from the finish. There was one more sharp s-turn a little less than a 1/2 mile before the finish which definitely favors a solo rider or the front riders. I’d imagine that if you’re not in the top 10 going into that turn, you won’t be in the top 10 by the finish.
I had a good plan throughout the week to get me to the line feeling fresh. It worked. My legs felt great for the entire weekend. Honestly, I had put a little pressure on myself. There was no reason why I shouldn’t try to dominate the 4/5 race and win. I really wanted to be active in every race. Make guys hurt, take some chances, ALWAYS stay at the front and go for it.
Road Race (Saturday morning):
I wiggled up to the front within the first 3-4 miles and stayed there. With the yellow line rule and lack of a shoulder, it was hard to move around. BUT, once you got the front (top 10) it was SO easy to stay there.
During the first loop, I just tried to inflict as much pain on the pack as possible by hitting the technical sections pretty darn hard. If you were on the back, it would not be fun. Going up the main climb, a guy drops his chain midway up while sitting relatively close to the front. I think he eventually fell over and took out a bunch of guys. I hit it to the top of the climb and carried it hard another mile or two. I’d guess the pack was cut by a 1/2 after that.
Fast forward coming into the climb on loop two. I made the mistake of getting stuck about 3 rows back going into the climb. Guy’s Racing dude (Calvin) attacked with the help of his teammate at the front. Between the yellow line rule and the front riders collapsing, I couldn’t get to the front until about 2/3 of the way up and proceeded to take off in chase. The tip of the pack caught me after the downhill, but I picked it up after the hard left turn and pulled another two guys off the front with me. We got to within ~5 seconds to Calvin, before the pack caught us. I decided to buy more time. I felt confident I could close the gap after the bridge where I would attack.
Tactical Error #1- I let a rider bridge the small gap up to Calvin when we almost pulled him back. Tactical Error #2- I didn’t see the move as a threat.
The Spinners team had like 6-7 guys still in the pack and they acted like they wanted to chase, but never really did. I watched the 2 riders stretch the lead to around 20-30 seconds. At one point, I lost sight. Tactical Error #3- I should have got the pack excited and started closing the gap getting the front guys involved in bringing it back. Just doing more cheerleading would have probably done it. Maybe not.
Right before the bridge chicane, I attacked with everything I had from about 6 back going up the right fringe. I flew through the tight 4 turns and punched it hard up the power climb after that for about 30 secs before looking back. Nice, gap is big enough that the pack isn’t catching me. Now, chase down these two!
Here's a cool photo of the 1/2/3 race at the bridge chicane with ~1.75 miles to go:
I blew by the rider that had bridged before the final turn. But Calvin was still ~ 8 seconds ahead going into the last ½ mile. Regrettably, I just ran out of real estate to close the gap finishing 5 seconds behind and 8 seconds ahead of the pack. Props to Calvin though. He executed his plan and his team did just enough to help him to stay away. I spoke to him afterward and he said he realized that he needed to drop his companion in that last mile and half if he had any hope of winning.
Power #’s:
Road Race:
Duration: 1:03:28
Work: 1034 kJ
TSS: 100.3 (intensity factor 0.974)
Norm Power: 336
VI: 1.24
Distance: 25.499 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1038 272 watts
Cadence: 34 141 94 rpm
Speed: 2.9 39.3 24.1 mph
Tom and I chilled out and watched the rest of the races that afternoon. After the 1/2/3 race ended, we headed over to the TT course to do some recon. VERY GLAD we did! Great idea, Tom. We pulled the TT bikes out and we rode the flats and practiced taking the turns at speed staying aero. We even practiced the one foot down start. Uh, we drove the climb. It didn’t look too bad from the car!
Pain Mountain Time Trial (Sunday 7:50 a.m.)-
Tom offered up a lot of good insight in prep for this event. I can’t thank him enough. In theory, the plan was fairly simple for me. Hold 325-330w avg (comfortably hard) through the first 4 miles. Keep cadence high (95-105). Start to pick up to the 340w (Hard) range when the climbing starts and carry as much speed as possible through the rollers until I get to the climb. Once at the climb, let it rip and keep the pedals turning. Well, that’s essentially what I did. The only thing I think I would have done a bit different is not hit that first climb quite so hard. For almost 2 minutes I averaged 441w, but for the following 1.75 minute gradual uphill section I was around 325w before a good solid push to the end. Finish time: 24:29. Good enough to win my category. Power wasn’t super great for that duration, but I think there’s something really deceptive about that course. It’s not a course you’re going to set power records on. I think the residual fatigue from the RR really catches up to you when you hit that last mile and half climb.
Photos courtesy of Linc BrookesOn the flat before the real climb started (immediately before the intersection of Forest and Cocalico roads)
I also was pleasantly surprised to see how my time stacked up to the 3’s and 4’s. I think it would have been good enough for 7th in ¾ race and 3rd in the 4 race. Since I’m a little on the bigger side, I think that bodes well for me in future courses which won’t have crazy climbs at the end.
I would also add that this TT course is probably the only course where I actually felt like I didn’t leave anything out there. That last mile and half really hurts. I can’t imagine what it would feel like if you went out too hard in the first 4 miles and had to suffer up that beast.
Pain Mt TT:
Duration: 24:24
Work: 492 kJ
TSS: 41.5 (intensity factor 1.01)
Norm Power: 348
VI: 1.04
Distance: 8.007 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 686 336 watts
Cadence: 38 124 97 rpm
Speed: 2.9 36 19.7 mph
1st 4miles to turn up climb:
Duration: 9:09
Work: 180 kJ
TSS: 14.3 (intensity factor 0.968)
Norm Power: 334
VI: 1.02
Distance: 4.015 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 686 328 watts
Cadence: 38 118 104 rpm
Speed: 2.9 33.8 26.3 mph
Middle Section (Interestingly, I was able to sneak in a little bit of recovery here and there on this section at the backside of a few of the rollers):
Duration: 7:01
Work: 135 kJ
TSS: 10.9 (intensity factor 0.964)
Norm Power: 333
VI: 1.04
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 2.446 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 605 321 watts
Cadence: 68 124 102 rpm
Speed: 11.4 36 20.9 mph
Final Climb to Finish:
Duration: 8:04
Work: 175 kJ
TSS: 16 (intensity factor 1.092)
Norm Power: 377
VI: 1.04
Distance: 1.482 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 147 661 362 watts
Cadence: 58 118 84 rpm
Speed: 6.2 21.3 11.0 mph
Crit Race (Sunday, 11:15 a.m.):
I managed to get in a 25-30 minute warm-up prior to the race and the legs felt pretty good. I caught up with Calvin during warm-up and we chatted a bit. TT results hadn’t been posted, but I had a strong feeling I was first. Calvin said he was around 25:40 in the TT. Somehow, he got some information that he was second at the TT so that meant this crit was for all the marbles between him and me.
I decided to stick to my plan by being active, stay at the front and make the race as hard as possible for guys wanting to sit in. I really didn’t want to win by sitting in. Plus, I think overall that I race better when I’m pushing it. I don’t know. I think it gets my adrenaline flowing. I loved this course. You could fly through the corners as long as you were on the front. After a couple of laps in, I just started hitting it. Without too much effort, I was off the front for 4-5 laps solo. After that, I just stayed within the top 3 or 4 coming to the front to punch it hard through some of the technical sections where I knew the accordion effect would be the greatest. About 2/3 through the race, I noticed Calvin was just sitting on my wheel with the field well strung out.
Here's the shot with 1 to go:
My thought process was this. With two to go, I was going to up the pace again and see if Calvin would stick on my wheel. If he did, I was hoping the two of us could rotate a few pulls and have the finish come down to just us two with the field well behind. Coming down the stretch with one to go, we had a good enough gap on the field to go mano-e-mano, but he wasn’t about to pull through and do any work. For some reason, I just kept stomping on it. I thought he was going to try and jump after turn two, but he didn’t. I hit it pretty hard to come barreling through turn 3. He jumped right before turn 4 and gapped me. I should have known better. I couldn’t close it down that fast finish stretch and ended up second.
Tactical error: I was talking to Tom after the race wondering what I could have done different. He brought up a good point. I should have let the field catch back on and tried to get someone between my wheel and his. If we could have got mixed up in the front of the pack, I think I could have gotten away. Either mark Calvin if he goes, or go when/if he was boxed in. Oh well, good learning experience overall. I’m actually glad Calvin was there to make it exciting. We exchanged pleasantries afterward. Good guy and I hope to see him do well in the future.
Power #’s:
Ephrata Crit:
Duration: 25:37
Work: 485 kJ
TSS: 46.3 (intensity factor 1.041)
Norm Power: 359
VI: 1.14
Distance: 10.683 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1143 316 watts
Cadence: 53 141 99 rpm
Speed: 6.5 33.1 25.1 mph
So, that’s a wrap. I finished 2nd in the GC. I got some great racing in. Gained some valuable experience and had a great time traveling with Tom. I definitely look forward to doing this race again next year. Fun weekend!
Results
I headed up with Tom around noon on Friday so we could run a few loops of the road course that afternoon. Now that was time well spent! It’s a really fun course with a nice mix of terrain and somewhat technical turns/s-turns. Riders sitting mid to rear in the pack were going to get hurt at the tricky sections due to the accordion effect. On Friday, the wind was fairly stiff, but on Saturday the wind was hardly noticeable. The element of wind would definitely have a major impact on this course.
After the recon, Tom and I discussed the various spots to get away. One was at the small climb. If that failed, the second spot was before the little bridge with a technical chicane followed by a short power climb roughly 1.75 miles from the finish. There was one more sharp s-turn a little less than a 1/2 mile before the finish which definitely favors a solo rider or the front riders. I’d imagine that if you’re not in the top 10 going into that turn, you won’t be in the top 10 by the finish.
I had a good plan throughout the week to get me to the line feeling fresh. It worked. My legs felt great for the entire weekend. Honestly, I had put a little pressure on myself. There was no reason why I shouldn’t try to dominate the 4/5 race and win. I really wanted to be active in every race. Make guys hurt, take some chances, ALWAYS stay at the front and go for it.
Road Race (Saturday morning):
I wiggled up to the front within the first 3-4 miles and stayed there. With the yellow line rule and lack of a shoulder, it was hard to move around. BUT, once you got the front (top 10) it was SO easy to stay there.
During the first loop, I just tried to inflict as much pain on the pack as possible by hitting the technical sections pretty darn hard. If you were on the back, it would not be fun. Going up the main climb, a guy drops his chain midway up while sitting relatively close to the front. I think he eventually fell over and took out a bunch of guys. I hit it to the top of the climb and carried it hard another mile or two. I’d guess the pack was cut by a 1/2 after that.
Fast forward coming into the climb on loop two. I made the mistake of getting stuck about 3 rows back going into the climb. Guy’s Racing dude (Calvin) attacked with the help of his teammate at the front. Between the yellow line rule and the front riders collapsing, I couldn’t get to the front until about 2/3 of the way up and proceeded to take off in chase. The tip of the pack caught me after the downhill, but I picked it up after the hard left turn and pulled another two guys off the front with me. We got to within ~5 seconds to Calvin, before the pack caught us. I decided to buy more time. I felt confident I could close the gap after the bridge where I would attack.
Tactical Error #1- I let a rider bridge the small gap up to Calvin when we almost pulled him back. Tactical Error #2- I didn’t see the move as a threat.
The Spinners team had like 6-7 guys still in the pack and they acted like they wanted to chase, but never really did. I watched the 2 riders stretch the lead to around 20-30 seconds. At one point, I lost sight. Tactical Error #3- I should have got the pack excited and started closing the gap getting the front guys involved in bringing it back. Just doing more cheerleading would have probably done it. Maybe not.
Right before the bridge chicane, I attacked with everything I had from about 6 back going up the right fringe. I flew through the tight 4 turns and punched it hard up the power climb after that for about 30 secs before looking back. Nice, gap is big enough that the pack isn’t catching me. Now, chase down these two!
Here's a cool photo of the 1/2/3 race at the bridge chicane with ~1.75 miles to go:
I blew by the rider that had bridged before the final turn. But Calvin was still ~ 8 seconds ahead going into the last ½ mile. Regrettably, I just ran out of real estate to close the gap finishing 5 seconds behind and 8 seconds ahead of the pack. Props to Calvin though. He executed his plan and his team did just enough to help him to stay away. I spoke to him afterward and he said he realized that he needed to drop his companion in that last mile and half if he had any hope of winning.
Power #’s:
Road Race:
Duration: 1:03:28
Work: 1034 kJ
TSS: 100.3 (intensity factor 0.974)
Norm Power: 336
VI: 1.24
Distance: 25.499 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1038 272 watts
Cadence: 34 141 94 rpm
Speed: 2.9 39.3 24.1 mph
Tom and I chilled out and watched the rest of the races that afternoon. After the 1/2/3 race ended, we headed over to the TT course to do some recon. VERY GLAD we did! Great idea, Tom. We pulled the TT bikes out and we rode the flats and practiced taking the turns at speed staying aero. We even practiced the one foot down start. Uh, we drove the climb. It didn’t look too bad from the car!
Pain Mountain Time Trial (Sunday 7:50 a.m.)-
Tom offered up a lot of good insight in prep for this event. I can’t thank him enough. In theory, the plan was fairly simple for me. Hold 325-330w avg (comfortably hard) through the first 4 miles. Keep cadence high (95-105). Start to pick up to the 340w (Hard) range when the climbing starts and carry as much speed as possible through the rollers until I get to the climb. Once at the climb, let it rip and keep the pedals turning. Well, that’s essentially what I did. The only thing I think I would have done a bit different is not hit that first climb quite so hard. For almost 2 minutes I averaged 441w, but for the following 1.75 minute gradual uphill section I was around 325w before a good solid push to the end. Finish time: 24:29. Good enough to win my category. Power wasn’t super great for that duration, but I think there’s something really deceptive about that course. It’s not a course you’re going to set power records on. I think the residual fatigue from the RR really catches up to you when you hit that last mile and half climb.
Photos courtesy of Linc BrookesOn the flat before the real climb started (immediately before the intersection of Forest and Cocalico roads)
I also was pleasantly surprised to see how my time stacked up to the 3’s and 4’s. I think it would have been good enough for 7th in ¾ race and 3rd in the 4 race. Since I’m a little on the bigger side, I think that bodes well for me in future courses which won’t have crazy climbs at the end.
I would also add that this TT course is probably the only course where I actually felt like I didn’t leave anything out there. That last mile and half really hurts. I can’t imagine what it would feel like if you went out too hard in the first 4 miles and had to suffer up that beast.
Pain Mt TT:
Duration: 24:24
Work: 492 kJ
TSS: 41.5 (intensity factor 1.01)
Norm Power: 348
VI: 1.04
Distance: 8.007 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 686 336 watts
Cadence: 38 124 97 rpm
Speed: 2.9 36 19.7 mph
1st 4miles to turn up climb:
Duration: 9:09
Work: 180 kJ
TSS: 14.3 (intensity factor 0.968)
Norm Power: 334
VI: 1.02
Distance: 4.015 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 686 328 watts
Cadence: 38 118 104 rpm
Speed: 2.9 33.8 26.3 mph
Middle Section (Interestingly, I was able to sneak in a little bit of recovery here and there on this section at the backside of a few of the rollers):
Duration: 7:01
Work: 135 kJ
TSS: 10.9 (intensity factor 0.964)
Norm Power: 333
VI: 1.04
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 2.446 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 605 321 watts
Cadence: 68 124 102 rpm
Speed: 11.4 36 20.9 mph
Final Climb to Finish:
Duration: 8:04
Work: 175 kJ
TSS: 16 (intensity factor 1.092)
Norm Power: 377
VI: 1.04
Distance: 1.482 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 147 661 362 watts
Cadence: 58 118 84 rpm
Speed: 6.2 21.3 11.0 mph
Crit Race (Sunday, 11:15 a.m.):
I managed to get in a 25-30 minute warm-up prior to the race and the legs felt pretty good. I caught up with Calvin during warm-up and we chatted a bit. TT results hadn’t been posted, but I had a strong feeling I was first. Calvin said he was around 25:40 in the TT. Somehow, he got some information that he was second at the TT so that meant this crit was for all the marbles between him and me.
I decided to stick to my plan by being active, stay at the front and make the race as hard as possible for guys wanting to sit in. I really didn’t want to win by sitting in. Plus, I think overall that I race better when I’m pushing it. I don’t know. I think it gets my adrenaline flowing. I loved this course. You could fly through the corners as long as you were on the front. After a couple of laps in, I just started hitting it. Without too much effort, I was off the front for 4-5 laps solo. After that, I just stayed within the top 3 or 4 coming to the front to punch it hard through some of the technical sections where I knew the accordion effect would be the greatest. About 2/3 through the race, I noticed Calvin was just sitting on my wheel with the field well strung out.
Here's the shot with 1 to go:
My thought process was this. With two to go, I was going to up the pace again and see if Calvin would stick on my wheel. If he did, I was hoping the two of us could rotate a few pulls and have the finish come down to just us two with the field well behind. Coming down the stretch with one to go, we had a good enough gap on the field to go mano-e-mano, but he wasn’t about to pull through and do any work. For some reason, I just kept stomping on it. I thought he was going to try and jump after turn two, but he didn’t. I hit it pretty hard to come barreling through turn 3. He jumped right before turn 4 and gapped me. I should have known better. I couldn’t close it down that fast finish stretch and ended up second.
Tactical error: I was talking to Tom after the race wondering what I could have done different. He brought up a good point. I should have let the field catch back on and tried to get someone between my wheel and his. If we could have got mixed up in the front of the pack, I think I could have gotten away. Either mark Calvin if he goes, or go when/if he was boxed in. Oh well, good learning experience overall. I’m actually glad Calvin was there to make it exciting. We exchanged pleasantries afterward. Good guy and I hope to see him do well in the future.
Power #’s:
Ephrata Crit:
Duration: 25:37
Work: 485 kJ
TSS: 46.3 (intensity factor 1.041)
Norm Power: 359
VI: 1.14
Distance: 10.683 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1143 316 watts
Cadence: 53 141 99 rpm
Speed: 6.5 33.1 25.1 mph
So, that’s a wrap. I finished 2nd in the GC. I got some great racing in. Gained some valuable experience and had a great time traveling with Tom. I definitely look forward to doing this race again next year. Fun weekend!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)