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…
