2009 May 8 Hellyer Friday Night Racing

CTL: 108
TSB: -8

First time to ride the track bike in a long time so just wanted to get a good workout in and stay out of trouble.

3/4 25 lap scratch race
surfed the back of the pack until things split up, had to pass about ten folks to end up tenth at the end. Was good for six minutes then had to take it easy for the second half of the race. Sitting on the back is not so good for results. :)
T: 12:58
S: 42.4
C: 99
Pavg: 262
Pnorm: 285

2009 May 8 Hellyer 3/4 scratch race from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Did five laps of the 123 scratch race and 123 points race to get more track time.


3/4 30 lap points race
Like the first race, had a good six minutes of vo2max and then couldn't do anymore and rode the rest at threshold, then pulled out when it was apparent I was going to be lapped, I think if I stayed in I would have been top ten!
T: 11:00
S: 41.5
C: 97
Pavg: 266
Pnorm: 280

May 3 - Sonora Road Race

TSB: -2
CTL: 107

Considered driving up here the night before but figure I'm so tired from Cat's Hill volunteering I'll fall asleep early so decide to stay home and end up getting three hours of sleep, doh. On top of that, it only takes about two hours to get there, instead of the three hours that mapquest and my GPS report, and don't speed much (it's not possible on some of the two lane roads) so have some time to kill when I get there.

The course is wet from overnight sprinkles. I follow Hunny out to take a look at the finish hill before our race when we go over a set of train tracks at 45 degree angle to the road. Don't really think about it except to line up my wheels perpendicular and follow him over when the combination of wet and the steel plates surrounding the track and the track pull my front wheel right into the tracks and I go down at five miles per hour, on the bright side, it's on the side that doesn't have road rash. Get back to my car to repair things and a few other people report crashing on that set of train tracks or the next one during their warmups as well.

This makes me extra cautious during the race, probably too much so, but don't need road rash on my road rash...

Eighteen of us start. One rider almost falls in front of me on the first set of tracks and recovers. Then we get to the second set of tracks and three riders go down, I end up doing a track stand and have to unclip and walk over the tracks. The group has left us behind so I have to bridge back up after about a mile of pursuit. The next obstacles are a couple of 30-40 mph descents that end with 90 right turns on roads about as wide as WOLH. We are warned pre race about the second one, there's one lane concrete bridge immediately afterwards, but the first one seems just as bad to me. My caution leads to me getting gapped twice but I manage to pull the pack back each time. These turns would not be so bad if it were dry.

It starts raining and I back off from the group or am getting dropped, work my way back up to the group when we hit the finish hill, this is the longest hill on the course, possibly three to four minutes, and just can't keep up anymore after bridging up this last time. Contemplate quitting because the parking lot is so close but since I had to drive two hours to get here, and the riding conditions probably aren't much better back home, resign myself to a 39 mile time trial. The
course is a series of one/two/three minutes hills with not one flat section for the entire lap. Can't think of any route like this at home, I am reminded of the hilly parts of Two Rock/Spring Hill or Merco or West Lake Drive in Austin.

The second lap is pretty miserable with the rain but one has to keep going just to stay warm.

It stops raining on the third lap and I start to have fun again on the bike, plus Flandria tells me they are not that far ahead in the feed zone. Delirium probably makes me believe this so I keep pushing.

The course is dry on the fourth lap and it's my fastest lap yet. On the finish hill catch a couple of guys from my field and actually have to sprint to decide where we placed!

2009 May 2 Cat's Hill 35+ 4

CTL: 108
TSB: -2

Still growing skin on my shoulder but signed up for this long ago so might as well give it a go.

Essentially we start at a 22:00 OLH pace from the gun, not that hard but more than I can do now, and I haven't been fit enough to do that since January , only managing about a 24:00 OLH right now so I explode after five laps and get pulled after eight.

On the plus side despite something like a 70% chance of rain it only sprinkled a little bit at the start and the course was dry, and no one tried to insert their bicycle into my backside today.

2009 Cat's Hill 35+ 4 rear view from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 20:42
D: 11.7 km
S: 33.9 kph
Pavg: 189
Pnorm: 267

2009 April 26 Wente Crit 35+ 4

CTL: 105
TSB: -8


Go at the gun to stretch out the legs a bit and find there's not much pop left in them even though yesterday was pretty easy after the first hill climb was over. So sit in to wait for the finale. Try to get to the front with a few laps to go and spend so much time in the wind that I tire myself out before I can get to the front and have to rest a bit and find myself with Juan in the back. The pack surges and slows so much that we can get right back in the thick of things in the last lap should one choose to do so. There are so many large gaps between riders it's a matter of just accelerating into each one until we get to the front stretch. One rider in white slows in the middle of the road and I choose left to pass (which turns out so wrong in hindsight...) and move up and box myself in behind two rows of riders. Usually on a course like this with a long straight into a headwind, very few of the riders in front will be in contention by the end so I am prepared to wait for the inevitable blowing up of riders. However some of the riders in front of me get tangled in a crash so I look for a hole and slow to avoid the carnage (after hitting a flying bicycle while trying to ride past a crash last year it seems foolish to keep the speed up now...) and feel quite a relief that I make it past untouched for at least two seconds when someone (who was way out of contention) keeps his speed up through and past the accident and manages to clip my handlebars or my elbow at full speed and flip me over (I have a big hematoma on the crook of my elbow from some contact) and knocks himself off the bike, too. It takes me a while to get up because I'm a bit shocked to be on the ground and both my legs cramp in position and my hands are numb so the nice course marshal comes and checks on me before triaging the rest of the crash victims.

2009 Wente Crit 35+ 4 - front view from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

2009 Wente Crit 35+ 4 - view towards the rear from Steven Woo on Vimeo

T: 42.12
S: 41.4
C: 92
Pavg: 171
Pnorm: 198

April 25 Wente Road Race 35+ 4

CTL: 104
TSB: 5

Think I am finally over that swine/avian flu thing I got last month and a beautiful day to be on the bike so why not race. The climb is like a vo2max interval but I couldn't do those while I was recovering since I couldn't breathe but get to do at least one during the race on the first lap.

I thought I made it farther with the group this year but it's about the same as last year, just nothing left by the overpass over 580 after fifteen minutes or so, can see about forty five riders going single file about fifty meters ahead but at the pace I am going will not catch them, attempt to stand up and accelerate up to them and my legs won't do it so that's that. Takes me a while to recover from the climb, about a dozen riders catch me on this lap and I almost get dropped by the small group I am with on the flat part, catch up with them on the feedzone hill because they are taking it pretty easy, and am able to start pulling after we get past the overpass. The next time up the hill our group has expanded from three to about ten. Consider just doing the next lap solo after I get on the front on the feedzone hill with only one rider close but the fact that we are going for only about fiftieth and I want to save a little bit for the crit tomorrow puts that thought out of my head, though I take a lot of pulls on this lap, cause it's fun on the descents. By the last climb only one other rider is feeling frisky and he attacks at the next to last turn, I wait until the last turn and we finish in that order, slightly ahead of our companions.

T: 2:35:24
D: 77.3 km
S: 29.8 km/h
C: 92
Pavg:171
Pnorm:203

This is not quite as hard as I went last year, and I am about five pounds heavier so really could not expect much results-wise, but a fun day on the bike with a good group of guys, though white shorts have got to go... Last year we went at about a 19:00 OLH pace at the start and this year we went at a 23:00 OLH pace at the start.

2009 April 19 Sea Otter Circuit Race 35+ 4

CTL: 102
TSB: 25
These numbers are kind of deceptive because I didn't ride my bike for four days last week and was only able to ride easy this week since I have been sick for a few weeks and only starting to recover. Would have skipped today's race but I already paid for it and have never done it so figured I would at least get one lap on video...

The course is pretty nice, worth doing at least once on the road bike. Totally blew the second time up the climb. We doing 5w/kg for two minutes on the climb then not to hard for the other four minutes of the lap, could only do that once, and couldn't breathe any more on the second climb.


2009 Sea Otter Circuit Race E4/35+4/45+4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

until I was pulled
T: 34:31
S: 31.1
D: 17.9 km
C: 85
Pavg:194
Pnorm:236

graph until I blew

2009 April 5 Santa Cruz Criterium

CTL: 113
TSB: -11

Last year I came into this race with what now looks like a crazy CTL of 133 and a higher FTP, this year after being under the weather for a while in February had to choose between going into this fresh or trying to regain some fitness and chose fitness, probably should have skipped this, but have to sign up for some of these races really far in advance and I signed up for two races and can't just do only one if you show up so will try to use some laps in the E4 race to get used to the course again at race speed and see if I can do anything in the 35+ 4/5 race. On the other hand, didn't do so well last year with better fitness...

Sit in for nine laps of the cat 4 race and pull out. The pace is manageable even given my current condition, the riders are pacing themselves for a forty minute event, but I'm not complaining.

T: 18:46
S: 36.2
C: 106
D: 11.4 km
Pavg: 185
Pnorm:240

The 35+ 4/5 field has a lot of large teams so it could be interesting and it is. It is strung out for the first six laps as a couple of teams make the race hard (and faster than the 3's - but they had a much longer race) and after we shed half the pack, there is no longer a group of riders I can hide behind and I can't hang on any longer, the pace is not much different from last year just my lack of fitness showing. Ride with two other riders and eventually we catch or are caught by five other riders and just finish out the race, kind of surprised we weren't lapped or pulled but my teammate in the front group of 22 said they slowed up with four to go.


2009 Santa Cruz Criterium 35+ 4/5 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 29:02
S: 36.6
C: 102
D: 17.75 km
Pavg: 202
Pnorm: 258

2009 March 29 Ronde van Brisbeen Circuit Race 35+ 4

CTL: 105
TSB: 15

This will be a better test of my fitness since there is an approximately three minute hill on the course with about forty five seconds of recovery on the descent. I feel OK given my relative lack of fitness for me and residual effects of the crash yesterday.

I go to the front but other folks want it more than I do and string it out for the first few laps and I sit on. This feels kind of hard to me - but when I look at the data it's the same as last year and I did the race twice so my deconditioning is coming into play. This is what usually happens when I take a long break - my sprint gets much better but I lose so much aerobic conditioning I am never in a position to use it.

The whole race for me boils down to about two minutes on the sixth lap. The advantage to being small on the bike is that one can draft anyone, the disadvantage is you often have to move a lot laterally to keep an eye on the action. There's a point where I assume I am in the pack but am not at about the 22 minute mark, and by the time I realize it, make another bad move and assume we will catch them on the next lap but the data shows even though I get dropped by my companions, we are still going much slower than we went with the pack on the downhill, so we will never catch the pack. Kind of frustrating but my fault for not being attentive.


Ronde van Brisbeen Circuit Race 35+ 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 48:03
S: 34.6
C: 95
Pavg: 192
Pnorm: 237

2009 March 28 Ronde van Brisbeen Criterium

CTL: 15
TSB: 105
Been sick for a couple of weeks so not been riding as much as usual. Haven't been able to ride hard until this Thursday so not a lot of expectations for this race. Haven't done this race before but it's a short course with a hairpin and some narrow roads so it's mostly an exercise in positioning.


The race gets underway and it doesn't feel too bad considering my deconditioning so I work my way to the front. Then I manage to hit a pedal in the chicane ( I think ) and auger the bike into the ground. Thankfully I didn't cause anyone else to crash so I limp back to the neutral pit where the nice SRAM mechanic and Eric help me get back into the race, the mechanic notes that my rear tire bead has come unseated so I get a Zipp 404 for the rear, losing the power data but gaining aerodynamics. I get to skip two laps, but I would rather have not crashed...

I tailgun the field for the rest of the race, the only hard part is the yoyo acceleration from the hairpin, not really feeling the motivation to get up close and personal for position. The minor road rash I have hurts more than the race efforts.

What really hurts is the friendly EMT cleaning out my shoulder wound where he describes how the base layer has been ground into my flesh and merged so he has to scrub extra hard to remove it and some flesh!


Ronde van Brisbeen Criterium 35+ 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

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


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


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

2009 March 8 Menlo Park Grand Prix

CTL: 117
TSB: -11

Racing this weekend mainly to get some race practice of team tactics, and boy do I need to practice...It's easier on the track cause there's almost always room to maneuver where you want to when you want to until the last couple of laps versus vying with 95 other racers, even on the long 1.4 mile lap.

Went into this pretty tired from hard days on Friday and Saturday in attempt to make up a little bit for rain days and to simulate next weekend's stage race.

I almost run over Mary Maroon on the way there but she apologizes to me afterwards!

Masters 35+ 3/4
Was number fifteen on the waitlist so had to prepare for both racing and not racing, and I am one of the two people on the waitlist to actually show up so I get in.

No video so words will have to do, it's easy to float in the pack but I have no snap to move up so I stay pretty far back until the last lap, keep moving up until I find some teammates and try to help them move up, then we get to about 250 meters and teammate Steve gets out of the saddle for his final kick so I follow suit and I think we finish about 20th or so.

T: 37:36
D: 26.0 km
C: 97
S: 41.4
pavg: 180
pnorm: 216




E4 race
This race feels smoother only because for some reason we don't brake as much in the chicane - part of it is probably because lots of the riders in the first race had done or were doing multiple races and there were plenty of fresh legs in this race. But it turns out the average speed works out to be almost exactly the same. What's really weird is I can time trial faster and harder than this on my road bike but while I am in the race it feels harder than a time trial so it's one time you really have to ignore what your body is saying.

Float around the middle and back of the pack until two to go and move up behind a teammate and tell him to get on my wheel. I start moving up whenever I see a gap and think it's safe and find myself on the front with one to go, lead the group into turn one, let some guys pass, lead the group out of turn two and look back going into the chicane and don't see anyone I know behind me so I get pretty discouraged and start to soft pedal. On the road I have a relatively strong initial acceleration so that point I dropped my teammate but on the track I have learned to never rely on my sprint so I never worry about dropping anyone during a leadout so I have to do things a little differently on the road, at least while I am still a 4. Roll in mid pack somewhere.

T: 37:23
D: 26.1 km
C: 100
S: 41.7
pavg: 181
pnorm: 212

2009 March 1 Merco Credit Union Foothills Road Race

CTL: 123
TSB: 15

Since I didn't ride much yesterday other than the crit my fitness actually went down a bit - the perils of racing every weekend sometimes...

Vance thought my saddle was high a couple of weeks ago, and Dale said he was changing his saddle height in response to his cramping issues so I had to take a look at mine. I checked my race bike and somehow the seat managed to be almost a centimeter higher than the bike I train on - if I spent 8000 miles on the training bike last year and never cramped, I'm going to stick with that formula.

This is the first time I've done this race but I've heard it's flat and there's always a huge bunch sprint. I check out the finish and with one kilometer to go there is a small hill for about maybe 150 meters, then it's 850 meters to the finish where it's slightly downhill/flat with a tiny roller. Ride it a couple of times and feel that it would be a perfect finish for me if it finished on top of the hill. :)
It resembles the Giro di San Francisco and Cat's Hill that way. Decide there's only one way to know if you can attack on the hill and stay away...just have to wait two laps to find out.

The course is pretty non selective - on the first lap one rider drops out when his left crank arm comes loose. Since we have at about eighty guys and the roads are about 1.5 lanes wide, it can get pretty sketchy and there is one crash about halfway through the lap that takes out a couple of riders and delays the riders behind them, not sure if they all got back on or not. Then in the rough section my camera falls off and looks like it rolls into the bushes, doh. This is actually rougher than the rough part at Snelling or Copperopolis from what I remember. Now I am going to have compose a lot more prose and remember what happened for this silly report. I think I was closer to the front so it would have been problematic to pull out at this point so I decide to consider it lost forever and just keep riding. There is one 80 degree left turn onto the finish road, I am third wheel at this point and the rider at the front indicates he is turning right instead of left, this is almost surprising...so I leave him room to crash but he makes it in spite of taking the turn from the far left so we must not be going that fast...

Most of the starting pack is still there on the second lap. It's hard to move up on the flats due to congestion as everyone wants to draft but no one wants to pull hard enough to string it out, but if you want to, it's easy to move up on the few short hills. On one of the roads that we also ride in Snelling I manage to hit a pothole so hard everyone asks if I am OK - I thought for sure I was going to pinch flat but everything seems OK for now. Our pack makes it intact to that left turn with two or three miles to go when it gets really interesting and several riders go down. This leaves about ten riders off the front while the rest of us are delayed and get started again, then some of the riders starting up end up crashing again. We chase (the guy in front of me chases while I draft) and we catch the group with about one mile to go. Had to work hard but not that hard and no signs of cramps so the saddle height must have been the problem, so sticking with plan A.

When the pack slows on the final hill, I hit it as hard as I can. It turns out I have enough in me for a good sixty seconds but it's about ninety seconds to the line so I am caught by riders in ones and twos right up until we get to the line so I eventually wind up in tenth place. At the least I was able to try to do what I wanted to do and didn't cramp this time.

After the race I did another lap to try to find the camera but no luck then noticed my rear wheel was a little out of true and rubbing the brakes so there was a little damage from the pothole, just not a flat, but not enough to make a difference in the outcome.


T:1:56:17
S:39.0kph
C:96
D:75.75 km
Pavg:153
Pnorm:211

P.S. someone else did find the camera and the race director was going to send it to me!

2009 Feb 28 Merco Credit Union Grand Prix

CTL: 124
TSB: 15

Was not planning on doing this race as I am not a sprinter but one of my teammates was going to do it, signed up to help out. He got sick and had to DNS so I was on my own. The last time I did this race I remember there being five crashes in the last two laps so essentially anyone had a shot at winning if they were strong enough to be near the front and lucky enough to avoid the carnage.

I don't think we can top the comments at the start line for this event - you know you might be in the wrong race when everyone says you need to eat more. and then someone else claimed "below the waist I'm built like a black man" ?! Too much material, not enough time...but we'll try next race...


2009 Merco Downtown Grand Prix Cat 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.
Anyways, I put my nose in the wind for the lap, switch to TT mode at around 25-26 mph (you never know...) and look back and see two folks gaining on me so I ease up and see if this might work and they get a little ragged after they both stayed on the front for half a lap each and we get caught by the group, since I am racing tomorrow so I will just sit in and survive and move up for the finish, just like the other eighty guys.

All goes according to plan until there is a crash in front of me about halfway through right when I was going to start moving up. Burn a match to catch the group then we are instructed to stop at the start finish so we can restart the race with eight laps - this will be like a longish track race but I have to start at the back. There are two places where it's safe to move up a lot of places, exiting the turn after the chicane, and the main straight, for some reason it's easier on the shorter back stretch so I start moving up a few spots every lap with four to go, but waited a bit too long and enter the last lap from what I think is 20th but after review looks like 30th or so of the 60 riders left. There is lots of contact and close calls but no crashes until Brian has a rear tire blow out in the last corner while leading the race, and a rider behind this incident crashes, delaying most of the rest of the field. Oh well, get this far, should at least sprint once it's safe and end up 20th.

This data includes the neutralized lap
D: 32.8 kilometers
S: 40.9 kph
C: 94
Pavg: 186
Pnorm: 213

February 22, Original Merced Criterium

TSB: 0
CTL: 126
Felt really good going into this. Watched the first laps of the cat 4 race and it split up immediately. The course is a little technical and it's raining so I go to 85 psi in the tires, and try to miss the botts dots. Usually more people show up than pre reg but today because of the wind and rain, less people show up than pre reg so our field size is only about twenty, and two or three people don't bother showing up, possibly because they did the preceding cat four race.

With a field this small and given the wet conditions and technical course, decide to just race it like a track race and throw down, recover, repeat and see what happens - if it's going to be a sufferfast might as well dish it out. The one mistake I make is holding something in reserve - there is a point when two unattached riders attack and someone says let them die out there - and I listen instead of covering it. The times I go off the front I am marked by the other riders so I am thinking maybe he's right and maybe the other riders will work to catch them like they did me but they do not! The other thing I did not count on was I think all the strong riders in the pack are doing their second consecutive race so they don't have quite the punch they did earlier and I and the two riders off the front are doing our first race of the day.

I miss the lap cards and only get the bell and have to verify with the chief referee while we are riding past that it *is* the bell lap and not some preme and just go for it from the front of what's left of the pack and hold it all the way to the line to win the field sprint and come in third overall.

The entire race:

2009 Original Merced Criterium 35+ 4/5 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 37:59
D: 23.16
S: 36.5
C: 88
Pavg: 220 - this is really high for me for a flat crit
Pnorm: 236 - this is similar to doing Montebello in the same amount of time



p.s. in spite of the small field size get three upgrade points for the result so now I have eighteen total.

2009 Feb 21 Snelling Road Race

CTL: 125
TSB: 13

The other two times I tried doing this race after cross season and never had the fitness to stick with the group for more than a lap, this year had to quit racing cross and just been doing lots of miles.

Almost missed the race as I slept through the alarm for an hour, but made it there just in time, no warmup but just attacked with Jason(?) from Davis at the start to get the blood flowing - we were a little confused by where the neutral zone started so the ref ended up neutralizing us a couple of times. Oops.


Turns out five laps with the group fly by when you are having fun and you are trying to avoid people that are riding straight off the road (which turns out to be me in the end). Felt really great, but my calves started cramping about 75% through so I was pretty conservative after that. Finally on the last lap was just trying to move up and found myself on the front and there was a point where I could have just gone for it and caught the breakaways dangling off the front of the field but decided against this.

Anyways the last mile rolls around and there are forty something of us and I am trying to move up but every time I accelerate my hamstrings start to cramp, at one point one of them locks up but since the course is flattish at this point I manage to stay in the pack. I thought I might be thirtieth going into the final corner but it turns out I was about forty fifth, because I only ended up twenty ninth after making a little contact with a rider that died about twenty meters from the line and going off into a ditch (surprisingly this only affected my position by about two or three places, possibly I scared everyone off behind me...)

last lap, part 2 of 5:


a contributing factor to cramping at the end - goofing off too much at the front
last lap, part 3 of 5:


last lap, part 4 of 5:


last lap, part 5 of 5



T: 2:44:42
S: 37.2
C: 96
D: 102.3 km
Pavg: 159
Pnorm: 210

Cantua Creek Road Race

CTL: 126
TSB: 10

This race felt really easy to me, right up until the point at which I cramped - doh. Almost exactly the same as last year... The course is out and back for twenty six miles so this year I was with the group for fifty one miles, the last ten minutes consists of rollers, could feel my leg cramping up during the second lap and tried massaging it at the back of the pack, but had to do the last couple of hills alternating between using both legs and just the left leg and stretching the right leg - still only a little back of the group at the turnaround, then I got a full on leg cramp when I tried to go into time trial mode after the turnaround, but since it was downhill was able to stay upright this time. Last year I had to do a couple of vo2max efforts to stay with the group and this year I did not/could not and stayed with the group longer, though the effort for the full race is about the same.

T: 3:28:32
S: 32.8
C: 90
D: 114.1 km
Pavg: 156
Pnorm: 188

8 February Cherry Pie Criterium Cat 4

CTL: 129
TSB: -5

Not a priority race but some teammates wanted to start the season with this race so what the heck.

Was going to try to help a teammate out. I made one mistake which was not keeping aware of where he was! It turns out he got dropped. It was kind of hard to assess the situation from mid pack - there were so many turns and riders that turning back was hazardous to one's health so I should have just gone straight to the back and worked my way up to find him. Next time... This led to me waiting too long and hesitating to move up when I had the chance - only on one of the last five laps was there a clear lane up the hill to pass everybody and I only used it to move to midpack.

My other mistake was not accelerating into the downhill. I could pass people easily on the uphill but relaxed too much on the descent so never moved up much during mid part of the race.

The worst feeling in the world for me after a bike race is feeling really fresh because I didn't try hard enough and that's the way I felt at the end, stopped sprinting due to traffic congestion at the end, didn't realize I was that far back, either. Had several better sprint efforts goofing off with some friends after the race. Anyways the video shows most all.


2009 Cherry Pie Criterium Cat 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 39:06
S: 39.4 kph
Pnorm: 224 - like doing OLH at a 26:00 pace, drafting is too easy. :)
Pavg: 186
H: 171
C: 91

2008 November 16 CCCX Fort Ord (DOD) C

CTL: 112
TSB: 0
Legs didn't feel like TSB 0, but much smaller field today, a few faces from yesterday so no excuses.

Hillier today versus yesterday but not really hilly. Reverse of the course from the last time we raced here.


Lap 1:

2008 Nov 16 CCCX Fort Ord cyclocross Lap 1 of 4, C race from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 2:

2008 Nov 16 CCCX Fort Ord (DOD) Lap 2 of 4 C race from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 3:

2008 Nov 16 CCCX Fort Ord (DOD) lap 3 of 4, C race from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 37:28
S: 23.5
C: 82
H: 183
Pavg: 177
Pnorm: 206

2008 Nov 15 Pilarcitos BASPS Sierra Point Cyclocross

CTL: 112
TSB: -2

You know you're lazy when all you're doing is posting links to video, and you think eight is too many...

Started towards the end of the eighty strong field. Managed to pass about thirty people to end up twenty eighth, though I probably passed most people in the first two laps.

Lap 1:

2008 Nov 15 Pilarcitos BASPS Cyclocross C Race Lap 1 of 8 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 2:


2008 Nov 15 Pilarcitos BASPS Cyclocross C Lap 2 of 8 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.


Lap 3:

2008 Nov 15 Pilarcitos Cyclocross Sierra Point lap 3 of 8 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 4:

2008 nov 15 Pilarcitos BASPS Cyclocross Sierra Point Lap 4 of 8 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.


Lap 5:

2008 nov 15 Pilarcitos BASPS Cyclocross Sierra Point lap 5 of 8 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 6:

2008 Nov 15 Pilarcitos BASPS Cyclocross Sierra Point Lap 6 of 8 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 7:

2008 Nov 15 Pilarcitos BASPS Cyclocross Sierra Point Lap 7 of 8 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 8:

2008 Nov 15 Pilarcitos BASPS Cyclocross Sierra Point Lap 8 of 8 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.


T: 43:14
S: 21.3
Pavg: 178
Pnorm: 190
C: 80
H: 188

I wish my heartrate was higher since there was about a one to one ratio there between that and watts...

2008 Nov 2 Pilarcitos BASPS CX #2, Candlestick

TSB: 8
CTL: 102

The good news is ice cream every day doesn't change my results. The bad news is my results don't change.

Lap 1:

Pilarcitos BASPS Candlestick Cyclocross Lap 1 of 6 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 2:

Pilarcitos BASPS Candlestick Cyclocross Lap 2 of 6 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 3:

Pilarcitos BASPS Candlestick Cyclocross Lap 3 of 6 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 4:

Pilarcitos BASPS Candlestick Cyclocross Lap 4 of 6 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 5:


Lap 6:



T: 47:29
NP: 176
AP: 192
S: 18.3khp
H: 189

2008 Oct 26 Velo Bella Spirit of Surf City Soquel CX

CTL: 102
TSB: 4
Too busy to write much.
I never go hard enough during cross races...

Lap 1:
One rider flats then crashes twice before he realizes his rear tire is pretty low in the first half of the lap.

2008 October 26 Surf City CX C Soquel Lap 1 of 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 2
Almost run into some guys warming up on the course near the start.

2008 October 26 Surf City Velo Bella CX Lap 2 of 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.
Lap 3:

2008 October 26 Surf City Velo Bella CX Lap 3 of 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.
Lap 4:

2008 October 26 Surf City Velo Bella CX Lap 4 of 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 30:35
S: 19.2
H: 182
Pavg: 177
Pnorm: 213

2008 October 19 Pilarcitos #1 McLaren Park

CTL: 104
ATL: 4

I have to remember to bring my mountain bike next time...

The major feature of this course is an extended climb of about 90 seconds.

I can sort of describe my race by listing my time for climbing it each lap:

1:23
1:31
1:42
1:47
1:57

or use some video:

Lap 1: 8:21 - 78 riders with about forty in front at the start line.


Pilarcitos CX #1, C, Lap 1 of 5, McLaren Park, San Francisco from Steven Woo on Vimeo.


Lap 2: 7:56

Pilarcitos CX #1, C, Lap 2 of 5, McLaren Park, San Francisco from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 3: 8:20 - starting to feel the six hours on the road bike yesterday about now

Pilarcitos CX #1, C, Lap 3 of 5, McLaren Park, San Francisco from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 4: 8:47 - really not feeling the bike love right about now

Pilarcitos CX #1, C, Lap 4 of 5 McLaren Park, San Francisco from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 5: 8:24

2008 October 19 Pilarcitos #1 C race CX Lap 5 of 5, McLaren Park, San Francisco from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 41:46
C: 70
H: 178
Pavg: 160
Pnorm: 216

2008 October 12, CCCX #3, Laguna Seca

CTL: 108
TSB: 9

Lap 1:
Get a callup by virtual of stubbornness - show up to every race. Seven of the guys who finish in front of me either don't do the first two races or have already upgraded to B's so I am seventh overall despite my best finish being thirteen.

I start, then my chain stops working! Stop for twenty seconds while I try not to get run over and fix the problem (I just want to give everyone a head start...), a friendly push on my restart helps a bit but now my chain skips in every gear I want to use. Eventually I figure out I can only use 12,13,14,15,17 without skipping.

2008 October 12, CCCX #3, C, Lap 1 of 4, Laguna Seca from Steven Woo on Vimeo.
Lap 2:

2008 October 12, CCCX #3, C, Lap 2 of 4, Laguna Seca from Steven Woo on Vimeo.
Lap 3:

2008 October 12 CCCX #3, C, Lap 3 of 4, Laguna Seca from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 4: crash with about two minutes to go when I drift in a corner, hit some gravel on off camber hardpack, correct, and lose traction on the front wheel


2008 October 12 CCCX #3, C, Laguna Seca, Lap 4 of 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.


In spite of gearing issues, about the same effort as the other cross races this year so really can't blame mechanical for results...
T: 35:56
S: 18.9 kph
C: 78
H: 178
Pavg 167
Pnorm: 216

2008 Sacramento CX #2, Vacaville

CTL: 105
TSB: 9

They took out the stupid hill so this course would be a lot more interesting. For some reason the C field was much bigger than CCCX, and the women's fields were smaller. I really liked the new course, more places to pass or be passed.

My main objectives were to not fall on my leg where I was growing new skin from my crash on Wednesday and to not knock over the two kids in our field and become infamous...as W says, "mission acc..."



Lap 1:

2008 Sacramento Cyclocross #2 Lap 1 of 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 2:

2008 Sacramento Cyclocross #2, C, Lap 2 of 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.
Lap 3:

2008 Sacramento CX #2, C, Lap 3 of 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 4:

2008 Sacramento CX #2, C, Lap 4 of 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Pavg: 212
Pnorm: 178
H: 184 (apparently I have the heart of a hummingbird...)

2008 28 Sept CCCX #2, Fort Ord, Day Camp

Lap 1, Gary in yellow passes me on the downhill near the 4:45 and crashes on the gully:

2008 CCCX #2 Fort Ord (Day Camp) Lap 1 of 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.
Lap 2:
I crash at about 8:15, just slide out so nothing dramatic.

2008 CCCX #2 Fort Ord (Day Camp) Lap 2 of 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 3 crash at 8:30

2008 CCCX #2 Fort Ord (Day Camp) Lap 3 of 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 4:

2008 CCCX #2 Fort Ord (Day Camp) September 28 Lap 4 of 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Due to a few folks upgrading out of C's to B's and some no shows, manage to move up five places from last week. Not really getting any better, yet...

Pavg: 163
Pnorm: 196
H: 182
T: 40:05
S: 20.6 kph
C: 91

2008 September 21, CCCX #1, Fort Ord

(photo courtesy of Rick Rasmussen and Dusty Downs)
CTL: 110
TSB: 18

Not trying to peak, just no time to ride anymore, and riding fast in the dark is kind of scary.

Stay up a bit late and miss my wake up call by an hour, make it to the race venue with twenty minutes to spare, register and get ready and don't have time for a warmup lap.

Feel better than during the Friday night track racing.

This lasts about two minutes.
Lap 1:

2008 CCCX #1, Sept 21, Fort Ord, C Lap 1 of 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

I think I pretty much solidified my 20th position out of 25 on this lap.
Lap 2:

2008 Sept 21, CCCX, Fort Ord, C Race Lap 2 of 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 3:

2008 CCCX #1 Lap 3 of 4 Fort Ord from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 4:


2008 CCCX #1 Lap 4 of 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

My laps times were consistent and slow. :)


T: 44:54
S: 22.2
C: 86
H: 179
Pavg:178
Pnorm:208

2008 September 19 Friday Night Track Racing

TSB: 18
CTL: 111

Haven't been riding much on weekdays, too much work, but want to see if I can get any track race video. It turns out once the lights go on, it's too dark for this video camera to capture anything useful but I get the first race that happens before sunset.

40+ 123 Scratch

40+ 123 Scratch Race start from Steven Woo on Vimeo.
Go at the gun, get in a small group, get caught after five laps, get caught, get dropped at I think ten laps. Even though I am rested, don't have the snap one needs to do well at track racing, haven't done this longer, high intensity in a while.

T: 5:00
C: 101
S: 42.3
H: 184
Pavg:302
Pnorm:333

P123 Scratch
Ride at the back and hang in for fifteen laps
T: 7:45
C: 103
S: 43.2
H: 181
Pavg: 237
Pnorm: 273

Match Sprint with Brian Peterson and Daniel Holloway
I draw third position and attack when Daniel wants to track stand at the quarter lap mark, but I waited a little too long as the chief ref called for a restart. I try the same thing again on our retry, but the first jump took all the snap out of my legs and we only had about sixty seconds to recover.

P123 Win and Out
Ride near the back and watch the race unfold from there, but manage to finish a race for once...
T: 6:00
S: 41.4
H: 186
Pavg: 253
Pnorm: 278
C: 99

Benicia Town Race

CTL: 112
TSB: 20

Throat feels better after doing the time trial. Go figure...

E4 Race

Had illusions of going for a prime or two, but was never close enough to the front to go for it. The video camera malfunctioned or I messed up turning it on/off so no video.

Was pretty far back with two to go and had to sprint pretty hard with one to go to move up from there to mid pack on the hills.

On the last lap, the normal mushrooming of the field happened where no one wants to go on the front but lots of riders want to be near the front. Here with the hill combined with both lanes of the road open make it easy to move up so I put in an attack, and make it up to about fifth wheel. Was kind of surprised to not get farther up, so have to settle for the field sprint. Go into the finish straight about fifth, and manage to pull a ninth place out of that...

T: 42:30 (without the neutral lap)
S: 40.1 kph
D: 28.4 km
H: 176
C: 104
Pavg: 189
Pnorm: 230


35+ 4/5 Race
Was not feeling so hot after doing the E4 race so decided to conserve and just sit in until the end game started. Pretty much every lap I try to think of an excuse to quit, it seems really hard.

Video of the race, mostly of me wheelsucking as much as possible. If you want to skip over that, go to the last video for just the last two laps.









Somewhere around here, Derrick and I both look back and we see that we are at the back of the pack and some thirty plus riders have been dropped.



Last two laps


By four inches (that aero front wheel was a good choice! )






T: 38:53 (without the neutral lap)
S: 39.7 kph
D: 25.7 km
H: 174
C: 103
Pavg: 183
Pnorm: 233


P.S. For every one that's been asking, I now have thirteen upgrade points, ten from San Ardo, and three from today.