On the eve of the Cycle U Team meeting (which is tonight I believe), I wanted to make a final post to this blog.
I returned to racing in '08 thanks to the supreme organization, motivation and humor of the Cycle U staff, from the Dean Craig Undem to Toby, Kristi, Heather, Dan and that paragon of serious contemplation, Coach Ed Ewing.
Fondest memory? Hanging out with the large group that made the trek to Wenatchee for the Omnium. Followed closely by the metronome-like regularity of the Tuesday am ride crowd - props to Evan B, Sabrina H and Bill S.
I have heard it said and believe it, that Cycle U considers itself proud when students matriculate on to other teams. Imagine my excitement when my new team indicated that it wanted to create an ongoing relationship with the U - sweet!
So for all you wily veterans and nubile rookies, heading in tonight for your words of wisdom and counsel, I wish you the best and will look for your wheels come Spring. Listen to the coaches, ride hard and bring some W's to the squad in '09!
Alex T, Nelson J and I look forward to living the dream at www.thumbprintracing.org.
Cheers
Ryan
ps - anyone want to buy a pair of ripped Cycle U bibshorts, size L? No extra charge for the stripe.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Bye Bye Bottecchia (always ride new gear)
Riding in to work today, leisurely, I turned onto Wall street downtown and began to apply a little power in order to make it up the slight incline and through the intersection.
I was rewarded with a strange sensation and the bike shifting gears. It felt really strange. I was convinced a wheel or something had broken. Tried to triage it from the saddle while rolling along.
Then, wisely, I dismounted and tried to figure out what was up....
SNAP!
I've now broken two bikes in my life - and both in the same spot! The former was a pedigreed Trek purchased through a local shop. It had a happy ending as I got into my Litespeed as a result.
In this case the frame was given to me and its provenance is unknown. I have relied on it heavily as primary commuter/rain bike for two years now and had just spun hard with the new team yesterday around Mercer Island.
I'm getting to a moral here - and that is life is too short to trust gear you can't have 100% confidence in. The way to get that confidence is to buy it NEW or if used via a reputable shop who put their reputation on the line. I realize this is contradictory to the Trek story but I'm only riding bikes I buy new from now on.
Discuss.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Crystal Mtn Pain-fest
The rumours are true. We actually paid $28 each for the privilege of riding our bicycles one way up 6.2 miles at 1,600 ft elevation gain in 90+ degree heat. Ideally at a faster speed than everyone else. Are we messed up or what?
Some of us who shall remain nameless [Evan B] paid for this privilege, drove to the start, kitted up and then missed the start time, but still had to ride back up to get to our cars and drive away.
Nelson and I shrewdly analyzed last years results for this uphill TT and the data was incontravertable: Master C's times were signifcantly slower than Cat 4's. http://www.wsbaracing.com/results.asp So for two old men with dreams of glory and medals, the smart move was to ride Masters. But as they say in the stock market, past performance is no guarantee of future results.
We joined Doug B in master ranks and started in order - more or less alphabetically. Which was very good as I would have been demoralized if Nelson passed me, even though I know he should be faster at 156lbs versus my 170lbs and 3 year old bike with borrowed front wheel [see Gig Harbor race]. Poor Doug went first and had few 'rabbits' to catch other than slower 'D's.
I enjoyed catching 5 guys - very motivating to see people on the road and inch your way up to them - and keeping one's tongue in check - no smart remarks as they will very likely be passing you by some other day. Nelson passed 4 men.
Before starting I wondered about mix-up juice v. water, small bottle v. big etc etc. In the end I took two bottles to be sure I was hydrated for warmup. Then just emptied one and carried onepart-full with water. Really glad I did as I drank 4-5 times, and doused the head 3 times. Heard some guys bemoaning their choice to go bottle-less later.
Favorite part had to be passing the guy in full aero bike/bars/helmet on the UPHILL TIME TRIAL.
Finished 9th in old men. 28:35, :15 slower than Nelson who was 7th. We'd have been 5th and 6th if we'd had the courage to join Alex in 4's.
Super hospitality by the Alpine Inn afterwards, green buns nothwithstanding. The Rainer was cold and refreshing and the team kept the bottomless water and lemonade flowing all afternoon.
See more - including my special facial hair preparation on Alex's own blog: http://dessat.blogspot.com/2008/08/crystal-mountain-hill-climb.html
Some of us who shall remain nameless [Evan B] paid for this privilege, drove to the start, kitted up and then missed the start time, but still had to ride back up to get to our cars and drive away.
Nelson and I shrewdly analyzed last years results for this uphill TT and the data was incontravertable: Master C's times were signifcantly slower than Cat 4's. http://www.wsbaracing.com/results.asp So for two old men with dreams of glory and medals, the smart move was to ride Masters. But as they say in the stock market, past performance is no guarantee of future results.
We joined Doug B in master ranks and started in order - more or less alphabetically. Which was very good as I would have been demoralized if Nelson passed me, even though I know he should be faster at 156lbs versus my 170lbs and 3 year old bike with borrowed front wheel [see Gig Harbor race]. Poor Doug went first and had few 'rabbits' to catch other than slower 'D's.
I enjoyed catching 5 guys - very motivating to see people on the road and inch your way up to them - and keeping one's tongue in check - no smart remarks as they will very likely be passing you by some other day. Nelson passed 4 men.
Before starting I wondered about mix-up juice v. water, small bottle v. big etc etc. In the end I took two bottles to be sure I was hydrated for warmup. Then just emptied one and carried onepart-full with water. Really glad I did as I drank 4-5 times, and doused the head 3 times. Heard some guys bemoaning their choice to go bottle-less later.
Favorite part had to be passing the guy in full aero bike/bars/helmet on the UPHILL TIME TRIAL.
Finished 9th in old men. 28:35, :15 slower than Nelson who was 7th. We'd have been 5th and 6th if we'd had the courage to join Alex in 4's.
Super hospitality by the Alpine Inn afterwards, green buns nothwithstanding. The Rainer was cold and refreshing and the team kept the bottomless water and lemonade flowing all afternoon.
See more - including my special facial hair preparation on Alex's own blog: http://dessat.blogspot.com/2008/08/crystal-mountain-hill-climb.html
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Cougar Moutain Climb for Cancer, Take 3
Background & Training
Like Alex and Sabrina have already said, it was a great showing by Cycle U! We made a rainy slog up that hill, and everyone was better for it at the top.
Regarding training, I'd been preparing for this event for around eight weeks. I didn't have a plan per se, but revived the Tu/Tr morning (6a sharp @ the Husky) hill repeat ride that Ryan and Nelson had started in preparation for Wenatchee back in April. There was a consistent group of 3-4 Cycle U'ers, and each day we chose either Interlaken to Volunteer Park, Madrona, or Queen Anne via 3rd Ave from the North. We would do between 4 and 6 repeats, grab coffee, and go to work. On most of the workouts I did as much as I could in the big ring. I think this contributed to my climbing ability more than anything.
In addition to twice-weekly repeats, I continued my daily 15 mile RT commute, and threw in a few crits and medium-distance weekend rides for good measure. I also had the chance to ride the Zoo climb about 6 times this year; 4 of those rides were with the power meter I purchased a few months ago. I have a barely-functional understanding of training with power, but I was able to look at those 4 rides and have a reasonable idea of the power I could sustain on the climb (~400W for 14 minutes). This turned out to be invaluable: I started the TT feeling great, and riding at what I thought was a sustainable pace. I checked the power meter, saw that I was over 600W (a level I could not maintain for long), and backed off to my target wattage.
My other major training component was weight loss. I raced Wenatchee at around 210lb, and it was a lonely, painful trek up that 9 mile climb in the RR. At the Cougar TT I weighed in at 185lbs (204 with bike). I didn't have a power meter at Wenatchee, but I don't think there was an appreciable drop in power output. And I'm not much of a weight weenie when it comes to bike components, but 25lbs of body mass had a huge impact on uphill performance.
Results
The Emo Part
All donations for the race go straight to charity. This year, it's the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Things hit particularly close to home for me and my family: 4 years ago my younger sister Katie was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. It was a long, hard fight, and she won. The operations and chemo made the possibility of her having children uncertain. On Saturday, when I was pouring my guts into that climb, Katie was in labor. She gave birth to Iris Tagan Wood - a healthy little girl - at 10:45a that morning, just a few minutes after I finished. To say that I was riding for my sister would be an understatement.
Like Alex and Sabrina have already said, it was a great showing by Cycle U! We made a rainy slog up that hill, and everyone was better for it at the top.
Regarding training, I'd been preparing for this event for around eight weeks. I didn't have a plan per se, but revived the Tu/Tr morning (6a sharp @ the Husky) hill repeat ride that Ryan and Nelson had started in preparation for Wenatchee back in April. There was a consistent group of 3-4 Cycle U'ers, and each day we chose either Interlaken to Volunteer Park, Madrona, or Queen Anne via 3rd Ave from the North. We would do between 4 and 6 repeats, grab coffee, and go to work. On most of the workouts I did as much as I could in the big ring. I think this contributed to my climbing ability more than anything.
In addition to twice-weekly repeats, I continued my daily 15 mile RT commute, and threw in a few crits and medium-distance weekend rides for good measure. I also had the chance to ride the Zoo climb about 6 times this year; 4 of those rides were with the power meter I purchased a few months ago. I have a barely-functional understanding of training with power, but I was able to look at those 4 rides and have a reasonable idea of the power I could sustain on the climb (~400W for 14 minutes). This turned out to be invaluable: I started the TT feeling great, and riding at what I thought was a sustainable pace. I checked the power meter, saw that I was over 600W (a level I could not maintain for long), and backed off to my target wattage.
My other major training component was weight loss. I raced Wenatchee at around 210lb, and it was a lonely, painful trek up that 9 mile climb in the RR. At the Cougar TT I weighed in at 185lbs (204 with bike). I didn't have a power meter at Wenatchee, but I don't think there was an appreciable drop in power output. And I'm not much of a weight weenie when it comes to bike components, but 25lbs of body mass had a huge impact on uphill performance.
Results
The Emo Part
All donations for the race go straight to charity. This year, it's the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Things hit particularly close to home for me and my family: 4 years ago my younger sister Katie was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. It was a long, hard fight, and she won. The operations and chemo made the possibility of her having children uncertain. On Saturday, when I was pouring my guts into that climb, Katie was in labor. She gave birth to Iris Tagan Wood - a healthy little girl - at 10:45a that morning, just a few minutes after I finished. To say that I was riding for my sister would be an understatement.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Cougar Mt. TT, another perspective...
(From L to R: Tina (tri-team), Sabrina Hirsch, Evan Brown)
This is my first season racing and this was my 4th Time Trial. I chose the Cougar Mountain TT as a target event a couple months ago and since then have been riding the group Tuesday/Thursday hill climb rides meeting at 6am (Husky Stadium). While it was not always easy to get my behind out of bed at 5am twice a week to face some of Seattle's toughest inner-city climbs, the noticeable increase in my ability kept me going.
In addition to weekly training I had been riding out to Cougar Mountain a few times to repeat the climb. Despite a crash two weeks ago, descending The Coug, where I broke my bike and face, I still managed to place 5th among the women with a time of 17:34.
Which brings me to my next point, I would love to see more ladies out there! Tina, from the tri team attended and finished very strongly, and it was such a pleasure to see another girl representing Cycle U. If it means me heading women only rides I am game, anyone interested email me, sabrinahirsch@gmail.com.
Cycle U at Cougar mountain TT
We had great showing at the Cougar mountain TT. It is 1000 feet climb Time Trial to support Seattle Cancer Care Society. Evan captured 8th place overall beating many guys in higher categories. Hopefully we'll see his report on training for this.
Congratulations, Evan!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Podium, baby!
Headline news, Cycle-U road team got 3rd place in Washington Team Time Trial championships.
Pictures are here
Sunday, July 20, 2008
W.W.J.D.
Jens Voigt had a great quote in the tour the other day. He said a German coach once gave him some wise advice: "If you try to win, you might lose, but if you never try to win, you've lost for sure".
This was our mantra for the Cycle U road team effort on Saturday's Skagit Valley Flats race. Making his first comeback since the horrific crash of Wenatchee
(see pic of broken bike), Nelson J. was ready to roll and make a hard effort. We carpooled with Alex T. who already has roughly 30 formal races under his belt this year and possibly close to 60 days racing if you count every little PIR, Seward event etc.
(see pic of broken bike), Nelson J. was ready to roll and make a hard effort. We carpooled with Alex T. who already has roughly 30 formal races under his belt this year and possibly close to 60 days racing if you count every little PIR, Seward event etc.We got an early start and arrived before check-in or the course was even marked. We found the staging area and decided to warm up on the course, a 5+ mile loop with a decent headwind and a little hillock to climb on one corner but ostensibly flat. We were to do 5 laps.
I wanted to change strategy a little from prior races. Rather than the tried and true "conserve at all costs, go hard at the end" idea, I wanted to try to recreate the magic of Boatstreet, get a little group together and try to stay away from the pack at least for a while, ideally for the duration.
Things got weird quick. First it was awfully cold, relatively speaking. Nary a bare arm to be found in the field - and majority wore knee warmers. As the 4's rolled out, neutrally behind pace car, things were fine, and guys began sorting themselves out in the first 1K of racing. Then the unexpected - the pace car takes a wrong turn! We followed him, then he slowed down and asked someone for directions. Then the ref pulled up and said 'turn it around boys'. So we did, creating an unstable mix of a packed field, a yellow line rule, and in my view - all the faster guys who had been jockeying for the front, now in the back of the pack.
What would Jens do? He would get back to the front however possible. It took about a lap and a half to worm back to the front 20 guys. At one point I rode up the dirt shoulder on the inside to do it. Realized once we were back up there that there was a lone rider about 45 seconds off the front. He apparantly stayed on course while the rest of us foolishly followed the pace car. I figured he'd be neutralized by the ref but obviously not as he stayed away and won the race.
Pack was very skittish, worst I've seen in a while. Lots of brakes touched and ripple effect cause locked tires and smoking rubber! Quite a few near misses with guys not holding lines - overlap was an especially bad idea at this race.
With 3 laps to go, I tried to implement my plan of taking off, but with a few other riders. So I tried the upfront approach and asked a few people who were in the top 20 to come along - and told them when I'd be going. Sbux, Jack's, Byrne and a Cycle Therapy guy. All seemed reasonably open and agreeable, so I made my move on turn 2 and went, I had a gap but no participants! Stuck with it to the next turn, but when I saw how close the pack was I sat up.
Then I saw Nelson for first time, and he moved up to the front and got a little daylight. I tried to block for a little bit. When group caught him, I went again but again to no avail.
Then Alex appeared looking strong and started to do some rotations for a bit, reeled in a solo flyer too. When it was all back together, I went ahead and threw caution to the wind and tried to go again. Still nothing.
Now its bell lap. Where did the time go. We're jostling a little for position. Ryan 6th or so, Alex just behind at maybe 10th. Just before final turn, 4th position violently flats - bam! We carry on. Surge just before the corner, corner, then sprints wind up. Pretty much a cluster fudge finish, so I back off a little, Alex got boxed in. Nelson finished in main pack.
So we were thrilled to all finish wheel side down, not placing is tough, but I certainly felt more tired than last two races where I just tried to sit in and conserve for sprint finish.
We looked good with a teammate in front 5 literally entire race - need to work out a little more of the communication on the bike so we know when to block v. rotate.
Lesson learned: I think sometimes its valuable to race a strategy for the strategies sake. I had to remind myself it was OK to attack because I stated to myself that a placing wasn't a priority on this race, but the mind wants you to jettison that thinking and just play it cool. I also learned guys will probably tell you all kinds of things, and let you dangle off the front on your own. Like love, true breaks are likely more about coincidence than overt planning.
Cheerio.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Derby Day's Crashapalooza
Kenton B., Evan 'Rabid Dog' B. and I met up at the Redmond Derby Day's Crit Saturday 7/12/08.
Fast flat course, oversold to 75+ willing but only partially-abled men who took to the line, some prematurely it seems, to race 35 minutes.
Race officials almost DQ'd some folks who ignored an order to hold until course was opened up for line-up. When we saw guys starting to squat the line, I encouraged our group to' giter done' and get out there. As it turns out, the ref let the guys who listened move to the front.
We wanted to push the pace early, and then settle in. Kenton did this in spades, leading the pack through turn 1 and alternating lead pace-setting through first couple three laps. He was a motor! At one point the promoter called out "Cycle University doing strong work at the front of the bike race".
When they called the first prime, I broke my own pre-race plan by covering the flyer who went off the front - wanting to be like Craig E., who does that kind of thing effortlessly. Alas I'm not him and I burned way too many matches trying to cover him, which I only just barely did by turn 4, and then narrowly pip him on the line. Sheesh - all that work, but it turns out for one of the most unique prizes ever - a case of heart-smart "Corazones" Jalapeno corn chips. School lunches are set for the next year for my kids.
My colleague in this endeavor and I weren't interested in trying to stay away so we didn't. I was thrilled to see Kenton come charging back by for the next few laps.
I think there had been a couple crashes to this point, but fairly far back in the pack, so Kenton and I were largely unmolested. But then a crash happened right after turn 1, when somehow a Starbucks/SCCA rider ended up over - he was behind Kenton and in front of me. I thought for sure I was riding into/over his shiny red bike but somehow I was able to get around him. Kenton/rest of the leaders looked a little like 'whoa!?!' but we carried on. To the credit of the racers/spectators/organizers, all crashes were sorted out before a lap was completed, so while I was in front group all day - we never came upon a scene where we had to take care to avoid folks.
A few more laps go by, then again, just after turn 1, that distinctive sounds of thud and scrape as expensive parts and dreams of glory go the way of the Do Do bird. Our intrepid Kenton fell victim to this particular pile-up, photographed by Amara B. here: http://www.wheelsinfocus.com/2008/pages/94AD1795dd.htm He's in that pile somewhere.
As to when he'll next jump into a 4/5 race, Kenton had this to say:
http://www.wheelsinfocus.com/2008/pages/94AD1827dd.htm [Edited out]. As the promoters blended all the master's together, it made some guys go 4/5 - many won't again I suspect.
And our new sensation Evan B. earned his new nickname by literally rinsing his guts out to stay in the pack, avoid the crashes and finish the race. http://www.wheelsinfocus.com/2008/pages/94AD1763dd.htm
Lessons learned: if you want to win - conserve at all costs. Going for the prime was stupid. Podium guys rode smart, never in top 4-5 during the race, they sat and they waited. Acceleration really happens at start of bell lap, and just builds to a crescendo heading into turn 4. I put it in the 53x11 just before turn 4, tried to guesstimate where 250 meters out was and then gave it all - alas not enough. Second place rider was in a crash and got back in the race - chapeau!
Enough criteriums already. Looking forward to Skagit circuit race next weekend and some pure climbing.
PS - Coach Ed looked good in 3's race but didnt stay for finish.
Fast flat course, oversold to 75+ willing but only partially-abled men who took to the line, some prematurely it seems, to race 35 minutes.
Race officials almost DQ'd some folks who ignored an order to hold until course was opened up for line-up. When we saw guys starting to squat the line, I encouraged our group to' giter done' and get out there. As it turns out, the ref let the guys who listened move to the front.
We wanted to push the pace early, and then settle in. Kenton did this in spades, leading the pack through turn 1 and alternating lead pace-setting through first couple three laps. He was a motor! At one point the promoter called out "Cycle University doing strong work at the front of the bike race".
When they called the first prime, I broke my own pre-race plan by covering the flyer who went off the front - wanting to be like Craig E., who does that kind of thing effortlessly. Alas I'm not him and I burned way too many matches trying to cover him, which I only just barely did by turn 4, and then narrowly pip him on the line. Sheesh - all that work, but it turns out for one of the most unique prizes ever - a case of heart-smart "Corazones" Jalapeno corn chips. School lunches are set for the next year for my kids.
My colleague in this endeavor and I weren't interested in trying to stay away so we didn't. I was thrilled to see Kenton come charging back by for the next few laps.
I think there had been a couple crashes to this point, but fairly far back in the pack, so Kenton and I were largely unmolested. But then a crash happened right after turn 1, when somehow a Starbucks/SCCA rider ended up over - he was behind Kenton and in front of me. I thought for sure I was riding into/over his shiny red bike but somehow I was able to get around him. Kenton/rest of the leaders looked a little like 'whoa!?!' but we carried on. To the credit of the racers/spectators/organizers, all crashes were sorted out before a lap was completed, so while I was in front group all day - we never came upon a scene where we had to take care to avoid folks.
A few more laps go by, then again, just after turn 1, that distinctive sounds of thud and scrape as expensive parts and dreams of glory go the way of the Do Do bird. Our intrepid Kenton fell victim to this particular pile-up, photographed by Amara B. here: http://www.wheelsinfocus.com/2008/pages/94AD1795dd.htm He's in that pile somewhere.
As to when he'll next jump into a 4/5 race, Kenton had this to say:
http://www.wheelsinfocus.com/2008/pages/94AD1827dd.htm [Edited out]. As the promoters blended all the master's together, it made some guys go 4/5 - many won't again I suspect.
And our new sensation Evan B. earned his new nickname by literally rinsing his guts out to stay in the pack, avoid the crashes and finish the race. http://www.wheelsinfocus.com/2008/pages/94AD1763dd.htm
Lessons learned: if you want to win - conserve at all costs. Going for the prime was stupid. Podium guys rode smart, never in top 4-5 during the race, they sat and they waited. Acceleration really happens at start of bell lap, and just builds to a crescendo heading into turn 4. I put it in the 53x11 just before turn 4, tried to guesstimate where 250 meters out was and then gave it all - alas not enough. Second place rider was in a crash and got back in the race - chapeau!
Enough criteriums already. Looking forward to Skagit circuit race next weekend and some pure climbing.
PS - Coach Ed looked good in 3's race but didnt stay for finish.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Pacific Raceway, Cat 4/5 Criterium, 7/1/08
Made my 3rd trip down to Pacific Raceway for the Cat 4/5 race (only my 2nd time to race since the last trip I declared a wash-out after seeing a drenched track). I have only been on my bike once in the last 2 weeks; wife is out of town traveling and I am covering the home front and kids solo. Sometimes fresh legs works in your favor and sometimes not so much so I had a real wait and see attitude.
Weather was great, probably mid 70's with no wind .... basically perfect. The course is the flat track with the two dragstrips and wide loops which is my favorite. Craig, CycleU team coach was there and several team mates who I had not met before. Sorry I missed getting everyone's name in memory but seemed like everyone enjoyed the race.
So about the race, typical warm up, brought no water which is really fine with me for a 50 min race. True to form I forgot to clear or interval my powertap so I need to clean out the warm up data. Typical scramble up to the line and there were approximately 60 riders from a variety of teams. Not sure but we may have been racing with Cat 3/4/5 together again. First lap starts out with no neutral roll out so by turn 1 the pace is clipping along pretty good, I work to get in the front 10 riders. Lap 2, not alot of action but different individuals are cruising up to the front to put the hammer down. At the long back stretch it gets strung out single file but it still is pretty unorganized and no one is making any serious moves. I am sticking in middle/front of the pack just grabbing wheels trying not to fall back.
Prem lap comes up and you can feel the pace pick up. I didn't join in the sprint, mainly out of self doubt (that match burning thing) and I was also out of position at about 20th coming out of the last turn. Gotta remember to either organize with the team or grab a better wheel for that bottom turn. Everyone sits up after the line and the peloton rolls on.
Somewhere in the next couple of laps was another prem but I missed the bell so don't really know what happened. It must have not been that serious of an effort because I really wondered what happened to the 2nd prem when they called out 2 laps to go.
2 laps is called and I move up to 10th'ish because the pack is sounding way too healthy. Lots of chatter, no one looks winded at all, and groups are starting to talk tactics. Pace picks up but you can sense people are loading up for the last lap.
Last lap, in the front 1/3 going into the 1st of the two turns. A WA Wines guy makes a move coming out of turn one against the wall and I follow his wheel. We quickly move up to front 15'ish going into the bottom turn. Rounding out the back of that turn I move to the outside edge of the last right hander afraid of getting caught against the barrier. I am feeling really good and decide to dive into the sprint, I fly around some people that are pulling out but am still just holding position against riders that are better organized on the inside. Just can't find a wheel to follow and I don't have a sprint from the last corner all the way to the line. I think I finished somewhere around 15th which is respectable for me.
Lessons learned:
I have finally figured out how to take the 2nd corner without reducing speed. I am sure other racers behind me appreciate this but my quads really enjoyed not having to pound as hard coming out of that corner. I sat in the front part of the pack the entire ride. No pulls at the front, no hanging on the outside in the wind, less accelarations required out of the corners, no slinky effect from pack surges ...that was a huge effort saver .... somewhat boring but it made a monsterous difference in how strong i finished.
I should have went for one of the prems. I had the legs to contest either one of the two prems or the finish but that would have required some planning on my own or in a team effort. I could have focused on one of the prems but I wanted to finish strong ... finishing any stronger would require moving up to top 5 in the last corner or some team tactics .... both a good idea.
End of the last lap I averaged 32mph, 457 watt avg, with a max of 750 watts. I think I was in 50x12 in the home stretch and that was too much gear with not enough cadence. I think I could hit more speed with less gear/more cadence. I obviously thought differently going into the turn but I either need to test this in training or try different next time.
Overall,
Great nice for racing and riding in the middle of the pack made the race much easier. I told the guys we must have rode slow but they said we averaged 25 for the 50 minutes ... they call that pedal efficiency right? I think I graduated from raw newbie to pack fill and will work on making that jump to contesting for something. I would also like to get some team tactics going, my cornering is good enough now I could lead out for someone which would be fun. I'll also work on getting some pics to liven up these long post.
Again, sorry I didn't get everyone's name and please chime in with your experience.
Weather was great, probably mid 70's with no wind .... basically perfect. The course is the flat track with the two dragstrips and wide loops which is my favorite. Craig, CycleU team coach was there and several team mates who I had not met before. Sorry I missed getting everyone's name in memory but seemed like everyone enjoyed the race.
So about the race, typical warm up, brought no water which is really fine with me for a 50 min race. True to form I forgot to clear or interval my powertap so I need to clean out the warm up data. Typical scramble up to the line and there were approximately 60 riders from a variety of teams. Not sure but we may have been racing with Cat 3/4/5 together again. First lap starts out with no neutral roll out so by turn 1 the pace is clipping along pretty good, I work to get in the front 10 riders. Lap 2, not alot of action but different individuals are cruising up to the front to put the hammer down. At the long back stretch it gets strung out single file but it still is pretty unorganized and no one is making any serious moves. I am sticking in middle/front of the pack just grabbing wheels trying not to fall back.
Prem lap comes up and you can feel the pace pick up. I didn't join in the sprint, mainly out of self doubt (that match burning thing) and I was also out of position at about 20th coming out of the last turn. Gotta remember to either organize with the team or grab a better wheel for that bottom turn. Everyone sits up after the line and the peloton rolls on.
Somewhere in the next couple of laps was another prem but I missed the bell so don't really know what happened. It must have not been that serious of an effort because I really wondered what happened to the 2nd prem when they called out 2 laps to go.
2 laps is called and I move up to 10th'ish because the pack is sounding way too healthy. Lots of chatter, no one looks winded at all, and groups are starting to talk tactics. Pace picks up but you can sense people are loading up for the last lap.
Last lap, in the front 1/3 going into the 1st of the two turns. A WA Wines guy makes a move coming out of turn one against the wall and I follow his wheel. We quickly move up to front 15'ish going into the bottom turn. Rounding out the back of that turn I move to the outside edge of the last right hander afraid of getting caught against the barrier. I am feeling really good and decide to dive into the sprint, I fly around some people that are pulling out but am still just holding position against riders that are better organized on the inside. Just can't find a wheel to follow and I don't have a sprint from the last corner all the way to the line. I think I finished somewhere around 15th which is respectable for me.
Lessons learned:
I have finally figured out how to take the 2nd corner without reducing speed. I am sure other racers behind me appreciate this but my quads really enjoyed not having to pound as hard coming out of that corner. I sat in the front part of the pack the entire ride. No pulls at the front, no hanging on the outside in the wind, less accelarations required out of the corners, no slinky effect from pack surges ...that was a huge effort saver .... somewhat boring but it made a monsterous difference in how strong i finished.
I should have went for one of the prems. I had the legs to contest either one of the two prems or the finish but that would have required some planning on my own or in a team effort. I could have focused on one of the prems but I wanted to finish strong ... finishing any stronger would require moving up to top 5 in the last corner or some team tactics .... both a good idea.
End of the last lap I averaged 32mph, 457 watt avg, with a max of 750 watts. I think I was in 50x12 in the home stretch and that was too much gear with not enough cadence. I think I could hit more speed with less gear/more cadence. I obviously thought differently going into the turn but I either need to test this in training or try different next time.
Overall,
Great nice for racing and riding in the middle of the pack made the race much easier. I told the guys we must have rode slow but they said we averaged 25 for the 50 minutes ... they call that pedal efficiency right? I think I graduated from raw newbie to pack fill and will work on making that jump to contesting for something. I would also like to get some team tactics going, my cornering is good enough now I could lead out for someone which would be fun. I'll also work on getting some pics to liven up these long post.
Again, sorry I didn't get everyone's name and please chime in with your experience.
Repeat After Me
The Tuesday/Thursday morning hill madness continued today, with Evan B, Ryan D, Sabrina H, Chris O and Bill S meeting at the Husky at 6a sharp to ride repeats. In Ryan's words, "It don't wait, so don't be late...", and we rolled promptly at six.
We headed through the Arboretum to LWB and up Madrona. Then down. Then up. Then down. Then up. Then down. Then up. Then down. Then up. Then down. Then up. Then down. If you're dizzy, that's six times, and we've got proof here:
Full GPS track is up at http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6130411
Thanks to everyone for coming and making it a great morning! Oh yeah, Chris showed up and rode hard with a fever. There went the last excuse in my book. Very nice, Chris.
The next ride is Thursday (7/3), 6a at the Husky. We'll ride up Queen Anne via 3rd Ave W from Nickerson. It will hurt so good.
We headed through the Arboretum to LWB and up Madrona. Then down. Then up. Then down. Then up. Then down. Then up. Then down. Then up. Then down. Then up. Then down. If you're dizzy, that's six times, and we've got proof here:
Full GPS track is up at http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6130411
Thanks to everyone for coming and making it a great morning! Oh yeah, Chris showed up and rode hard with a fever. There went the last excuse in my book. Very nice, Chris.
The next ride is Thursday (7/3), 6a at the Husky. We'll ride up Queen Anne via 3rd Ave W from Nickerson. It will hurt so good.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Des Moines Master's Crit
I was thrilled to have my entire family along for the ride down to sunny Des Moines, WA today for the crit. A beautiful waterside town, not many spectators there but good parking and lots of amenities close at hand.
Very hot, but since we did Wenatchee in the heat, it wasn't to disruptive for prep. Stuck with lots of HEED and Endurolytes. Many guys used trainers but I stuck to the road for warm up. Bike Huggers were there mixing smoothies with a smart pair of Surly Big Dummy bikes (or whatever they are called), with the Free Radical extension kit, boy I covet one of those. On my right at the start is big Vern of the nation's largest loose-leaf tea distributor. We talked conspiracy and subterfuge as the start bell sounded.
A great course, hard but fair, great lines in the corners with not too much junk to watch out for. No wrecks. Could smell the salty breeze on the faster backstretch, and then just salty sweat on that graham cracker of a long ascent to start/finish line.
Cuc!na had clear numbers, I think Vern said he counted 8 or 9 guys. We know Tom Donohue and he has been winning a lot lately, and they have been making it look easy, so I think many of the teams did well to keep a couple fellas up front all day, when a Cuc!na would go, he'd kinda get left alone because you knew once reeled back they'd send another one.
Just a whole lot of different teams working well at the front. Consequently it was a little boring as the pack just stayed together the whole time. A BI guy jumped real hard at the start of the graham cracker, maybe half way through. He looked real good moving up and through S/F line. But then he let of the gas after turn 1 and shut it down. He must have thought I made a cheeky remark because he words for me later.
Anyway - around and around we went. I never heard the primes get called, and never saw a chance to get a little group going so with a couple laps left it was clearly going to be a sprint finish. Great. I watched the masters D race and was surprised to see how long the winner waited until he sprinted on his breakaway of 3. Your body wanted to sprint the minute you were through turn 4 and really this was way too soon. I noticed a little sign, a motel or something that marked when the D guy sprinted and tried to make note of it during the race as a reference point for the crux acceleration.
So on final lap, still all together but folks are jumpy, I worked hard to maintain position in each turn of final lap, trying to stay 4-6 places up, once we're through turn 4, you have to attend a little to the traffic buttons, and then go -sort of at maybe 75% power? I got a little boxed in at this point, curb on the right, Vern? in front and someone on the left. So I came in way inside and tried to give it all for what was left. Had a funny thought, that maybe I'd get the benefit of the doubt being so much closer to the refs, nah they had that dang camera. Way to go Vern you madman!
All in all a fun race - don't let anyone say masters arent fast. I was pretty wiped out after only 15 miles of racing. We averaged nearly 24 mph. Did the 4's really do the same distance? Their finish times seem WAY faster than ours...
Friday, June 27, 2008
TNT Night at Marymoor Velodrome
Yesterday, I went for Thursday Night Training session for new rider at Marymoor velodrome.There is nothing better than riding in pace-line without breaks on fixed gear bike! From Cycle-U crowd, Peter was there too.
As with road race, you have to watch for opening gaps in front of you. Single line can go pretty fast. I had rented bike ($5), no cycle computer. But I would guess, speed in pace line was 26-30 mph. Gap was about 150 meters, after guy in front of me pulled out. I’ve tried to chase the pace line for 3.5 laps (~mile), but could not make last 50 meters and gave up.
Afterwards we did one lap time trial from the standing start. Unlike regular TT you are in the same one gear (I’m guessing 46x16 for rental), so first few revolutions are hard. And afterwards it’s pretty much anaerobic effort for a lap, which is 400 meters. My time was about 34 seconds, which is quite slow.
Afterwards we did one lap time trial from the standing start. Unlike regular TT you are in the same one gear (I’m guessing 46x16 for rental), so first few revolutions are hard. And afterwards it’s pretty much anaerobic effort for a lap, which is 400 meters. My time was about 34 seconds, which is quite slow.Anyway, TNT is highly recommended. Instructors are friendly and track is fun. Next Stop is Monday night at Velodrome.
Track is fun!
Monday, June 16, 2008
ALEX WINS WINTHROP RR!!
Cycle University men's road team captain Alex T. won the mens 4/5 road race yesterday!
More details available at:
http://dessat.blogspot.com/2008/06/methow-valley-tour-stage-race-winthrop.html
Way to go Alex!!!!
More details available at:
http://dessat.blogspot.com/2008/06/methow-valley-tour-stage-race-winthrop.html
Way to go Alex!!!!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Glenwood RR
Kitsap County, Port Orchard,
Wa 2008-
Masters Championship
This was a great course, smooth roads. 3000 feet and 56 miles of rolling hills and rural. I met Gary Hocking, Eric Jeppesen, Alex Telitsine, and Jim Petersen there. The race started late and Jim had to leave to watch his kids at soccer, without getting on the course. Alex joined the Master's C and us geezers joined the Master's D.
My Garmin showed that we finished in about 2:25 minutes averaging 22.5 mph. Same as Gary's reading. If I did not skillfully round a turn my heartrate would torture me at 190. I thought I would explode, but Gary and I managed to stay in the middle of the group the whole way. I lost sight of Eric, I don't know when.... because I was in my own little world.
We passed Alex unbeknowst to me and I heard Gary shout, "Go Alex", Gary said we just passed him. We passed him again and he told me he dropped his chain and was just doing the loops now. Gary and I would frequently move up past each other, and the other cyclists were composed....anyone could be aggressive, but not squirrely. I was very vocal if need be in a pleasant way with others as they might be with me. I did not feel as vigilante as I would be in a Cat 4/5 race. At the end we were going downhill at 28 to 30 mph followed by a massive sprint uphill to the finish on a 11 to 14% grade which we had passed 3 times before...and I had shifted gears so well before...but the final climb I missed my gear and did not finish as well as I could, it was that quick. Gary, who was only a few feet in front of me finished 17th. The difference of getting your gears right .Last year I said I would not do RR's anymore, following a terrible crash. However, I have come out of my timidness some...being picky about which RR's I will do.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Carnation TT #2, 2008
We have good showing of CU team at this wet and cruel hilly time trial. The course goes up steep Tolt Hill Road, followed by screaming descent to the flat section on Fall City-Redmond road, until gradual uphill on Ames Lake road. Afterward, it is descent again with some short hills, until road turns back to the carnation.
Overall it was about 1,000 feet climb over 14.5 miles.
Everyone put good effort.Mark got 2nd in M21
Evan was 15 in M21-39, breaking 40 minutes mark
Derek was 23rd in the same group.
Jeff was 19 in M40-49
Mark got 10th in M50+
Sabrina got 4th in W21-39
I’ve got 14th in 21/39. My goal of the day was to break 40 minutes. I’ve started 15 seconds behind the clock, but fortunately was able to reach my goal.
Results can be found here.
More info on Carnation TT series is at Footworks cycles web site
Evan was 15 in M21-39, breaking 40 minutes mark
Derek was 23rd in the same group.
Jeff was 19 in M40-49
Mark got 10th in M50+
Sabrina got 4th in W21-39
I’ve got 14th in 21/39. My goal of the day was to break 40 minutes. I’ve started 15 seconds behind the clock, but fortunately was able to reach my goal.
Results can be found here.
More info on Carnation TT series is at Footworks cycles web site
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Brad Lewis Memorial Crit
[Older race report being filed now for posterity...]
[Picture credits: P. Brookshire]
We started out with a lengthy rollout and warmup due to the crash in the final sprint of the Mens 5s which required an ambulance to evacuate a rider from the scene. Incidentally, Matt H. of Cucina, who won the 4/5s initial race at Pacific Raceways had won 3 of 4 primes and likely would have won that race but for the crash. Another great reason to take the upgrade class with Cycle U – so you can avoid that kind of thing.
The course is a .6KM loop starting on Boat street heading clockwise to Pacifc (turn 1) east to Brooklyn (turn 2), downhill and then right on Boat street again (turn 3), turns 1 and 3 are tighter than 90 degrees, off-camber, incorporate big grade change and include many road hazards (potholes and traffic dots).
The USCF ref encouraged everyone to be friendly and thoughtful of one another in corners. He wanted NO bike throws for primes and reminded us that the race would not be won in the first 10 minutes. This is supposed to be fun after all. So we took off and while the lap one pace was decent, things sped up after we could get a feel for the turns at speed. You had to ride hard up around turn 1, uphill to turn 2, recover on descent and the sweep turn 3, and then nail it as early as possible out of that turn to keep the elastic intact. This was a combination fitness test, but also finesse test between technical cornering and road hazards at speed.
A few flyers took off early but were reassimilated into the pack due to strong riding from some Oberto juniors and Jason with Alki/Rubicon. After 20 mins or so, big bad Carl H. (think Jan Ullrich) from Recycled went for the first prime of the day. A pound of coffee he had personally delivered from their team sponsor Lighthouse coffee. He took it, and as we rolled through I saw Clayton (Sbux) come charging through and grabbed his wheel. He had soloed a bit earlier so he was clearly strong and feeling his oats. This is the same guy who took first at Mason Lake #2 when Alex got second – but I’m glad I didn’t know that at the time.
I recall intentionally not pulling through after Clayton because it felt too soon in the race, I had my own plans to try a flyer with my cousin Nelson. Clayton respectfully disagreed. Then a blur of blue Carl H(RC) and Craig (Axa) came by and our little break formed. Next thing I knew we had three-four of us together and a little gap. I told Clayton I’d work now and encouraged them all to take short hard pulls, keep our eyes on the final prize and ignore the primes. We split somewhere like 17 minutes to go, probably way too early but our group worked well and the guys rode hard, fair and safe. Craig intimated that his teammates worked to block the pack for us.
The course is a .6KM loop starting on Boat street heading clockwise to Pacifc (turn 1) east to Brooklyn (turn 2), downhill and then right on Boat street again (turn 3), turns 1 and 3 are tighter than 90 degrees, off-camber, incorporate big grade change and include many road hazards (potholes and traffic dots).
The USCF ref encouraged everyone to be friendly and thoughtful of one another in corners. He wanted NO bike throws for primes and reminded us that the race would not be won in the first 10 minutes. This is supposed to be fun after all. So we took off and while the lap one pace was decent, things sped up after we could get a feel for the turns at speed. You had to ride hard up around turn 1, uphill to turn 2, recover on descent and the sweep turn 3, and then nail it as early as possible out of that turn to keep the elastic intact. This was a combination fitness test, but also finesse test between technical cornering and road hazards at speed.
A few flyers took off early but were reassimilated into the pack due to strong riding from some Oberto juniors and Jason with Alki/Rubicon. After 20 mins or so, big bad Carl H. (think Jan Ullrich) from Recycled went for the first prime of the day. A pound of coffee he had personally delivered from their team sponsor Lighthouse coffee. He took it, and as we rolled through I saw Clayton (Sbux) come charging through and grabbed his wheel. He had soloed a bit earlier so he was clearly strong and feeling his oats. This is the same guy who took first at Mason Lake #2 when Alex got second – but I’m glad I didn’t know that at the time.
I recall intentionally not pulling through after Clayton because it felt too soon in the race, I had my own plans to try a flyer with my cousin Nelson. Clayton respectfully disagreed. Then a blur of blue Carl H(RC) and Craig (Axa) came by and our little break formed. Next thing I knew we had three-four of us together and a little gap. I told Clayton I’d work now and encouraged them all to take short hard pulls, keep our eyes on the final prize and ignore the primes. We split somewhere like 17 minutes to go, probably way too early but our group worked well and the guys rode hard, fair and safe. Craig intimated that his teammates worked to block the pack for us.
With 3-4 laps left, Clayton bridged back to us and made a strong move to open the bell lap. I figured he was the wheel to watch, but the move was really to drive it through turn 2 and lead into that widowmaker of turn 3 because once you swept hard through that there wasn’t really enough real estate left to make a difference – we exited that turn in the order we finished. Craig knew this and was off like a shot heading into turn 2. Chapeau.
It was nice to see the three protagonists of the break settle the podium, but Clayton did a lot to put the pack into difficulty – I was glad to learn that his 4th place means he’s now a 3 and no longer our problem :-).
The ref aggressively pulled riders who weren’t in contact with the bunch – a shame, but probably a big reason why we had no crashes.
4’s get merchandise in lieu of cash. So if you see me sporting some killer socks, now you know.
ps- Cycle U world headquarters had not yet received their order of fine Hincapie 2008 racing togs so I wore my FC Barcelona cycle kit because it contains many of the same letter as Cycle U.
Wenatchee Omnium
As we are a development team; it occurred to me on my ride in today that some of you might care to know what preparations and details occurred before and during this weekend’s race. So delete this now if you don’t care to read about the build up and blow by blow. It’s long.
I’m styling this something like the excellent blog Martin Criminale maintains on his training. Areas you like are his, mistakes or errors are mine.
Pre Race Days
Nelson (my cousin), Evan and I started training for this race just after Brad Lewis (boat street) crit in April. We focused on the hill part of the road race because we like climbing and thought that’s were we could have some fun. With 6 kids between us, time is short, so we did two weeks of Tue/Thur morning early rides before work where we did roughly 1 hour extra work, primarily hill repeats. We did Interlaken drive up to Volunteer park 4 times and call it a day. We also discovered 3rd Ave West on Queen Anne hill as a nice route which we did instead. We’d do the climbs 4 times.
We all continued to commute to work by bike during the weeks leading up to the race. 3 weeks prior to race we did our best training ride to date. We rode from Cycle U World HQ North to Woodinville, East side of Lake Sammamish and up Cougar Mtn as hard as we could. Nelson won that day and we finished with 62 miles and 4,000+ft climbed.
2 weeks prior to race we rode a shorter ride than we wished, due to family schedules so we did Cycle U to Mercer Island and back – hard pace. Only 35 miles. Then with 1 week to go we took it easy. I rode a spinner from Cycle U to Seward and back. Commuted all week, many days in small ring only including Friday before the race.
Race Days
We loaded up LATE Friday (don’t ask) and arrived in Wenatchee at 11:30PM wired on red bull, Frappacinos and the August 4th, 1974 Grateful Dead show from East Hampton NY. We checked in to Red Lion wearing wigs and headbands. I, Bjorn Borg, Nelson as John McEnroe. The country folk in town for the softball tournament, and the locals in the bar for Latino night thought we were ‘odd’. But the race organizers, overwhelmed by more than twice the turnout than they had planned for were still downstairs key whacking data and laughed their heads off.
Dinner for me that night was pasta with alfredo sauce. Lots of water during the day, the caffeine on the road and a beer before bed. We got 5.5 hours of sleep (thank you freight train). Ate oatmeal, juice, coffee and bacon in the café that morning and headed to TT start. Nelson and I each had two ‘endurolyte’ tablets by Hammer which are electrolyte replacement supplements. Essentially salt tablets.
We warmed up on the road instead of trainers and oogled all the people with aero bars, helmets, shoes, bikes, etc. We had none of that, nor had we ever done or trained for a TT before. It showed! Steve H went early along with Gary H and Doug, then Evan, Alex, Nelson and I was last. Oh I did do one thing different than the others, I used a ‘breathe right’ strip on my nose because I’ve seen the pros do it and figured that was my affordable nod to TT’ing. Having teammate report on the conditions was great – really useful advice on how to ride out (at 80-90% due to tailwind), to treat the turnaround as a finish line once you see it – charge hard, make the turn and then go 100% for the last half all were helpful.
Bike – normal road bike (Litespeed, Dura-Ace, Real Design wheels 39x21)
Pre ride snack – powerbar and hammer gel (gel just before start)
Bottles- one bottle with 2 scoops of HEED, and 2 endurolyte capsules added
Cycle U cap under helmet.
SPF 50 sunscreen
Warmup: 35-45mins road riding at 60-75% effort
Steve H wins the moral victory with at 24’12 at his young age. I was 20th.
We wondered how much time we might have gained had we used any aero gear at all. Alex regretted using his disc wheel in retrospect as it made it hard for him to control the machine on the road. Peter A. with BI, 43 yrs young scored 4th place overall. David S. with Second Ascent is a TT master and won the mens 4’s with a sub 22’ time. He killed it. Craig E., the overall winner, used clip on bars only.
Ok so now what? Nelson and I aren’t used to having gobs of free time so we spent it by going to lunch at McGlinns with Alex who won the lunch race by consuming soup, and a jumbo burger. I had burger and Nelson chicken sandwich. We all drank Arnold Palmer’s and lots of water. Since we were downtown, we decided it would be good to walk the crit course – so we did in the bright sun at the hottest part of the day with full bellies. Wise. We broke out of our lethargy by opting to setup the Cycle U tent in prime grassy spot at start/finish line. Sweet! Then back to hotel for naps.
Woke at 3pm or so and drank more fluid, had two more endurolyte tablets and packed for the race. Ate another powerbar and drove to the course. More sunscreen. Warmed up by riding around the blocks adjacent to the course. Brought chairs, cooler and video camera to the tent and joined up with the other teammates. Everything was delayed.
The MO for every race was blistering start, immediate pack disintegration, huge amount of pulled riders and finishers numbering typically less than 20. During warmup I got separated from Alex and Nelson. I saw riders queuing to get to the start of the 4’s and so dropped my warmup and tried to find a way to ‘cheat’ into the front line. Every fiber in me said that you had to be at the front – even if you had to be a jerk about it. So when they let us on I cut through neutral support and snuck my spot on the front. In hindsight I would have called Nelson and Alex up there.
So were off. Echoing Ken’s comments, this is like a back alley fistfight to hold your position. In my opinion you burn some matches and put your nose in the wind any time necessary to move up. Happiness for me is 4th,5th,6th position back. The course was brutal. Imagine a set of badly maintained railroad tracks bifurcating the 100ft climb halfway, and you are hitting them at 28mph. Zoikes! Tried to bunny hop them but the back wheel felt squirrely upon landing so that seemed like a bad idea. Guys fought for the 12 inch wide ‘clean’ line over them.
Ok, so on start of 4th lap, just after turn 1 we do the ‘descent’ part of the rectangle. Some youngin’ from Café Appasionatto and I start to lean into each other. Those of you who do Craig’s class know this is no big deal. You stay relaxed, keep your bike under you and life is good. Since this is my retelling, I’ll claim it was his fault that we both hit the deck. Because I’m up front I naturally worry about getting run over and go fetal position. Right side of body/bike take the brunt. Dust settles and I tell the guy there is a free lap so just go back to start/finish. I think my bike is hosed as the brake lever is torqued in, chain off etc. I take off helmet, pick up glasses and start to walk back to the tent thinking I’m done, and how that really sucks. But as I’m walking I’m finding my body is not that bad. I decide if the mechanic can fix me up, I’ll get back in. Remember to check if you have a water bottle though before getting back into the race. I didn’t, and proceeded to race another 20 mins in 100 degrees with no bottle.
Some of you have heard the snot story but it bears repeating. When you are so cotton-mouthed you can’t see straight, and the guy in front of your snorts his nose out, you are grateful for the evaporative cooling impact the snot has on your face. You relish it, you mentally thank him and wish him to continue. You almost reach your tongue out but [edited out].
So the rest of that race was a suffer-fest, but ultimately we’re all racing bikes because we all want to suffer on some level, so you go into your reptilian mind and just try to stay on that wheel in front of you. So the final sprint. Tactically, position is critical here. I’ve seen it now in each big race I’ve been in this year. Your position in the group (not first or second), and your ability to take the line you want is crucial. Going into the final turn, I was happy with my position, but picked a bad line – trying to cut tighter inside. A rider in front who started to my left was able to effectively ‘close the door’ on me on the turn, at that point you go for your crux power move and I think we largely stayed in same order in which we exited turn 4.
By the way –its incredibly motivating to hear teammates shouting encouragement from the sideline. Most guys don’t get this – so thanks to you all for that. I finished 6th. Morgan C. (Sbux) who came in 2nd on the RR got cut, along with 70% of the field, so its not bad to be cut – it happens to many very strong people.
Bike – normal road bike (Litespeed, Dura-Ace, Real Design wheels, 39x21)
Pre ride snack – powerbar and hammer gel (gel just before start)
Bottles- one bottle with 2 scoops of HEED, and 2 endurolyte capsules added – missed it most of the race.
Cycle U cap under helmet.
SPF 50 sunscreen
Warmup: 30mins road riding at 60% effort
Dinnner was at an Italian place with Evan, Nelson, Alex, and Steve – we laughed hard! I had lasagna and salad and two draft beers. Evan B had a first aid kit and I used his bandages for my various road rash. Did you want those back?
Back at the hotel Nelson helped me to straighten my bent derailleur hanger from the crash. We watch “Species”. Slept about 8 hrs, only on left side, other hurts too much. Breakfast was oatmeal, coffee and potatoes (Alex’s suggestion). Drank a bottle with HEED/Endurolyte before the race, ate a pbj sandwich. Carried two gels and two HEED/Endurolyte bottles and power bar. We warmed up on the short side, maybe 30 mins worth.
We started out with massive tailwind, Nelson and I stayed in the front 15-20 guys. Juniors massed at the front and rode well. Course had us riding the TT course, doing the 180 degree turnaround and then riding into the wind before the climb pitched up. I yelled to the front 20 or so guys to chill during the turnaround so everyone got around clean – don’t think we had anyone with any problems. But during the in-the-wind part, noone wanted to work. Nelson (?!?!) was feeling good and wanted to avoid trouble so he went to the front and took over. Couple guys helped out but clearly the big teams were not exhibiting any leadership.
Painful, but it ended soon – once we turned up Joe Hill road it was lights out. Following Craig’s advice, we let the other sharks set the pace up the hill. Things exploded fairly quickly, I had been a little nervous about my cassette selection. It was an easy selection because I only have one cassette, 11x21, but I was in the 20 early and you always like to keep that last gear in reserve and never use it. Uh-oh. So Craig E (Ava), Morgan C (Sbux) Nelson and I pull away from the carnage. Here is a great tip when climbing a hill in a race, if you want to put other riders out and mess with their minds, talk. Craig was waxing rhapsodically about the sun, the view, the trees, the pleasant scents etc etc ad nauseum. Us? We were panting. I tried to encourage the group to work together but knew I was the weakest, my lame attempt at a pull was met with well-meaning looks from the others, but when Craig saw down the hairpin how close the pack was, he decided it was time for some real separation of church and state. He motored and only Morgan could follow. Just in case you didn't think this was a small world, it turns out Morgan and I both went to the same small high-school in Albuquerque, NM.
OK, now I’m by my lonesome. I decide to climb at my own pace (like I have any choice?) and mull over whether its better to try to catch Morgan and work with him or let up and work with whatever size group is likely just behind me. Getting to the Church was great b/c it felt like a real KOM with crowds, neutral water support etc. But then you turn left and keep climbing. This was where Steve H’s reconnaissance riding paid huge dividends, we had some idea what to expect. I took the neutral water but just sipped it, sprayed self and discarded bottle preferring to stick with my food bottles. No group yet. Kept riding. Took a caffeine gel as I sensed the descent coming on and it was going to be a time for strong work if we’d any hope of reeling at least Morgan in – it was clear to me Craig was unstoppable.
Finally a voice from behind says ‘you might as well wait for us as were going to catch you’. Right. Friendly wave and then three lads join up. They look at my kit and say “oh, your teammate just crashed hard on the descent and went into a ditch..” !!!!!!! Whoa! The Clash: Should I stay or should I go-go? I figured that unless he (Nelson) was carted off in an ambulance, he’d be more pissed if I stopped than continuing on, so at least the trip wasn’t completely in vain. So we agree to work together to try to catch Morgan. Part way down the descent the official car slows us down and says that the 5’s leader is right behind us and we have to go neutral…this was nearly impossible to parse out from the wind and noise descending at that speed. So we soft pedal and he passes us, and they make us stay neutral for another 2-3 miles. Meanwhile, another rider joins us, although he’s mistaken for a 5 due to his number.
Tactics again. Our chemistry had been great with equal pulls among the 4 of us running into the finish. Adding the extra man was problematic, when your turn comes to pull, you HOLD the speed, you don’t accelerate. He consistently accelerated which made it really hard. And the gamesmanship started about 2 miles to go. Pulls got missed, these guys were conserving for the sprint. I should have faded to back and refused to pull through, but we were nervous in part that we’d get caught. So then when that rider pulls up the final climb before the dip before the hill sprint, my God but he goes strong, I can’t stay on his wheel. I SHOULD have been last in line, and let the others worry about whatever gap he was opening on that hill. The sprint wound up at about 750 meters to go, train pulls around the flyer who clearly gave his all to get to that point and was cooked. I could only muster enough to get around him but not the others. We caught Morgan essentially right at the finish line – courageous solo ride by him. Craig had finished 5 minutes earlier. I managed 6th (but lost 3rd).
Bike – normal road bike (Litespeed, Dura-Ace, Real Design wheels 39x21) [wished it was 39x25]
Pre ride snack – pbj, HEED bottle and hammer gel (gel just before start and after climb). Post ride 2 beers and pbj.
Bottles- two bottles with 2 scoops of HEED, and 2 endurolyte capsules added to each – sip of neutral water
Headband under helmet for sweat.
SPF 50 sunscreen
Warmup: 35-45mins road riding at 60-75% effort
So then came the worry about Nelson. He got dropped off by some good Samaritans about 30 minutes after the finish. Bike is toast – his story to tell. Damn shame as we could have had a 1-2 punch in the final straight which had been our pre-race plan.
Observations:
Positioning is always key.
Lots of rest and good nutrition is key.
Visualization is huge.
Eat before you are hungry and drink before you are thirsty.
Beware TMI (too much information): this is a data-heavy world, I’m probably speaking heretically but you have to feel good on your bike, your body will tell you a lot. Less is more. Craig E. rides a bike with no computer.
My best to all…
I’m styling this something like the excellent blog Martin Criminale maintains on his training. Areas you like are his, mistakes or errors are mine.
Pre Race Days
Nelson (my cousin), Evan and I started training for this race just after Brad Lewis (boat street) crit in April. We focused on the hill part of the road race because we like climbing and thought that’s were we could have some fun. With 6 kids between us, time is short, so we did two weeks of Tue/Thur morning early rides before work where we did roughly 1 hour extra work, primarily hill repeats. We did Interlaken drive up to Volunteer park 4 times and call it a day. We also discovered 3rd Ave West on Queen Anne hill as a nice route which we did instead. We’d do the climbs 4 times.
We all continued to commute to work by bike during the weeks leading up to the race. 3 weeks prior to race we did our best training ride to date. We rode from Cycle U World HQ North to Woodinville, East side of Lake Sammamish and up Cougar Mtn as hard as we could. Nelson won that day and we finished with 62 miles and 4,000+ft climbed.
2 weeks prior to race we rode a shorter ride than we wished, due to family schedules so we did Cycle U to Mercer Island and back – hard pace. Only 35 miles. Then with 1 week to go we took it easy. I rode a spinner from Cycle U to Seward and back. Commuted all week, many days in small ring only including Friday before the race.
Race Days
We loaded up LATE Friday (don’t ask) and arrived in Wenatchee at 11:30PM wired on red bull, Frappacinos and the August 4th, 1974 Grateful Dead show from East Hampton NY. We checked in to Red Lion wearing wigs and headbands. I, Bjorn Borg, Nelson as John McEnroe. The country folk in town for the softball tournament, and the locals in the bar for Latino night thought we were ‘odd’. But the race organizers, overwhelmed by more than twice the turnout than they had planned for were still downstairs key whacking data and laughed their heads off.
Dinner for me that night was pasta with alfredo sauce. Lots of water during the day, the caffeine on the road and a beer before bed. We got 5.5 hours of sleep (thank you freight train). Ate oatmeal, juice, coffee and bacon in the café that morning and headed to TT start. Nelson and I each had two ‘endurolyte’ tablets by Hammer which are electrolyte replacement supplements. Essentially salt tablets.
We warmed up on the road instead of trainers and oogled all the people with aero bars, helmets, shoes, bikes, etc. We had none of that, nor had we ever done or trained for a TT before. It showed! Steve H went early along with Gary H and Doug, then Evan, Alex, Nelson and I was last. Oh I did do one thing different than the others, I used a ‘breathe right’ strip on my nose because I’ve seen the pros do it and figured that was my affordable nod to TT’ing. Having teammate report on the conditions was great – really useful advice on how to ride out (at 80-90% due to tailwind), to treat the turnaround as a finish line once you see it – charge hard, make the turn and then go 100% for the last half all were helpful.
Bike – normal road bike (Litespeed, Dura-Ace, Real Design wheels 39x21)
Pre ride snack – powerbar and hammer gel (gel just before start)
Bottles- one bottle with 2 scoops of HEED, and 2 endurolyte capsules added
Cycle U cap under helmet.
SPF 50 sunscreen
Warmup: 35-45mins road riding at 60-75% effort
Steve H wins the moral victory with at 24’12 at his young age. I was 20th.
We wondered how much time we might have gained had we used any aero gear at all. Alex regretted using his disc wheel in retrospect as it made it hard for him to control the machine on the road. Peter A. with BI, 43 yrs young scored 4th place overall. David S. with Second Ascent is a TT master and won the mens 4’s with a sub 22’ time. He killed it. Craig E., the overall winner, used clip on bars only.
Ok so now what? Nelson and I aren’t used to having gobs of free time so we spent it by going to lunch at McGlinns with Alex who won the lunch race by consuming soup, and a jumbo burger. I had burger and Nelson chicken sandwich. We all drank Arnold Palmer’s and lots of water. Since we were downtown, we decided it would be good to walk the crit course – so we did in the bright sun at the hottest part of the day with full bellies. Wise. We broke out of our lethargy by opting to setup the Cycle U tent in prime grassy spot at start/finish line. Sweet! Then back to hotel for naps.
Woke at 3pm or so and drank more fluid, had two more endurolyte tablets and packed for the race. Ate another powerbar and drove to the course. More sunscreen. Warmed up by riding around the blocks adjacent to the course. Brought chairs, cooler and video camera to the tent and joined up with the other teammates. Everything was delayed.
The MO for every race was blistering start, immediate pack disintegration, huge amount of pulled riders and finishers numbering typically less than 20. During warmup I got separated from Alex and Nelson. I saw riders queuing to get to the start of the 4’s and so dropped my warmup and tried to find a way to ‘cheat’ into the front line. Every fiber in me said that you had to be at the front – even if you had to be a jerk about it. So when they let us on I cut through neutral support and snuck my spot on the front. In hindsight I would have called Nelson and Alex up there.
So were off. Echoing Ken’s comments, this is like a back alley fistfight to hold your position. In my opinion you burn some matches and put your nose in the wind any time necessary to move up. Happiness for me is 4th,5th,6th position back. The course was brutal. Imagine a set of badly maintained railroad tracks bifurcating the 100ft climb halfway, and you are hitting them at 28mph. Zoikes! Tried to bunny hop them but the back wheel felt squirrely upon landing so that seemed like a bad idea. Guys fought for the 12 inch wide ‘clean’ line over them.
Ok, so on start of 4th lap, just after turn 1 we do the ‘descent’ part of the rectangle. Some youngin’ from Café Appasionatto and I start to lean into each other. Those of you who do Craig’s class know this is no big deal. You stay relaxed, keep your bike under you and life is good. Since this is my retelling, I’ll claim it was his fault that we both hit the deck. Because I’m up front I naturally worry about getting run over and go fetal position. Right side of body/bike take the brunt. Dust settles and I tell the guy there is a free lap so just go back to start/finish. I think my bike is hosed as the brake lever is torqued in, chain off etc. I take off helmet, pick up glasses and start to walk back to the tent thinking I’m done, and how that really sucks. But as I’m walking I’m finding my body is not that bad. I decide if the mechanic can fix me up, I’ll get back in. Remember to check if you have a water bottle though before getting back into the race. I didn’t, and proceeded to race another 20 mins in 100 degrees with no bottle.
Some of you have heard the snot story but it bears repeating. When you are so cotton-mouthed you can’t see straight, and the guy in front of your snorts his nose out, you are grateful for the evaporative cooling impact the snot has on your face. You relish it, you mentally thank him and wish him to continue. You almost reach your tongue out but [edited out].
So the rest of that race was a suffer-fest, but ultimately we’re all racing bikes because we all want to suffer on some level, so you go into your reptilian mind and just try to stay on that wheel in front of you. So the final sprint. Tactically, position is critical here. I’ve seen it now in each big race I’ve been in this year. Your position in the group (not first or second), and your ability to take the line you want is crucial. Going into the final turn, I was happy with my position, but picked a bad line – trying to cut tighter inside. A rider in front who started to my left was able to effectively ‘close the door’ on me on the turn, at that point you go for your crux power move and I think we largely stayed in same order in which we exited turn 4.
By the way –its incredibly motivating to hear teammates shouting encouragement from the sideline. Most guys don’t get this – so thanks to you all for that. I finished 6th. Morgan C. (Sbux) who came in 2nd on the RR got cut, along with 70% of the field, so its not bad to be cut – it happens to many very strong people.
Bike – normal road bike (Litespeed, Dura-Ace, Real Design wheels, 39x21)
Pre ride snack – powerbar and hammer gel (gel just before start)
Bottles- one bottle with 2 scoops of HEED, and 2 endurolyte capsules added – missed it most of the race.
Cycle U cap under helmet.
SPF 50 sunscreen
Warmup: 30mins road riding at 60% effort
Dinnner was at an Italian place with Evan, Nelson, Alex, and Steve – we laughed hard! I had lasagna and salad and two draft beers. Evan B had a first aid kit and I used his bandages for my various road rash. Did you want those back?
Back at the hotel Nelson helped me to straighten my bent derailleur hanger from the crash. We watch “Species”. Slept about 8 hrs, only on left side, other hurts too much. Breakfast was oatmeal, coffee and potatoes (Alex’s suggestion). Drank a bottle with HEED/Endurolyte before the race, ate a pbj sandwich. Carried two gels and two HEED/Endurolyte bottles and power bar. We warmed up on the short side, maybe 30 mins worth.
We started out with massive tailwind, Nelson and I stayed in the front 15-20 guys. Juniors massed at the front and rode well. Course had us riding the TT course, doing the 180 degree turnaround and then riding into the wind before the climb pitched up. I yelled to the front 20 or so guys to chill during the turnaround so everyone got around clean – don’t think we had anyone with any problems. But during the in-the-wind part, noone wanted to work. Nelson (?!?!) was feeling good and wanted to avoid trouble so he went to the front and took over. Couple guys helped out but clearly the big teams were not exhibiting any leadership.
Painful, but it ended soon – once we turned up Joe Hill road it was lights out. Following Craig’s advice, we let the other sharks set the pace up the hill. Things exploded fairly quickly, I had been a little nervous about my cassette selection. It was an easy selection because I only have one cassette, 11x21, but I was in the 20 early and you always like to keep that last gear in reserve and never use it. Uh-oh. So Craig E (Ava), Morgan C (Sbux) Nelson and I pull away from the carnage. Here is a great tip when climbing a hill in a race, if you want to put other riders out and mess with their minds, talk. Craig was waxing rhapsodically about the sun, the view, the trees, the pleasant scents etc etc ad nauseum. Us? We were panting. I tried to encourage the group to work together but knew I was the weakest, my lame attempt at a pull was met with well-meaning looks from the others, but when Craig saw down the hairpin how close the pack was, he decided it was time for some real separation of church and state. He motored and only Morgan could follow. Just in case you didn't think this was a small world, it turns out Morgan and I both went to the same small high-school in Albuquerque, NM.
OK, now I’m by my lonesome. I decide to climb at my own pace (like I have any choice?) and mull over whether its better to try to catch Morgan and work with him or let up and work with whatever size group is likely just behind me. Getting to the Church was great b/c it felt like a real KOM with crowds, neutral water support etc. But then you turn left and keep climbing. This was where Steve H’s reconnaissance riding paid huge dividends, we had some idea what to expect. I took the neutral water but just sipped it, sprayed self and discarded bottle preferring to stick with my food bottles. No group yet. Kept riding. Took a caffeine gel as I sensed the descent coming on and it was going to be a time for strong work if we’d any hope of reeling at least Morgan in – it was clear to me Craig was unstoppable.
Finally a voice from behind says ‘you might as well wait for us as were going to catch you’. Right. Friendly wave and then three lads join up. They look at my kit and say “oh, your teammate just crashed hard on the descent and went into a ditch..” !!!!!!! Whoa! The Clash: Should I stay or should I go-go? I figured that unless he (Nelson) was carted off in an ambulance, he’d be more pissed if I stopped than continuing on, so at least the trip wasn’t completely in vain. So we agree to work together to try to catch Morgan. Part way down the descent the official car slows us down and says that the 5’s leader is right behind us and we have to go neutral…this was nearly impossible to parse out from the wind and noise descending at that speed. So we soft pedal and he passes us, and they make us stay neutral for another 2-3 miles. Meanwhile, another rider joins us, although he’s mistaken for a 5 due to his number.
Tactics again. Our chemistry had been great with equal pulls among the 4 of us running into the finish. Adding the extra man was problematic, when your turn comes to pull, you HOLD the speed, you don’t accelerate. He consistently accelerated which made it really hard. And the gamesmanship started about 2 miles to go. Pulls got missed, these guys were conserving for the sprint. I should have faded to back and refused to pull through, but we were nervous in part that we’d get caught. So then when that rider pulls up the final climb before the dip before the hill sprint, my God but he goes strong, I can’t stay on his wheel. I SHOULD have been last in line, and let the others worry about whatever gap he was opening on that hill. The sprint wound up at about 750 meters to go, train pulls around the flyer who clearly gave his all to get to that point and was cooked. I could only muster enough to get around him but not the others. We caught Morgan essentially right at the finish line – courageous solo ride by him. Craig had finished 5 minutes earlier. I managed 6th (but lost 3rd).
Bike – normal road bike (Litespeed, Dura-Ace, Real Design wheels 39x21) [wished it was 39x25]
Pre ride snack – pbj, HEED bottle and hammer gel (gel just before start and after climb). Post ride 2 beers and pbj.
Bottles- two bottles with 2 scoops of HEED, and 2 endurolyte capsules added to each – sip of neutral water
Headband under helmet for sweat.
SPF 50 sunscreen
Warmup: 35-45mins road riding at 60-75% effort
So then came the worry about Nelson. He got dropped off by some good Samaritans about 30 minutes after the finish. Bike is toast – his story to tell. Damn shame as we could have had a 1-2 punch in the final straight which had been our pre-race plan.
Observations:
Positioning is always key.
Lots of rest and good nutrition is key.
Visualization is huge.
Eat before you are hungry and drink before you are thirsty.
Beware TMI (too much information): this is a data-heavy world, I’m probably speaking heretically but you have to feel good on your bike, your body will tell you a lot. Less is more. Craig E. rides a bike with no computer.
My best to all…
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Mutual of Enumclaw Omnium Report
Short version:
It was a great event. The TT course was mostly smooth with three high-speed turns; the crit had eight (eight!) slippery (slippery!) turns; and the road race was a rainy, dirty, gritty mess. I loved it. All of the events (Cat 5, at least) started precisely on time, and results were posted quickly. I've put every Cycle U photo I could find from the WheelsInFocus.com photog in a Flickr set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/42598252@N00/sets/72157605420930611/ The picture of Ken on the climb is priceless.
Long version:
Preamble
I committed the cardinal sin of changing components the night before the race. Specifically, I switched from Shimano SPD-SL pedals to Speedplay. I spent some time in front of the house practicing clip-in to the new platform. Just as I was wrapping up, I made a slow turn into gravel I didn't see, and took a nice hard spill onto my left hip. Thankfully I wasn't pregnant. It hurt like hell and tore my pretty red saddle (which matches my red bar tape, and is therefore completely absurd), but the bike and bibs were fine.
Time Trial
The drive to Enumclaw was about an hour. There wasn't much on the radio, and I recommend against listening to Carl Kasell if you're trying to get pumped for a TT. Registration at the hotel took less than 10 minutes, and it was off to the fairgrounds to warm up. I've got a trainer and a good playlist, but no real plan or method for riding a warmup. I've heard people say that short TT's require a longer warmup, so I rode for about 45 minutes. Unlike Wenatchee, there was a holder at the start line. I always appreciate that. I had chosen 53x23 as my starting gear. It was a bit much, and I got off to a slow start but picked up quickly. I elected to go without HR and instead committed to ride the entire TT on the verge of vomiting. I tried to sprint the last 100m, and it wasn't happening. I left everything on the course (except breakfast) and that felt good. I think the biggest takeaway from this TT is that I really need to get 1) aerobars, 2) an aero helmet and 3) faster.
Criterium
The course was flat, but it had eight corners. Probably the last thing you would want in an eight-corner crit is rain. So it rained. It started a few hours before the race, picked up with about an hour to go, and was very lightly drizzling at the start line. The pack was pretty thin with less than 30 riders, and I was able to secure a coveted spot wedged tightly between two others at the front. I stuck to my plan to get out with the lead group immediately. I was somewhere in the top 10 going into the 6th corner of the first lap when someone took a bad line over a wet manhole cover and slid out. This split the pack into a lead group of 9 or 10 guys, and a chase group of 7 or 8. I was in the chase group for the next few laps when another guy slid out, taking one or two more with him. Knowing that bad things happen in 3's, I decided that I would finish solo rather than duke it out (or slide it out, as it were) for 18th place.
The 4's race also had a few crashes. Ken almost got knocked down by a kid who slid out, then decided to pick up his bike and run it across the road without looking; Alex put in a solid effort in the chase group. I'd really like to hear Kenton's account of the Master's C/D race. He rocked and rolled to a 7th place finish, bringing glory to the Cycle U colors. Nice work, Kenton!
Road Race
I didn't pre-ride or drive the course. I went on Ken's report, the GPS elevation numbers, and Alex's advice to be at the front for the climb. Jeff and I started the neutral rollout together somewhere in the middle of the pack. It was chilly, but warmed up quickly. Immediately at the end of neutral rollout, the top two GC contenders kicked it into high gear and tried to go off the front. The pack reeled them in quickly, and I ended up on the second man's wheel. The pace stayed between 25 and 30mph until the base, and I stuck to the plan of being at the front for the climb. It was a relatively short but grueling climb, and the pack had broken up. 4 of us re-grouped at the top and formed a great echelon in chase of the lead pack. We caught them (or so I thought, until the results were posted and it was apparent that we had actually caught the chase group, and the 7 leaders were really minutes ahead of us, likely trading tips on how to sandbag in the Cat 5's. Hah!) on the rainy downhill, and the twelve of us worked together fairly and efficiently to complete the first lap and begin the second and final climb. The group split on the climb. A few of us regrouped at the top, but they weren't interested in either working together or pushing the pace, so I did my best impersonation of me riding a TT, and pedaled until I felt like puking.
The Feel-Good Takeaway
I learned a few things from this event, and the road race in particular: As much as I really enjoy cycling, I @#$#@!%^ love racing. In the chase group in the road race, it was rainy, dirty and gritty. The echelon rotated at high speed for miles, inches from the next guy's wheel, eating the spray from his tire, all with the same objective. I don't know that anyone said a word the whole time. But at the end of the race, we all regrouped in our dirty kits and reveled in the camaraderie. That was definitely the payoff for me.
The Practical Takeaway
Aerobars and an aero helmet are your friend in a TT. I need to get them. I'm also becoming curious about/interested in a power meter for training and racing. I'd appreciate anyone's advice on the practicality of a Cat 5 using power versus HR, etc.
Bottom Line
Cycling is fun, racing is funner, and cycling/racing with the very cool guys and girls on the Cycle U team is funnest.
It was a great event. The TT course was mostly smooth with three high-speed turns; the crit had eight (eight!) slippery (slippery!) turns; and the road race was a rainy, dirty, gritty mess. I loved it. All of the events (Cat 5, at least) started precisely on time, and results were posted quickly. I've put every Cycle U photo I could find from the WheelsInFocus.com photog in a Flickr set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/42598252@N00/sets/72157605420930611/ The picture of Ken on the climb is priceless.
Long version:
Preamble
I committed the cardinal sin of changing components the night before the race. Specifically, I switched from Shimano SPD-SL pedals to Speedplay. I spent some time in front of the house practicing clip-in to the new platform. Just as I was wrapping up, I made a slow turn into gravel I didn't see, and took a nice hard spill onto my left hip. Thankfully I wasn't pregnant. It hurt like hell and tore my pretty red saddle (which matches my red bar tape, and is therefore completely absurd), but the bike and bibs were fine.
Time Trial
The drive to Enumclaw was about an hour. There wasn't much on the radio, and I recommend against listening to Carl Kasell if you're trying to get pumped for a TT. Registration at the hotel took less than 10 minutes, and it was off to the fairgrounds to warm up. I've got a trainer and a good playlist, but no real plan or method for riding a warmup. I've heard people say that short TT's require a longer warmup, so I rode for about 45 minutes. Unlike Wenatchee, there was a holder at the start line. I always appreciate that. I had chosen 53x23 as my starting gear. It was a bit much, and I got off to a slow start but picked up quickly. I elected to go without HR and instead committed to ride the entire TT on the verge of vomiting. I tried to sprint the last 100m, and it wasn't happening. I left everything on the course (except breakfast) and that felt good. I think the biggest takeaway from this TT is that I really need to get 1) aerobars, 2) an aero helmet and 3) faster.
Criterium
The course was flat, but it had eight corners. Probably the last thing you would want in an eight-corner crit is rain. So it rained. It started a few hours before the race, picked up with about an hour to go, and was very lightly drizzling at the start line. The pack was pretty thin with less than 30 riders, and I was able to secure a coveted spot wedged tightly between two others at the front. I stuck to my plan to get out with the lead group immediately. I was somewhere in the top 10 going into the 6th corner of the first lap when someone took a bad line over a wet manhole cover and slid out. This split the pack into a lead group of 9 or 10 guys, and a chase group of 7 or 8. I was in the chase group for the next few laps when another guy slid out, taking one or two more with him. Knowing that bad things happen in 3's, I decided that I would finish solo rather than duke it out (or slide it out, as it were) for 18th place.
The 4's race also had a few crashes. Ken almost got knocked down by a kid who slid out, then decided to pick up his bike and run it across the road without looking; Alex put in a solid effort in the chase group. I'd really like to hear Kenton's account of the Master's C/D race. He rocked and rolled to a 7th place finish, bringing glory to the Cycle U colors. Nice work, Kenton!
Road Race
I didn't pre-ride or drive the course. I went on Ken's report, the GPS elevation numbers, and Alex's advice to be at the front for the climb. Jeff and I started the neutral rollout together somewhere in the middle of the pack. It was chilly, but warmed up quickly. Immediately at the end of neutral rollout, the top two GC contenders kicked it into high gear and tried to go off the front. The pack reeled them in quickly, and I ended up on the second man's wheel. The pace stayed between 25 and 30mph until the base, and I stuck to the plan of being at the front for the climb. It was a relatively short but grueling climb, and the pack had broken up. 4 of us re-grouped at the top and formed a great echelon in chase of the lead pack. We caught them (or so I thought, until the results were posted and it was apparent that we had actually caught the chase group, and the 7 leaders were really minutes ahead of us, likely trading tips on how to sandbag in the Cat 5's. Hah!) on the rainy downhill, and the twelve of us worked together fairly and efficiently to complete the first lap and begin the second and final climb. The group split on the climb. A few of us regrouped at the top, but they weren't interested in either working together or pushing the pace, so I did my best impersonation of me riding a TT, and pedaled until I felt like puking.
The Feel-Good Takeaway
I learned a few things from this event, and the road race in particular: As much as I really enjoy cycling, I @#$#@!%^ love racing. In the chase group in the road race, it was rainy, dirty and gritty. The echelon rotated at high speed for miles, inches from the next guy's wheel, eating the spray from his tire, all with the same objective. I don't know that anyone said a word the whole time. But at the end of the race, we all regrouped in our dirty kits and reveled in the camaraderie. That was definitely the payoff for me.
The Practical Takeaway
Aerobars and an aero helmet are your friend in a TT. I need to get them. I'm also becoming curious about/interested in a power meter for training and racing. I'd appreciate anyone's advice on the practicality of a Cat 5 using power versus HR, etc.
Bottom Line
Cycling is fun, racing is funner, and cycling/racing with the very cool guys and girls on the Cycle U team is funnest.
First entry
Since people are posting reports of Cycle-U Road Team experience, here is better place to share your experience about victories, losses, pain and suffering :-)
Alex
Alex
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Pacific Raceway, 5/20/08
Enjoyed my first race outing of '08 on the flat track course at Pacific Raceway. I want to thank Ken for all his help in making a hole for me in the bunch when I couldn't find one on my own :). Ken had a nice finish while I was a little to gas'ed coming out of the last turn to provide any excitement. Ken does a good job of summarizing the race which I have dropped in below. I hope we can get some decent weather for a return to the flats on the 6/10
So PR was phenomenal tonight, with a strong showing from CycleU with Travis and I. I was definitely glad to see some CU livery show up out there, so thanks to Travis.
Good news: the rain stayed away. Bad news: the wind didn't. I had us clocked heading west doing about 18-20 mph. Heading east (slight downhill) we were cooking along at anywhere from 29-34, depending on whether we were chasing or if someone had a head of steam built up.
Interesting race in that it was a 'point per lap' race, so that meant a lot of sprints over the 50 min duration into the wind down the final stretch. At the end of the race I had a total of 20 miles.
Travis was a champion in his first race this season, he took quite a few turns at the front (and I mean the very front) on the tougher (westbound) legs. We both felt pretty good at the end of the race, but with only two of us, probably wasn't much chance to make any tactics work. It seemed like we were at or near the front on most of the laps. Field tonight was (guesstimate) about 60-70 riders (Travis?). Couldn't really make anything happen in terms of taking sprints away. Managed to finish one lap 4th-ish, one 6th, and pretty happy with my overall finish, but had a really tough time against some much stronger sprinters.
Big lesson learned tonight seemed to be that in a windy situation, good positioning while you're NOT fighting the wind is key. On the eastern (downwind) laps, if Travis and I stayed near the front, we really had no trouble staying there on the upwind laps. It was very tough for anyone to move up while fighting the wind, everyone really wanted to tuck in and stay in the line to avoid killing themselves outside the draft. Other big lesson learned for me was that the watts started to really pile up in the big sweeping (wind neutral) turns, and you really had to hang on and cash in a little there or you were going to lose some of that position that you'd worked so hard for on the downwind laps. Even though that hurt at times, it was totally worth it in the long run.
Well, as the weather cooperates, hope to see you all out there. Lots of PR races left this season, and it's a really great place to race.
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