CCCX #1 24 September 2006, Prunedale

Teammates: Mike S
Friendly rivals: about 40.

I felt pretty good on the start/finish hill but after blowing up here a few years ago, held back a little on the next parts of the climb, felt like I had way too much in the tank after the finish and ended up riding two hours on the road bike afterwards and felt like I could rip the cranks off...

Tried to go hard on the climbs and recover on the downhills and flats, but ended up resting too much on the flat sections, and possibly should have accelerated harder out of the many technical turns - harder to motivate oneself sometimes versus a crit where it's do or die and get dropped. The other fields also played a mental part for me, when I got passed by riders in other fields, in attempt to not interfere with their race, let myself get complacent about passing people where I could. Gotta get that killer instinct.


T: 53:03
S: 20.1
C: 78
H: 179
Pavg: 152
Pnorm: 192




P.S.

Part of the reason the report was so short is I hit my head pretty hard on the last lap so it made the race a bit of a blur and. Had decent technical form mid race here:
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=253859545&size=l
But feeling a bit of pressure from a rider behind me on the short, steep runup, and managed to do a face plant, my recovery from that was captured here:
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=253859559&context=photostream&size=l

3 kilometer pursuit, masters 40-44

Events got pushed back about three hours due to events running over from the prior day so plenty of time to get ready. Used the Hed 60 with Michelin Pro Race 2 in the front ahd the CH aero disc rear with a Vittoria Open Corsa Evo with the 50x15. ATL was 95, CTL was 116, TSB was 16 so supposedly I should have really good legs according to the Training Manager, also worked a lot of high L5/VO2max lower duration intervals during my taper so specific workouts to address just this event for the prior week.

An odd number of entrants so I get to race by myself on the track, a rare luxury, and concentrate on a good start, not blowing up after too hard a start, and maintaining an even tempo after two laps. The standing start is surprisingly hard on the legs and feels excruciatingly slow but I get on top of the gear by the backstretch like in the kilo and am somewhat surprised and hesitate for a bit to get in the aerobars but decide to stop worrying and get aero. When I look down to check my power after one lap it's at 480, and I'm wondering if my SRM is out of whack or what. It turns out I just looked at it during my peak of lap two but at the time I wasn't sure if I should hold back more on the throttle or just go with it and decide to push it hard on the headwind part and pedal slightly less on the tailwind part of the track. After four laps I am feeling horrible, but after doing a couple hundred VO2max four to five minute repeats on Moody and Mt Eden this year , know that I can push through this, and just picture my progress on one of those climbs and keeping up the pace no matter what. Brian Peterson is kindly giving me splits which at first I was not paying attention to then realized I was keeping pretty consistent laps and something else to keep my mind off the pain. With two to go I feel like I have a second wind but hold onto it until a half lap to go when I am able to accelerate into the finish. Now I am thinking - I should have done that earlier because I had a little bit left at the end. The four hour coughing fit afterwards cured me of that notion. The muscle soreness in the hamstrings and glutes is unusual - this typically only happens to me when braking a lot using the legs.

Set a new personal record of 4:03 and change (versus first time last year at 4:24) and new two minute and four minute power max averages, and the first minute was only about 5% less than my kilo start yesterday. The average for the four minutes is higher than I can generally do for two minute L6 repeats which had me doubting the data so I calibrated the SRM again to check and I know I zeroed it several times before the event.

All I have to say is wow, the training manager does work.

T: 4:01 (two seconds different from recorded time, SRM doesn't start recording until after first revolution of the cranks )
H: 186
C: 107
S: 44.1
P: 376

Track Districts 2006

Used the last two race weekends to fine tune my work weekday taper and found that about a 100 TSS day every day of the week except 50 to 75 TSS on Thursday and Friday led to a 10+ TSB day on Saturday, the hardest part is holding back on Thursday and Friday. Had an ATL of 101, CTL of 117, and TSB of 12 for today's events.


Used the sprint bike with the Michelin Pro Race 2 on a H3 in front and Vittoria CX Open Corsa on a CH aero disc in the rear with a 50x15 gear.

I managed to screw up and lose count of my laps and was doodling along at fifteen mph in the front stretch when I got the bell. I had laid out a plan of ramping it up at L6 for the entire last lap and making the sprint into a longer effort but threw that out the window and started stomping on the pedals for the last 335 meters, took what I thought was a bad line and just tried to spin and prepared myself afterwards for confirmation of a poor result. Somehow I still set a personal best of 13.28 seconds in spite of the impromptu change in plans with an approach I may never have tried otherwise.

T: 29.5 for full effort
S: 48.7
C: 116
H: 174
Pavg: 10.8 w/kg






Used the pursuit bike with the Michelin Pro Race 2 on a Hed 60 in front and Vittoria CX Open Corsa on a CH aero disc in the rear with a 50x15 gear. Got in a good hour's rest between the end of the 200 meter time trials and this. Did a bit of practice this week on the standing starts, my peak power consistently was about fifteen percent less than a sprint with a rolling start. Maybe need to work on that more next year. Got on top of the gear in the middle of the backstretch, a bit before I expected and just got ready for the pain, and was wheezing for the last two laps of the ride. Set a personal best one minute power and a personal best time of 1:17 and change which was barely good enough for second in the 40-44 group.

T: 1:16 ( the SRM only starts recording after the first revolution of the cranks so first second plus is missing )
S: 47.8
C: 114
H: 185
Pavg: 7.5 w/kg

9 September 2006 Carrera de San Rafael

Friendly rivals: Phil from BRT, Mr. 270+ career wins and still a cat 4 :)
Teammates: none

This course has a long gradual uphill start/finish, a short, sharper uphill right, a long gradual downhill, steep downhill turn right and a right turn into the start/finish straight.

I was just going to sit on the start line for staging but someone told me we would have five minutes while they towed a car so I went off to take a couple of laps but they staged us after the first lap. Doh, again. I got stuck at the back and prepared myself mentally for working pretty hard at the beginning to pass the riders who would be dropped.

At the gun, lots of riders had trouble getting clipped in and filled the width of the start finish (crowded even further by the fancy start/finish arch ) so as soon as we got up to speed we at the back had our work cut out for us as I could see the lead riders already at least one hundred meters up the road at the turn. During the first five laps I had to work pretty hard to continually pass riders who were getting blown out the back. Finally got in contact with the lead group on the seventh lap and tried to recover a bit, about 4.3 w/kg NP for the first ten minutes, unfortunately for me, the hardest effort of the race. After a bit I was able to surf up closer and closer to the front. The most difficult part of the course is figuring out who is braking too much in the final downhill corner and who was taking it without braking, and following them. If someone took the corner well one did not have to pedal very hard but if they blew it, one had to put in a big effort to get back on the pack. In our group the hill was doable in the big ring, I never shifted from the 50 but did use the 23 in the back a few time to save my legs.

With about half of the race done, the loud explosion of a tire rang out in the last corner but it seemed fine until folks started braking a bit much and then I saw someone faceplant. That took the wind out of my sails quite a bit and set a new goal of just finishing, but still had to make up about thirty meters on the pack. Burned a match on the two uphill sections of the course, did tempo on the downhill, and looked back for help and a Cyclesports rider was game and took us the rest of the way back up to the pack, but it still took me three laps to get my breath back.

During the last four laps I made the same tactical mistake that I did at the Giro of only trying to move up on the steep uphill and getting stuck but I really wanted to go to work on Monday, so I did not try that hard otherwise to position myself for the sprint and finished in the middle of what was left of the pack. Had to brake a couple of times to wait for an opening during the final sprint.

This was possibly the hardest and longest criterium of the year for me. Disappointing with my result but can say I finished out the season with zero crashes and probably the best fitness I have ever had. Now if I could just get my head screwed on right for the tactics part of this. I need courses that are hard enough to whittle down the field due to attrition but not so hard that I get dropped in order to do well. I am really surprised I have done well in races with short hills - my short time interval power is relatively low and my longer time interval power is relatively high which would lead someone to reach the opposite conclusion for racing success.

13/75 ( 25 finishers )


T: 47:52
C: 101
H: 174
S: 40.6 // this is faster than a lot of the flat criteriums I did this year.
Pavg: 196
Pnorm: 241

Giro di San Francisco 2006

Used the 50/34 with 11/23, stayed in the 50 for the short climb as the speed of the pack is decent going into the base of the hill.
35+ 4/5 race:
Teammates: Doug H, Jim W
Friendly rivals: Bianchi Juan, Nakamura-san, Mark S, Travis from Pen Velo, Mr. 270+ career wins :), Phil from 3BRT, others.

Came into this race with a CTL of 120 and TSB of 6, so hypothetically fit, and neither super fresh or tired.

Managed to twist my skinsuit jersey sleeves into my rear wheel like a dork but just dirtied them up a bit during some recon laps of the course early. At the whistle I clipped in quickly and looked for an early attacker and someone from Metromint went so I just followed him. He powered us to a small lead and when I looked around when we exited the back stretch I saw it was only ten meters so I eased up and let other people bring him back, but noted he took the last two corners really well at about 30mph. Slotted in towards the front of the pack and never really felt pressured because if one timed it right it was possible to coast most of the way up hill with a few strategic pedal strokes. After a while the pace felt downright pokey on the uphill section. Halfway through the race I saw the riders in front of me part as a rider with his rear wheel in the air was in the process of cartwheeling prior to the next to the last turn, he either locked up his front brake or caught his front wheel in a crack and I picked the left side of him to go by and he slowly went rear wheel over front wheel, so I don't think he was hurt badly as he held onto the bars most of the way. This unnerved me a bit so it took a while to calm down. With six to go wanted to move up and every lap there was plenty of room on the left after the bridge on the hill so I waited and just went straight to the front and found myself with a fifteen meter gap by the start of the next to last turn. I hesitated here as I was not sure if I could hold the pack off for six laps and decided to ease up on the front stretch. I let about ten people pass me and got back into the group and onto Keith's wheel as he was the strongest person I knew in the field. I was able to hold it until three to go when on the first corner, a few people managed to bring each other down I believe after getting their wheels into the trolley tracks and both Keith and I had to brake hard but Keith got right back to the front in short order but I could only manage the back of the front group. Was starting to get impatient and with two to go came within a couple inches of Doug as the entire pack came almost to a standstill in turn one, hope I did not affect his race as he said he slowed down for me as I was trying to yield to him, doh. My position and Keith's did not change much from here to the finish as Keith won and I was about 20th and had to stop my sprint after 50 meters as I could see there was not going to be room to pass anybody safely.

Possibly I should have just stuck with it when I had the opportunity for a six lap solo or taking some inspiration from Keith's adrenaline inspired move after the accident and just moved right back up again but I was too conservative with my matches at six to go and probably overthinking personal safety at three to go.
T: 44:02
C: 81
S: 39.8 kph
H: 166
Pavg: 191
Pnorm: 235






4/5 race:
Teammates: Doug H, Jun A, Keiran C
Friendly rivals: Nakamura-san, Mark S, Travis from Pen Velo, Mr. 270+ career wins :), others.

T:42:08
C:88
H:168
S:39.8kph
Pavg: 185
Pnorm:222

Felt a cramp coming on after the first race so ate a Clif Bar, Gu, and one bottle of electrolyte and did not have any issues during the second race. This race felt harder at the beginning but was really easier, probably just the fatigue from the earlier race. No accidents that I saw versus the five that were reported in the 35+ 4/5 race. This race was really frustrating because after about halfway through I wanted to move up but found myself confounded by the narrowness of the bridge on the uphill section. I should have tried an alternative like burning a bigger match on the downhill right after the uphill but was too occupied with saving myself for the end. Next year... Was able to get behind Keiran, Jun, and Doug but not able to help them out any unfortunately for a mid pack finish. The only consolation was I was able to get a decent 15w/kg 5s sprint in at the end. I really felt fresh at the end so this was a pretty disappointing ending.

My take away from this is that I was not flexible enough with where I could move up, moving up was definitely possible on the downhill, especially with so many people barely moving at the top, I just was too comfortable with moving up on the hill from the earlier race and finding it just easy, and not willing to make myself suffer a bit more to move up on the downhill.

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

Watsonville Crit

Field:64
Teammates:Chris P., Jun, David P., Daniel H.
Conditions:85 and humid
Used 50x34 with a 12/25 cassette. Tried 11/23 during the warmup but never felt very good in the 50x21 by myself on the hill so played it conservative and went with 12/25.

Arrived a couple of hours early so I could get a long warmup and eat lunch as my race started at 12:50. Traffic was bumper to bumper on 17 even before 10:00. Ran into Chris P and he said he was switching to a Santa Cruz club because he lived in Santa Cruz, made sense. The course starts on a gentle hill with a slight right then a short steep downhill into a 120 right, short straight into the wind, 100 left, longer straight with a truck on the left side, 90 right, maybe 20 meters with a truck on the left side, 90 right, long straight into the wind, then back to the finishing hill. Ran into Jun and he asked for advice and I told him to be careful of pedal strikes because almost every corner ended up being off camber because of the crown of the road. Funny thing is I ended up hitting my pedal in every corner once and actually sliding for a bit on the pedal one time. It was so hot at the start that parts of the asphalt were starting to melt. Done this race twice before and been pulled twice so my first goal was to finish and if possible do something at the end. For the first third of the race I fought for position at the front and this felt hard but it really wasn't according to the data. So for the next third of the race, settled in at the middle of the pack. With about ten laps to go, sitting mid pack, it looked like a lot of guys were trying to squeeze into a small space in one of the turns onto a straight with a truck parked in it, possibly razoring each other, so I started slowing rapidly in anticipation, then the two guys directly in front of me touched bars and started going down so I slowed a bit more and started sliding my rear tire and then lifting the rear due to a lot of front brake action, stopped braking, and barely maneuvered around them. Took a couple of laps to regain my composure and started moving back up the pack. Each of the last six laps got faster and faster but I felt pretty comfortable just moving up on the hill and defending that. With one to go I got up to about fifteen position and held that onto the final straight. What I should have done was sprint all the way from *before* the last corner since the front straight took fifteen seconds total, however I paused so I could draft off the guys in front of me on the front stretch who both stalled and then blocked me. I attempted to split the two guys in front of me but right as I went between them one of them started rocking his bike back and forth. We touched handlebars a couple of times and I started wobbling due to the impact but recovered, but didn't make up any more ground. That was my totally fault for trying to go through a hole that was not there, so afterwards I apologized and he was a good sport about it.

On the one hand, happy to have finished with the front of the group, on the other hand, really frustrating because I felt I left a lot in the tank and could have done better - that is exactly what the data shows - not that much harder than just sitting in during a flat crit. It can be hard to stop enjoying the draft sometimes and do some work. This felt hard possibly due to the heat and the strong coastal wind on a couple of the straights that strung the pack out.

T: 40:29
S: 38.3
C: 77
Pavg: 192
Pnorm:212

place: ~15/64

This is the shirt. Did not win this but sometimes if you officiate at a race you can get some schwag. At first I was trying to figure out why the person on the bike is wearing lederhosen but on further examination the picture is apparently of an old time rider.

Hellyer sprints and TTs 16 July

Don't get to ride as much as I would like at the track so I did the afternoon Hellyer sprint/TT day even though my preparation for this was to have 1200 TSS in the preceding seven days with a 300 TSS ride on the prior day and 130 TSS in the morning. (100 TSS is the equivalent stress on the body of doing a single one hour all out time trial.) Had to be at the track anyways to assist Steve during the junior portion but Kevin Worley and Richard Brockie kindly took on most of our normal junior training duties. On the other side of the ledger was that I never really got any good sprints in since last Thursday so the optimist in me hoped for something better today.

Switched to the ghetto disk wheel with the plastic cover and Michelin Pro Race 2 tires with 50x15 gearing.

200 meter flying time trial:

Slowest time for me this year, but ballpark timewise to other efforts, and a super low peak power, so got the most out of what I had. One of our juniors is now within one second so I better watch out for him next year!
T:13.55 seconds
C:126
Pavg:664
S:52.9


500 meter time trial:
Technically only women and men over age 50 and under age 17 have the 500 meter time trial as an event but I know that the 1 kilometer event targets my weakness as a cyclist so there's no real point in me doing a 1 kilometer time trial, the 500 is closer to a timed effort that I might do OK at and my only other timed 500 meter was at ADT when I was doing a kilo and I heard Roger say 38 for my first half split. I also am too lazy to bring both a time trial bike for the kilo and a sprint bike to the track. Weird thing is my average power over 38 seconds and 14 seconds is about the same.

T:40.1 seconds
C:114
Pavg:640
S:47.5

Hellyer Friday Night 14 July

Cat 3
Field:10 riders?
Teammates: Jun, Erik, SteveO
Came in with really sore legs from a different taper on Thursday with a mix of L5/L6/L7 efforts, will probably cut out the L6 next time cause that really hurt in all sorts of ways. Did not do any good L7/sprint efforts during the racing, though got in a few good L6, L5, L4 so somehow managed to lose my high end snap without changing my aerobic/anaerobic performance. On the plus side I remembered to bring some coffee. Slightly different mix of riders with the absence of Jon and Brian and addition of the Arizona rider and Jun. It seems that with Brian and Jon out, everyone else is more equally matched, and that really changed the dynamics of the racing, though I think the Arizona rider won two of three events.

8 Lap win and out:
Tried a initial effort and ended up dragging the field around for two laps, rested for one, and tried again and dragged the field around for two laps. Felt like I did not get good jumps but the overall effort for the race was pretty good. Then waited for the end game. Got on the front and started upping the tempo with two and a half to go when the Arizona rider jumped, no one responded, and that really was the end of the race for first. Bided my time until the last bell when I could see four riders ahead, and two gave up. Mary was on my wheel so I just tried to razor her and just edged her out for fifth.
5/10
T: 5:04
S: 42.3
C: 101
H: 181
Pavg: 320
Pnorm: 342

Miss and out:
Since the Masters were cut and they were running ahead of schedule, they told us every other lap a rider would be pulled after the bell was rung to make our race last longer. At the very beginning Elliot and I were vying for position to go over the top of the pack. I could only manage a weak sprint to attempt to box him in but he was able to overpower me and pass first. As I was coming into the finish line I could see the only two riders I could possibly eliminate were Jun and Erik so I soft pedaled to save the effort for another race. Erik was able to score points so that was good, and Mary put in an inspired effort to win.
T: 1:03
S: 38.3
C: 91
H: 170
P: 397

10 Lap point a lap:
This was competitive for everyone in the field as it seemed riders would gap the pack but only by a little bit and we would drag people back. With 4 to go I attacked after a sprint and got about a third of lap lead on the pack. I was able to get three points uncontested and then had to work hard for the 1 to go sprint but the Arizona guy and Elliot easily caught me on the last lap, and Mary nipped me on the line.
2/10
T: 5:00
S: 43.5
C: 104
H: 182
Pavg: 318
Pnorm: 337

40 lap all hands points race:
Field:23
Additional teammates: Rick Adams, Jim Ryan
I could see a teammate (varying) in a break of four to six riders for the first 25 laps of the race so I was content to hang in the back as there was never enough horsepower for a break to lap the field. With 15 to go the pack was about to catch the last break so I worked my way up to near the front. Another teammate attacked for this sprint, didn't really want to contest this against them, so then with 12 to go I slipped in front of Jim and signalled for him to follow and was able to lead him out for the 10 to go sprint but he cramped ( did not know it at the time), still he squeezed out a fourth. We hooked up again with 4 to go, and I signalled Jim again as I passed him. Unfortunately his cramp really started acting up and he was not able to follow to the end but I gave a nice leadout to Giovanni and Gen! :)
T: 18:23
S: 43.2
C: 102
H: 179
Pavg: 227
Pnorm: 266

4/10

Lafayette Crit, 9 July

35+ 4/5
Field: ~50
Teammates: (the other) Mark D
Friendly rivals: Eric P, others

50/34 in front and 11/23 in back, and only used the 50 and four gears in back.

The course is roughly a triangle with the start finish straight being all uphill (yay), a short 90 downhill turn to the left, and another 90 but level turn to the left, and a long meandering back stretch to an almost hairpin to the left. I skipped doing this race the first time they held it last year because it was hilly but Juan said it was not that hard and gave me grief about not doing it so I had to try it this year. I am really surprised the promoter is able to do this race as the course cuts off access by car to several stores and a McDonald's for half of the day - that really had to hurt those businesses as downtown Lafayette has a lot of car traffic - probably more than where I live near San Jose. Warming up was kind of tricky as I have never been here before, and as far as I explored, the roads were narrow, shoulderless, full of cars, and hilly, but I was able to find one, more isolated hill that took a good four minutes to crest at the top.

The 4's were doing laps in about 1:25 and we ended up with the same sort of lap times.

There was an accident in the 4's that knocked one rider silly and two ambulances were required to cart the victims away. This delay shortened our race by five minutes and the sight of that always seems to make one more vigilant about safety.

A small group of riders went off the front about halfway through and eventually only one rider was left out there at about fifteen seconds. This was enough time to be out of sight of the pack and effectively ended any chasing. The one downhill corner meant anyone not in the front was braking and the one hairpin going up meant everyone not in the front might be braking as well. At one point Eric P asked me if I felt this was hard and I said no, but looked around and realized we were both at the back of the pack and told Eric to not worry about it as it only hurt on the uphill and he soon was at the front of the pack. Got a bit complacent about position and enjoying the draft too much. Thought about attacking a few times but every time I was on the verge of hitting it hard on the hill there was a prime announced and the pack surged, making it kind of hard to get any separation. The race seemed harder to me than Vacaville but the numbers point it out as easier. With three to go I resigned myself to a sprint finish and jockeyed for position. Each of the last three laps were among the fastest of the race, at one point someone seemed a little too aggressive for 25th position so I backed off and lost my concentration. This was the last lap and most folks were starting from the base of the hill at the hairpin - I think I waited a bit too long thinking it might be advantageous to use other peoples drafts instead of going all out. It is only about a 30 second effort so need to remember that for next year.

Mid pack placing for a mid pack effort.
20/~50

This was easier than Vacaville and Santa Cruz for me even though I perceived it as hard, not sure if the heat had anything to do with that.

picture of the pack, courtesy of Matt Davis




Pavg: 191
Pnorm: 236
C: 92
S: 40.5
T: 33:44

Hellyer Friday Night 7 July

Teammates: Erik O and Steve M
No placings
Field: 11
Started the day off by getting out of bed, stepping on a blanket, slipping, and falling on my butt and kicking the bed frame, stubbing my toe. This made it hurt every time I walked but I could still ride a bike without too much pain so I committed myself to racing. Today Peter Allen showed up and Scott Rodamaker skipped out so we were lost a sprinter and gained an all rounder.

10 lap to win and out
Attacked four times in attempts to get away but every one was wise to me and followed me, the last time I just sat up and let the field pass me.
T: 5:55
S: 41.5
C: 99
H: 187
Pavg: 302
Pnorm:336

10 lap snowball
There was a $20 prime for the 5th lap. Elliot jumped right away so I jumped as well and after two laps of chasing I was thinking of committing everything to the last twenty meter gap but I saw a group of three closing on me so I let up. Unfortunately those guys had one of Elliot's teammates and the other two were not so intent on catching Elliot, so Elliot got the prime and then blew. At this point I got kind of lazy and let the people in front of me dictate the race when I should have pushed harder instead of just drafting, this cost me a lot of positions.

T: 4:16
S: 44.0
C: 105
H: 190
P: 311
get a np of 360 when including the 45 seconds after the race was over.

15 lap points race 5 sprints
At the beginning of the race I was goofing off behind the pack, then a loud metallic clang rang out. I slowed immediately trying to figure out what happen when Erik pulled off. It turned out he broke a spoke. Meanwhile a quarter lap gap opened up to the rest of the pack, this took me three laps to close just as the bell rang... Now I had to pick off the nine riders in front of me and I repeated the mistake of drafting too long instead and getting too rested instead of just pushing the pace to catch people. There was another $20 prime with six laps to go that caused one more surge but I was finally closing in on the top five but ran out of time and only got up to sixth.
T: 6:31
S: 43.2
C: 103
H: 190
Pavg: 301
Pnorm: 319

Shorts

I complain about my team shorts every year, they make my bum look big but these take the cake (beautiful women, horrible shorts):

Vacaville Grand Prix, 2 July

35+ 4/5
Field: ~25
Teammates: None
Friendly rivals: Erik Salander, possibly others

Brought the lighter bike with 50/34 12/25 gearing and afterwards kind of wished I had brought the aero wheels with the 11/23 gearing in back.

Had a heavy training week with 1000 TSS in the prior seven days, chasing Steve Stewart, Darrel, Chris and Randy Denton around on my road bike on Saturday probably did not help my freshness much, either, as I was literally wheezing to get in enough air just to keep up on one of the longer hills on Saturday.

Woke up late and rushed to get everything together for the 75 minute drive to Vacaville. This tardiness did not matter because when I got there I had time to register and change clothes and take a few laps while they did course setup as it looked like they were putting last minute touches on a course that has not been used in a while. The two laps revealed a technical, twisty, and sometimes narrow and sometimes wide open course with one small hill that could easily be ridden in the big ring while in a group.

Got a nice schwag bag with a bottle, Jelly Belly sampler, coupon for Pearl Izumi and a frisbee just for showing up.
The hill did not feel bad to this non climber, especially since the race flyer said it was bigger than the hill at Santa Cruz - it felt a tiny bit longer than the finishing straight hill at Santa Cruz and much shallower - the descent was a little tricky as there was a 90 corner at the bottom leading to a road that had a very high crown that led to a bit of reverse camber when turning with a nice apex.

Laps for the first race of 4/5's were taking about three minutes so this mean our race was going to be about 51 minutes but since the 4/5 start was delayed about 20 minutes they started taking one lap out of events to get back on schedule.

Think there were about six Owens Health riders in different color jerseys. This is important because when one got away, some of the riders blocking for him were wearing different jerseys.

On the first lap I found myself off the front at the gun with only a few pedal strokes. Got to the base of the hill and no one seemed interested so I hit it hard and opened up the gap quite a bit, on a flat course someone usually covers first lap attacks quickly but no one budged. I was more interested in trying lines while having the freedom to choose them from the front of the pack. Softpedaled a bit after the descent and the group caught me quickly on the front stretch. Nothing interesting happened for the first half of the race and the pace up the hill felt hard but doable, and it *seemed* like many people were struggling or at least slowly pedaling a big gear while I thought I was spinning a smaller gear.


At one point a rider that was tenth wheel to my inside on a corner leading to the hill, suddenly countersteered (when no one else in front of him required this) and he forced me to either brake hard to avoid hitting him, hit him, or go off the course outside the hay bales and I chose to go outside the hay bales, and we exchanged a few choice words. I had enough of that and stomped on the pedals a few times and got to the front by the top of the hill and stayed near the front for a bit.

Erik and one other rider slipped off the front only ten to twenty meters away. From my vantage point it appeared as though they were increasing their lead with every turn. I didn't want to chase Erik down, but he was dropped with three to go and the Owens rider was solo off the front by about thirty seconds and out of sight. At that point, there was no way we were going to bring him back so we were racing for second place. With two to go, since I thought I was much stronger than most riders on the hill, I attacked on the hill and got about five seconds on the pack. Not much but there did not seem to be a concerted chase so I put the hammer down. I knew in the technical spots I would have an advantage over a larger uncoordinated group, unfortunately, these occurred after the finish line and before the hill so I only could use them for one lap. The next time by the hill the pack was the same distance behind and going up the hill that felt easy when I was in the pack felt like a slog while I was time trialing by myself - the data reveals I was in a bigger gear the last time up and really should have downshifted instead of grinding a bigger gear that was good for the solo flat parts. Thought of giving up, but every time I looked back I could see a gap, growing smaller with time. Did not have anything in me to sprint and was caught on the line by the first four riders in the field.


T: 48:13
Pavg: 192
Pnorm:247
S: 37.7
C: 81

last five minutes of race, including attack on hill with 1.5 laps to go:
On the one hand, I'm slightly disappointed as my five minute max is higher than Pnorm, on the other hand it was like doing a VO2max interval at the end of the equivalent of the Dunlap TT.

In any case it really hurt at the end but I should have pushed through that - and I can't wait to try it again.


T: 5:01
Pavg: 297
Pnorm: 330
S: 40.1
C: 85


Result: 6/23 - T-shirt!

Hellyer Friday Night 30 June

Elite 3
Teammates: Erik O, Steve M
Field: 12

Was grateful for the long sleeve skinsuit as the temperatures dipped into the 60's as the sun went down, had to put on an undershirt to keep from shivering. Big change from the 80's last week.

There was a little bit of excitement before the racing as one of the portable bike stands blew over with Dean, DanHolla, and Jim's bikes falling to the ground. Jim began his warm up and the damage to his bike became apparent on his last effort as his carbon fiber bars broke in two near one of the curves where the STI levers would go. Apparently the impact with the ground cracked it. Fortunately Jim did not go down but had to withdraw from the racing.

8 lap scratch:
T: 3:32
P: 352
S: 45.9
C: 110
H: 186
Attack at the gun, get the whole pack for a tail, pull up after 2 laps, Elliot goes in the next lap and we watch and wait. With three to go the whole pack eases up, and pulls up to the stayer's line or higher so I pull into the lane and attempt to bridge. With one and a half laps to go I ease up a bit so I can time my slingshot over Elliot, then Elliot unexpectedly gives up and swings up track with one to go. I was hoping I could get him to get on my wheel and hold off the pack but this throws a wrench into my tactics as I see his teammate Brian over my shoulder start a counterattack for the last lap on the home stretch. Doh. Oh well, at least got a decent effort in with a couple of attacks in 8 laps.

Miss and out:
T: 3:23
P: 343
S: 42.1
C: 100
H: 183
With 11 riders we will ride ten laps. This is a bit harder to do solo but what the heck, must go for it anyways. When we start going fast after the start, every one moves below the stayer's line, opening up half the track for passing, I accelerate over the top and see Matias in the lane and Steve M on his shoulder while I go over so I hope Steve can get on my shoulder and pin Matias there when they catch up. After four laps on the front I am dying, and find Matias in on my shoulder. Ooops. The next lap Matias ups the pace and I cannot match it so I find myself on his wheel after he pulls ahead and slots into the lane and I am boxed in - feeling somewhat relieved that I don't have to kill myself but then wishing I was not boxed in at the bottom of the track. I last two more laps and am the last rider pulled before we score points so a whole lot of work for no placing.


15 lap points race, sprint every 3:
T: 7:00
Pavg: 292
Pnorm: 306
S: 44.6
C: 106
H: 183
Since this will take about 7.5 minutes at about 30 seconds per lap, I decide to *not* attack on the first lap since I do am pretty sure that I can not hold off the pack for that long. I hope to score points in the later sprints. What happens is I find myself behind a long line of folks, feeling somewhat comfortable just sitting in and having trouble finding motivation to exert myself to move up with four riders a bit off the front, those four scoring all the points. Finally with six to go we catch them and other riders score points. At this point we slow a bit, I consider attacking then the pace picks up again. After the sprint at 3 laps we ease up signficantly and everyone in front of me pulls up past the stayer's line. Saved too much in the tank as I accelerate and pull away from the pack and stay about a half lap away for the last three laps. Winning a sprint is nice but with five sprints, I did not think it was enough to matter in the ranking but I got 4th in this race.

There was a crash in the keirin final where Don Langley and Gen Kogure appeared to touch handlebars and both went tumbling to the track, thankfully early in the event when the speeds are lower. Both got up under their own power but only Gen continued to race the keirin restart and the last event.

30 lap points race, cat 1/2/3, field 35:
T: 14:28
Pavg: 240
Pnorm: 250
S: 44.3
C: 105
H: 180
After witnessing the keirin crash and with 35 people in this particular race, decided to play this a bit conservatively and surf the back. They said they were probably not going to pull anybody but they should have, some people who were lapped multiple times were kind of careless and not looking when they were turning to get on what they thought was the back of the pack and hooking folks. Anyways, only felt I had to work a couple of times to stay in the group. There was an immediate separation at the start of the race and Larry Nolan was in the back group, and I could see him go to bridge, and amazingly, the people behind him did not react. The one thing I know about racing with Larry is that when if you are behind him when he goes, you go, or your race is over and that was pretty much the end of it for everyone in the second part of the pack. We eventually caught the main group but this was after Larry initiated a move to catch the break that lapped the field(edit, thanks for correction AJM). I think there were only about 25 people left at the end. I perceived this to be hard but the data shows it was not - have done much harder efforts in other races. It was definitely harder than the 40 lap scratch race last week. The first half of the race was easy after the split occurred and I was tempted to pull the second pack up to the first half of the field but the second half of the race was a bit more like TT pace, and still DanHolla, Steve P, AJM, and Brian were able to lap us in the second half of the race.

Placing: 7/12
Total riding time: 2:10
Total TSS: 171
Total NP:218