26 August San Ardo Road Race

Race: 35+ 4/5 A group
Field: ~45

Started using the Training Manager and planned on taking two easier days on Thursday and Friday. Managed to crack two molar crowns on Wednesday so had to go to an emergency dental appointment on Thursday and never got motivated to ride farther than the post office on Thursday and Friday did one sprint and a short vo2max interval so my TSB on Saturday was 15, the highest it's been this season. Supposedly -10 to +10 TSB is about neutral but above that one can expect to be feeling fairly fresh and my CTL going in was 120 so hoped for good results, given my low FTP.

Used 50/34 with 11/23 cassette - could have gotten away with a 12/25 and never used the small ring, as it was, I found myself in the italian turbo 50/23 a couple of times.

Got to San Ardo a bit early after a little less than two hours ( the way 101 lets people turn left from the left lane near Soledad is pretty scary in the dark if one doesn't drive there often, this often entailed going from 85 to 20 not a few times.) How do I know I am getting old? My bum knee hurts just from driving for two hours...

Had time to scope out and ride the finish route a few times. The center line rule was going to be enforced except after the finishing left turn up hill so position in a large field was critical. It was about one mile from the staging area of the start to the finish line with one small hill, a downhill, then slightly uphill the rest of the way including going under 101 and the finishing left straight into the wind. Probably not hard enough to break up the field so if it came down to a sprint finish I planned on attacking just before the last turn.


Most of the harder hills in this race occur right after the start and continue for five miles, then it's more gently rolling with one small hill then pretty flat for the run in to the start area. The other times I've done this race I really did not like being behind too many people on the descents because of the excessive braking required so I made an effort to be near the front on the peak of every roller or hill so I could bomb down the descents.

At the gun, a big EMC rider and a big Alto Velo rider set a high pace. I wasn't sure if they were planning on sag climbing or were seriously considering going solo for 63 miles but went along anyways. After the underpass it was just the AV rider so I hitched a free ride for a bit. Then he punched it again on a steep bit, I looked behind and the field was not that far behind so I did not think it wise to waste a bullet here and eased up and let some other folks pull him back.

At this point it became apparent that the strongest riders showing their cards in the race were the large EMC rider, a rider with a tan kit from SoCal, a Winning Wheels rider that got top ten at Fort Ord, and a rider from Team San Jose. The EMC rider either wanted to sag climb or just wanted to be at the front and spent a lot of time breaking the wind in the first 2.5 laps. The Winning Wheels, tan kit, and Team San Jose riders would put strong pulls at the front in the flat sections and as I sat on each of these riders' wheels came to the point at which I did not wish to exert myself that much and let them gap me, this is what they did to other riders as well and they were often off the front for a few minutes at a time on the flat sections.

We caught a group of ladies just starting up again after finishing a pee break, and this gave the other old coots an idea the next time we went through the feedzone - they called for a old slow male pee break. I was going to stop but someone said my name and told me to keep going so I softpedaled behind ten other guys as we took it easy for a while. Got to the first steep pitch and someone asked if everyone was there and they said yes, and the tan SoCal guy took the opportunity to attack. He had a ten to twenty second gap until the last of the rollers when we reabsorbed him, but he kept staying at the front and trading pulls until the start of the last lap when the EMC and San Jose riders were taking long pulls on the flats. I decided that I would either follow the tan SoCal or San Jose in the lead up to the final mile as they seemed to be the strongest folks left in the bunch. My calves started cramping after we finished the first set of rollers so I had to stretch and self massage a bit and did as little work as possible while staying at the front, although I took a few pulls.

In the last three miles or so the San Jose rider sat on the front and I just sat on his wheel. Was expecting one of the larger teams to perform a leadout train, perhaps there was one behind me but I did not see anything. As we headed into the left turn a Mako rider made a move on our left. I let him pass me then stood up and accelerated into the turn, putting everything into the pedals, using the full width of the finishing straight to cut inside of him. Did not look behind and felt myself fading close to the line, then the San Jose rider put a couple of bike lengths into me in the last twenty meters or so (pretty impressive after leading it out!), and feeling really deflated, I soft pedaled and a Pegasus rider took advantage of my poor concentration and earned second by a wheel ahead of me as I took third.

I'm happy I had the patience to execute the plan I wanted to use and stay near the front for most of the race, but unhappy I made such a silly mistake near the line. Think I also overgeared for the finish as my cadence and power during the final sprint were pretty low - next time...

Hardaway tells me I need to work on a killer instinct and not give up at the finish line. Fight until it's over and not one meter before...

Place: 3rd/~45


T: 3:07:33
S: 35.8 kph
D: 112 km ( if the flyer was correct, this should be closer to 101 km )
C: 88
H: 164
Pavg: 155
Pnorm: 207
TSS: 223
IF: 0.84
VI: 1.33

Spent about 35 minutes in or above VO2max training zone.



The last bit of the race felt a bit like the LGBRC club ride or Spectrum sprint at Canada, just a bit easier, wonder what the much bigger San Jose rider was doing:
T: 6:47
S: 33.9
C: 95
H: 178
Pavg: 3.6
Pnorm:4.4

LGBRC "social" ride

So there was a discussion on the club ride about the difficulty of the ride versus a race. This week's ride had the smallest amount of climbing possible without going to extremes - Foothill from Los Altos to Stanford, Almeda de la Pulgas to Jefferson, Canada to Crystal Springs and back.

T: 2:22:49
S: 28.6
C: 86
H: 152
D: 68.0 km
Pavg:150
Pnorm:211
TSS:177
VI 1.41
IF: 0.86



So about the same amount of work as one lap of Dunnigan Hills with a lot more sustained efforts versus the spiky data from Dunnigan Hills. Spent about a half hour at or above my vo2max training range versus only twenty minutes at Dunnigan Hills.
Jefferson climb, dropped by Filip and Diskzero, but Alfalfa was able to bridge up to them after spotting them about one hundred meters at the bottom:
T: 8:06
Pavg: 4.5 w/kg
Pnorm: 4.6

Canada to sprint:
T: 6:08
Pavg: 4.3
Pnorm: 4.7

Climb to Sawyer Camp:
T: 2:55
Pavg: 4.5

Bridge up to leaders and climb Crystal Springs and blowing up:
T: 7.39
Pavg: 3.6
Pnorm: 3.8

Climb out of Canada:
T: 7:39
Pavg: 3.8
Pnorm: 4.0

Racing up Sand Hill:
T: 2:02
Pavg: 5.4

Dunnigan Hills 19 August 2006

35+ 4/5
Field: 60
Place: 39, in back of the main pack
Teammates: none
Friendly rivals: Nakamura-san, Nelson

Race was running about thirty minutes late so had an extra long warmup. After looking around went with the 11-23 cassette in the rear and the HED 60 in front - ended up leaving it in the big ring for the whole race.

At the start, Paula the referee joked about a 43 mile breakaway, but a couple of guys whom I knew did that last week at Patterson jumped at the gun so I got up there and we started a paceline. There was one other guy from Fusion Sport in there who either did not know how to ride a paceline or was trying to disrupt it because he did not slow down any when he pulled off and really did not rest and was not contributing much after the first couple of pulls so after six minutes we got caught. Stayed in the top five for the first half hour of the race and the effort felt somewhat like a flat crit, with a AP of 206 and a NP of 240. I looked back and saw we had most of the field intact in spite of some rolling hills so I drifted to the middle of the pack and the difference was pretty big - AP of 137 and NP of 168 for about an hour. The effectiveness of the draft of the pack was so large that I spent most of the time when going uphill alternating braking with a few pedal strokes here and there. Since the centerline rule was in effect the whole race and the field filled the one lane roads, it was pretty hard to move up so I just enjoyed the ride. The next twenty minutes was on a couple of flat roads before the turn on the the four kilometer finishing straight. Spent a bit of energy fighting for position but it really didn't matter in the end, I could have done most of the passing on the overpass after the turn as it turns out. Knowing what I know now, I should have just gunned it on the overpass and take whoever could keep up with me. As it was, I braked a bit and sat behind the four guys in front. There was a lot of jockeying for position and we soon got the one kilometer sign. I was three feet from the centerline and moved to one foot from the centerline and the guy behind me complained about me cutting him off. So I pulled over and offered to let him go first but he refused. I should have waited a bit longer but figured now was as good a time as any so with about eight hundred meters to go, I jumped. I lasted five hundred meters before blowing up and getting passed by the front few guys, then the lead pack, then the second pack, and just soft pedaling over the finish line. The last seven minutes had a NP of 4.8 w/kg, which was OK, but the club ride last week was harder at the midpoint sprint. The whole race felt too easy - I tried a couple of breakaways but nothing stuck and quite a few guys were able to just wheelsuck to the end due to the non selective course. Maybe I'll try that or the two lap race next time this race is held.


T: 1:58:11
S: 37.8
C: 87
H: 170
D: 74.5 km
Pavg: 165
Pnorm: 212
TSS: 148
IF: 0.87
VI 1.29

TSTWKT

This is a snapshot of the long awaited Andrew Coggan training metric or TSTWKT in his words for my 2006 season so far.



This is one of the reasons it might be good to download every ride file - just in case someone invents a tool or algorithm that can be used to analyze the data for a post mortem.

Blue represents the chronic training load (CTL) or fitness for a given athlete, the pink line represents the acute training load (ATL) or recent training activity, and the yellow line represents training stress balance (TSB).

Thursday Night Racing at Hellyer 10 August 2006

Cat 3 Omnium
Field: 9
Teammates: Jun

Had to scramble just before the start to find a rear wheel for Nick since he noticed his had a broken spoke, could not find one with the cog he wanted so let him borrow my old Specialized trispoke. His current wheel must really suck because he said he felt like he was flying with the trispoke.

10 lap tempo:
The field was strung out pretty right away. After four laps found myself near the front three and felt the field was slowing so I attacked and got a small gap and was off the front for two laps. I was about to get caught when Jun countered and got a big gap so I was able to just sit on the front and sprint for second on the next lap and then folks passed me to attempt to chase down Jun. This chase went on until the end of the race so Jun was able to get enough points to win but we caught him on the front straight so I had to sprint and got second behind Nick on the final sprint for second overall.
T: 4:32
S: 45.2
P: 344
H: 183
C: 108

Someone from Olympic jumped at the gun and I chased and got on his wheel after a lap and he gave up. I gave it a go and had the whole field on me so I gave up after a lap but no one wanted to get in front of me so I sat near the front at tempo for a couple more laps. Just as it was my turn again to pull, I could see Nick accelerate from the rail, I was standing and considered jumping harder but I saw someone shadowing me so I figured I would let Nick go and see what happened. Nick stayed away until the very end. With three to go, the tall Specialized rider jumped hard, it took me a half lap to close and I sat in to recover. I spent a little too long getting comfortable because on the last lap when we were only about twenty meters behind Nick just as I was going to pull out into the lane to sprint I heard someone yell stay so I just paused a bit and let folks pass me. Coulda, woulda shoulda, got sixth and no points.
10 lap scratch:
T: 4:43
S: 42.9
P: 310
H: 183
C: 102

Since there were only eight riders left for the miss and out, the longest the race would be is seven laps - unless a rider got confused and did not pull out. I thought I could stay on the front for that long. What I did not count on was being neutralized twice so I had to be on the front for nine laps. I went straight from the back to the front during the start, jumped at the start whistle and settled into a pace I could maintain for seven laps. The one mistake I sometimes make is easing up too much so I concentrated on working hard, especially into the headwind section and the uphill part. A few times I could hear someone accelerating to attempt to get in front so I, too, would accelerate just a bit, and having the advantage of less distance to cover, managed to hold off everyone attempting to pass me until we got the bell lap for the final lap. I could hear the other two riders stand up and accelerate on the backstretch behind me so I attempted to sprint but had nothing left and came in third.
Miss and Out:
T: 4:44
S: 40.9
P: 323
H: 186
C: 98

Got third of nine(?) in the cat 3 omnium.

Was in the pack for the first ten laps, when the bell rang for the first sprint, the cat 2 rider in front me let a gap open, Jun was able to close it, but I could not hold his wheel and died a slow death. The two riders off the front, jandy and p-dizzle ( I don't make up these nicknames, I just report them), soon caught me and I just sat in behind them and made it back to the pack by wheelsucking for ten laps, this was much easier than working solo. Then there was another bell and I was dropped like a rock. I lost five laps in the next thirty laps to the lead group, just could not hang with them at all after the beginning of the race, but got in a good long effort.
50 lap points all hands race:
T: 23:02
S: 40.8
H: 176
C: 97
Pavg: 249
Pnorm: 262

Timpani Criterium 6 August 2006

35 +4/5 race:
Teammates: none
Friendly rivals: Keith D. from CCCX.
Felt a bit tired after having to course marshal for four hours. Same course, long rectangle with two short straightaways and two much longer straights. Wind was a big factor so that the front straight and the straight just before this had a tailwind and the other two straights had a headwind. This meant the best place to attack was before turn three so a small group or single rider would make the best use of the wind. Spent the first third of the race near the front, managed to get behind some riders who braked excessively in some corners and had to fade back to the tail of the pack, spent the next third of the race getting back to the front and found myself on the back of the three riders leading the pack, all from the same team. The front rider gapped the pack by about twenty meters, and the gap was growing when I saw the lap cards say five to go. Took half a lap to get on the leader's wheel when I could tell he had just given up. Doh. Got reabsorbed into the pack in short order, let myself get too far back in the pack and ended up behind way too many people when the final lap bell rang. On the backstretch there were enough riders to fill the entire road but none was interested in going very hard so it was a bit sketchy and hard to do anything positive until the last corner when finally it opened up a bit, and was able to get one good effort >15 w/kg to finish mid pack.


T: 38:46
S: 41.8 kph
C: 84
H: 167
D: 27.0 km
Pavg: 182
Pnorm: 219

Fort Ord Road Race 35+ 4/5

Teammates: none
Friendly rivals: Bob from EMC, Keith from CCCX, Wayne from CVC

This was on the altered course from prior years, excluding the main Barloy Canyon climb.

The pack stayed together until the turnaround on Eucalyptus when Keith attacked a few times a couple of riders dropped off. As we descended toward the bottom of the one big climb, first the P123's caught us, then the 45+ group caught us. This made the climb quite confusing. We should have neutralized but the folks in front just pushed the pace anyways. I've ridden this before but could not remember just how long the climb is - it's about half a mile. I made it half way up then blew. Looking at the data, I could have done this and probably caught the group on the descent if I had paced myself instead of trying to keep up with the leaders.
For the four times up the hill I get:
#1: T: 3:21
P: 5.0 w/kg
#2: T: 3:54
P: 4.3 w/kg
#3: T: 3:50
P: 4.3 w/kg
#4: T: 3:34
P: 4.7 w/kg
Somewhat disappointing since I have topped the numbers from the first time for a longer time period during training and track races, and even the last time up I can repeat lots of times during interval training, and at that rate would have left me something in the tank for a chase. There is one small climb that takes about 40-50 seconds with a two minute descent just before this climb begins that makes this climb harder than it would be by itself. If there is a next time, I am just going up the climb within my limits at an even pace and chase if necessary.

Anyways, after the first time over the climb, found myself about 100 meters off the back, and about 100 meters in front of the next set of riders. Unfortunately the next set of riders were 45+. So I had to wait for a couple of miles before someone from the 35+ 4/5 group caught me, Wayne and someone else. We worked together and lost the other guy, then another rider from our group passed us and stayed solo in front of us for the next three laps. Wayne was much stronger on the flats and I had to hold back to not drop him on the uphills so it was prudent for us to stick together. A couple of times Wayne wanted to give up but I encouraged him to keep going because he was a really good wind blocker! I started having trouble shifting to my big ring during the last two laps so I had to use my hand to shift up. On the last time up the climb, Wayne got his second wind and was pressing me the whole way on the last climb and I finally gave up and got behind him because the breeze felt like a factor. I could not shift into the big gear for a ceremonial sprint for 20th or whatever at the end so Wayne got in ahead of me easily.

Spent 40 minutes in or above VO2max zone.

T: 2:20:41
Pavg: 171
Pnorm: 222
S: 29.5
C: 87
H: 170
TSS: 192
IF: 0.91