14 March 2009

Madera Stage Race E4

TSB: 19
CTL: 114
Had trouble getting motivated for my last few pre race rides which was weird because usually I have trouble holding back, turns out I was just starting to get sick.

Criterium:

The course was a four corner rectangle with the road three to almost four lanes wide on three sides and about two lanes wide between turns three and four. The finish was four hundred something meters from the last corner. This meant there would be a lot of reshuffling of the order if there was not an organized leadout. This is what happened. I tried to stay up front and move up through the race but found myself near the back with two laps to go so I burnt a match to move up on side between turns one and two and felt pretty bad, but then the pace eased up and I was able to catch my breath, and start moving up again. Got to about twenty fifth by the last corner and just moved up on different rider's wheels until I got to the last two rows of riders that were only using the left half of the road so I looked to my right and saw a clear lane and moved all the way to the right and passed one row of riders to finish just behind the front row of sprinters.


T: 45:57
S: 40.5
C: 91
D: 31.1 km
Pavg: 199
Pnorm: 223
madera E4 crit

Time Trial:
Was really aiming to do well in the time trial, expected about fifteen percent over one hour threshold based on past performances for the expected duration of around 24:00. Right away I could tell I did not have the legs, everyone in front of me deserved to be there as we all had to do the crit first :), could only manage less than five percent over threshold so the mid pack finish time.

It's kind of easy to tell from the speed profile there was a part tailwind, full tail wind, part head wind, full headwind leg. Only met or exceeded my goals on the full headwind leg, just overestimated my perceived exertion on the other legs. I geared up to 51 on the front for the tailwind section but maybe should have stuck with the 50 in order to make myself spin more as I usually am going at 90+ rpm for a time trial.
T: 24:42
S: 40.8
C: 80
D: 16.75 km
Pavg: 249
Pnorm: 251
2009 Madera TT E4

After the time trial my throat was really sore and I just wrote it off as the aftereffects of the effort but then it became really painful to swallow and it didn't go away for the rest of the weekend. Thought about just heading home but since I'm here, and the only symptom was the sore throat and not coughing, might as well do at least one lap of the road race just to check it out for the future.

Sunday:
TSB: 10
CTL:114
Felt pretty miserable and I swear this course is not as flat as people claim it is. Anyways, manage to hide in the pack for one lap until we get to the rollers at the end of the lap and get dropped like a rock. If I were feeling better I think I could do well on this course. Do another lap and the five riders who flatted pass me and I cannot even hang on their wheels for long. Hit the rough section and then it's my turn to flat. Rob from Alto Velo gives me a tube, but then Bob Leibold shows up and offers me a ride and I take it.

Even though I felt like the race was really hard, the data for the one lap I was in the pack show it was really easy, so looking forward to the next time I do this race.

Also need to remember to put more than 100 PSI in the tires for the bumpy section...

While in the pack:
T:44:12
S:36.1
C:94
D:26.7 km
Pavg:150
Pnorm:181

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