2010's first race was, predictably, Mason Lake. It's usually the first race series of the year, and one of the best attended (jokingly referred to as the Mason Lake World Championships). Sort of odd, considering there are no prizes, but everyone's usually ready to put their winter training to good use. Plus, it's the first chance everyone has to gauge where they stand relative to everyone else at the start of the year.
The downside is that it's usually a pretty sketchy experience. The final 1k has a sharp downhill, slightly narrowing roads, and a sweeping 90 degree turn. In previous years, I've just ridden this race to get in some early racing miles. This means I've ridden at the back since I've been too nervous to move myself up, and missed taking part in the sprint entirely.
This year, I had only one goal: don't ride at the back, ever. I shouldn't be back there and I'm fast enough to be at the front. There's really no excuse not to learn to throw my weight around a bit and hold my position in the top third. So as the race go underway, I took the first opportunity I had to move to the top 10, and waited for a bit for the race to develop. I didn't particularly want to be in a long breakaway, and I had a couple of teammates who were probably better suited to it than me.
A couple of people got off the front in the second lap (of 5), and Eric Peterson and Mike Brown attempted to bridge up. The gap was a little bit big however, and they came back to the group. There wasn't much to do at that point but sit and wait for the field to come back together for the sprint.
On the last lap, the break was predictably caught, and the field started to set up for the sprint. Unfortunately, something sort of weird happened - the field slowed up enough that the four riders in the break stayed at or near the front. This, coupled with the fact that no one wanted to use up energy before the sprint (no one who could put down a serious attack, at least) meant that the last lap was really, really slow. When the pace slows down that much, it fans out across the road and no one can move up. It also means that people have a chance to recover, and fancy their chances in a sprint. Together, it means that the front of the race is slow, the back of the pack is fast, and there's nowhere for the middle to go as everyone tries to get into the same spot.
This is the part of the race where I usually lose spots, but this time, I held my ground as people bounced of me (annoying, but not an issue), my handlebars (a bit dicey), and the people riding next to me. Things stayed pretty slow until 1K to go, when the first few guys hit the gas. Folks ran right into the back of riders going slow, and our field had the biggest pileup I've heard about in the Cat 3's. 15-25 people went down right behind me, and the top 20-ish made it through. I felt very calm, strong, and ready to go - I had to keep myself from starting the sprint too early, since I felt so good.
With about 250m to go, a huge guy (6'6?) wound up his sprint, and I got on his wheel. Unfortunately, his sprint ended at 50m later, and I was a bit stuck. There wasn't really enough distance for me to tuck back in and wait, but 200m at Mason Lake is a long, long way for me to sprint. Didn't have much choice though, so I wound it up and went. When I looked back at 100m, I thought I had gapped everyone, but JD Fette (fast, fast kid) was behind me, and almost came around at the end.
I was pretty excited about this win - it was the first time I've been able to mix it up at the front of a really jostling group, and my first participation in a bunch sprint. Really looking forward to seeing if I can get myself into the front for another - it feels like I should have a pretty strong shot to take some of these if I'm near the front with 175 to go.
Also found out that I had easily enough points to upgrade to Cat 2 for 12 hours, until I lost my points from 2009 Tour de Dung #1. Ha.
Results
Getting started with track
Just started out at the track - did the first few intro to racing nights, and got upgraded.
Did a few Cat 4 races (http://velodrome.org/mva/node/64?results=night&id=6, http://velodrome.org/mva/node/64?results=night&id=8, http://velodrome.org/mva/node/64?results=night&id=9), and did pretty well, so I got to move up to Friday night (the big show).
It's a big jump from not having ever ridden on the track to the Cat 3 races on the velodrome for me. First Friday night was a big leap for me - I felt pretty good in the scratch race, but got boxed in. I got boxed in during the miss-and-out and was third to be eliminated. Last race of the night was a points race - I felt good, and tried to get in a breakaway. Unfortunately, I wasn't even close to getting away, so I just toasted myself for the finale sprint.
All in all, a pretty disappointing first Friday night, but I was pretty excited to be able to upgrade so quickly.
Here's a picture of thee points race:
Did a few Cat 4 races (http://velodrome.org/mva/node/64?results=night&id=6, http://velodrome.org/mva/node/64?results=night&id=8, http://velodrome.org/mva/node/64?results=night&id=9), and did pretty well, so I got to move up to Friday night (the big show).
It's a big jump from not having ever ridden on the track to the Cat 3 races on the velodrome for me. First Friday night was a big leap for me - I felt pretty good in the scratch race, but got boxed in. I got boxed in during the miss-and-out and was third to be eliminated. Last race of the night was a points race - I felt good, and tried to get in a breakaway. Unfortunately, I wasn't even close to getting away, so I just toasted myself for the finale sprint.
All in all, a pretty disappointing first Friday night, but I was pretty excited to be able to upgrade so quickly.
Here's a picture of thee points race:
Longbranch Road Race
I hadn’t planned on racing Sunday, but since I won on Sat, I felt obligated to show up and try to defend my lead in the omnium. There were a lot fewer people in this race (about 38), so I knew who I needed to watch. The course featured two hills - a long, steep, 39x27 hill (2-3 minutes), and a shorter, rolling 39x25 near the end. Not enough to really split the field, but by the end, we were down to 20 of the 38. I was feeling pretty tired during this race (not having ridden much for the last couple weeks), but AJ was fantastic in chasing people down.
Last couple laps, I led the field up the major climbs as a way to stay near the front, and was feeling okay (but not great). AJ was around to lead me through the field, and lead out the sprint, which meant that I was actually in a good position for once.
I knew the Lenovo guy I was watching for the omnium was stronger than me, so in the sprint, I watched him closely. Unfortunately, I tried to come around him in the sprint on the right, where there were inexplicably a couple of women’s riders. I don’t know if we were just passing their field, or if they happened to finish at the same time somehow, or what, but in either event I almost ran one of them off the road, and had to sit up and try to sprint again. It was my fault, I should’ve been looking further up the road, but they were going so much slower that it all happened very quickly. Managed to stay upright, managed to start sprinting again, and ended up 6th. I was a bit peeved, since the finish suited me so well (I love uphill sprints), but it was enough to take the omnium for the weekend.
Big thanks to AJ and Smoothie for showing up on Sun and sacrificing for me to take the omnium - it was actually sort of important to me, and I’m thrilled it worked out.
Anyone know where there are pictures? Never did find any for either day.
Last couple laps, I led the field up the major climbs as a way to stay near the front, and was feeling okay (but not great). AJ was around to lead me through the field, and lead out the sprint, which meant that I was actually in a good position for once.
I knew the Lenovo guy I was watching for the omnium was stronger than me, so in the sprint, I watched him closely. Unfortunately, I tried to come around him in the sprint on the right, where there were inexplicably a couple of women’s riders. I don’t know if we were just passing their field, or if they happened to finish at the same time somehow, or what, but in either event I almost ran one of them off the road, and had to sit up and try to sprint again. It was my fault, I should’ve been looking further up the road, but they were going so much slower that it all happened very quickly. Managed to stay upright, managed to start sprinting again, and ended up 6th. I was a bit peeved, since the finish suited me so well (I love uphill sprints), but it was enough to take the omnium for the weekend.
Big thanks to AJ and Smoothie for showing up on Sun and sacrificing for me to take the omnium - it was actually sort of important to me, and I’m thrilled it worked out.
Anyone know where there are pictures? Never did find any for either day.
Glenwood Road Race
This was my first real race since Leah was born, and my goal on the line was just to finish. On a wet and rainy day, with 80+ in the field, I figured I’d be stuck in the back with no hopes of moving up (I really need to work on my pack positioning skills). Fortunately, I was able to line up at the front of the race, and once we got rolling, I managed to stay in the front 15 for the first lap, covering some attacks and blocking for a few of ours that got a bit up the road. I was feeling generally good, even though it was raining, and started to feel comfortable at the front again. Of course, I got shuffled to the back for laps 2 thru 4, and had great deal of trouble moving up. I started to feel nervous racing again (lots of brake-fistfuls on some of the mini-descents), and was just hoping to make it through the race without touching wheels. Brian got shuffled to the back when he missed a turn (thanks corner marshals!), and started ranting excitedly about how we need to be at the front. Weirdly, this is what I needed to hear to make moving up through the field sound like something I actually wanted to do. I made it about 1/2 way up, when I got stuck again. Fortunately, Randy launched an attack and the field stretched out just enough for me to move all the way to the front.
Since there were only about 6 miles left to go, and Randy’s attack had come back, I went to the front to try to string it out for AJ in the finale. I pulled hard by myself on the front of the field for about 2 miles, and then we went around a left hand turn up a small riser (53x23), and I ended up pulling away from the field a bit. A Starbucks guy came with me, and I decided to just keep pulling for a bit to make some other teams chase. We only had about 5-10 seconds, then all of a sudden the elastic snapped, and we had about 400 yards. We were sharing pulls evenly, and I was doing my best not to get over-excited, since the finish suited me precisely (200m uphill drag). With 1K to go, I knew Recycled had it locked, and sure enough, on the finishing straight, I was able to knock it out by a comfortable margin. I was really thrilled to be in a break this way, in such a big race - Wes (from Starbucks) and I took pretty even pulls, and really cooperated all the way to the line. It was great to have such positive racing, and I think Wes and I were both thrilled that something stayed away.
It was great for the team to get our first USCF win in the Cat 3 field this year in an important race. It was great for my form to finally start coming around (along with my confidence racing/positioning, etc). I’ve felt reasonably strong all year, but I haven’t been able to put myself near the front of races where it would really make a difference. It worked out this time though, and all the Recycled guys really controlled the race for the first 5 laps. It’s great to ride with a fantastic team - we had lots of ways to win, and it felt like we were in the hunt all day.
Since there were only about 6 miles left to go, and Randy’s attack had come back, I went to the front to try to string it out for AJ in the finale. I pulled hard by myself on the front of the field for about 2 miles, and then we went around a left hand turn up a small riser (53x23), and I ended up pulling away from the field a bit. A Starbucks guy came with me, and I decided to just keep pulling for a bit to make some other teams chase. We only had about 5-10 seconds, then all of a sudden the elastic snapped, and we had about 400 yards. We were sharing pulls evenly, and I was doing my best not to get over-excited, since the finish suited me precisely (200m uphill drag). With 1K to go, I knew Recycled had it locked, and sure enough, on the finishing straight, I was able to knock it out by a comfortable margin. I was really thrilled to be in a break this way, in such a big race - Wes (from Starbucks) and I took pretty even pulls, and really cooperated all the way to the line. It was great to have such positive racing, and I think Wes and I were both thrilled that something stayed away.
It was great for the team to get our first USCF win in the Cat 3 field this year in an important race. It was great for my form to finally start coming around (along with my confidence racing/positioning, etc). I’ve felt reasonably strong all year, but I haven’t been able to put myself near the front of races where it would really make a difference. It worked out this time though, and all the Recycled guys really controlled the race for the first 5 laps. It’s great to ride with a fantastic team - we had lots of ways to win, and it felt like we were in the hunt all day.
Green Valley TT
Well, this was at least a chance to redeem myself after Carnation. Since I just had a new baby, I’ll make this one short - I was demoralized by the course, and just didn’t feel super strong. My goal power was around 350W, and I only hit 335W. However, it’s better than the 324 last week. I widened my aero bars and was actually able to breathe, I just didn’t feel like I had strong legs.
Ended up 4th, which was pretty disappointing - 1 place out of “prizes”. Hopefully my form will start to come around this year...
Ended up 4th, which was pretty disappointing - 1 place out of “prizes”. Hopefully my form will start to come around this year...
Carnation TT #1
First time trial of the year. Also the first time I’ve ridden my TT bike this year. Probably should’ve adjusted to this a bit more before racing, but oh well.
On the drive over to Carnation, I noticed a number of cars with snow on their windshields. Seemed sort of odd, since it was raining, and about 37 degrees. Once I got over the mountain to Carnation, however, there was enough snow on the ground to make me pretty nervous driving. The race, of course, wasn’t going off with good coat of slush on the ground, so it ended up being delayed by an hour. Unfortunately, this meant I got about an hour and a half of warmup, which is a bit much for me. I was also the second person to go off - which also sucks.
Eventually, the race did start, I got lined up, got a decent start, then noticed my powermeter wasn’t reading anything. Unfortunately, when I switch from training to race wheels, my Edge 705 doesn’t switch powermeters, so pedaled at what I thought was about 80% of LT while I ran through the menus for about 30 seconds to pick up the new powermeter. Once it came on, I noticed that I was at about 380W, which was a lot more than I wanted to be at in the first 3 minutes. Weirdly, I just couldn’t make myself back off the throttle, and ended up going waaaay too hard for the first 5 minutes or so (I’ve consistently had a problem with this, especially running). I did catch my 30 second guy at about 5-10 minutes out, which meant that I had nothing else to chase for the whole race, especially since there wasn’t a 30 second guy behind me (Adam Kaufman, also on Recycled, started a minute back).
After I calmed down, I started to settle in and chew up road (literally - I really hope that was mud and not cowpies). It took me a bit to figure out not to ride in the standing water channels on the road, but once I did, the cold wasn’t bad at all. Ended up catching the only guy in front of me, not getting caught by anyone, but having way worse power than I was hoping for (I was at about 326, and I was hoping for 350 - that’s a really big gap). Not sure what the deal was - I wasn’t breathing hard at all, I just couldn’t push my heart rate up and my legs felt dead.
I did notice that after the race I had some of the worst asthma I’ve ever had (maybe from the cold) - I was a little worried that I wouldn’t make it back to the car, and I was having a really hard time getting a half breath in. It’s possible that didn’t help the TT, and may explain why I wasn’t breathing very hard (couldn’t!) - then again, maybe not.
All in all, pretty disappointing - I was hoping to really burn this one up, and I ended up limping in instead.
On the drive over to Carnation, I noticed a number of cars with snow on their windshields. Seemed sort of odd, since it was raining, and about 37 degrees. Once I got over the mountain to Carnation, however, there was enough snow on the ground to make me pretty nervous driving. The race, of course, wasn’t going off with good coat of slush on the ground, so it ended up being delayed by an hour. Unfortunately, this meant I got about an hour and a half of warmup, which is a bit much for me. I was also the second person to go off - which also sucks.
Eventually, the race did start, I got lined up, got a decent start, then noticed my powermeter wasn’t reading anything. Unfortunately, when I switch from training to race wheels, my Edge 705 doesn’t switch powermeters, so pedaled at what I thought was about 80% of LT while I ran through the menus for about 30 seconds to pick up the new powermeter. Once it came on, I noticed that I was at about 380W, which was a lot more than I wanted to be at in the first 3 minutes. Weirdly, I just couldn’t make myself back off the throttle, and ended up going waaaay too hard for the first 5 minutes or so (I’ve consistently had a problem with this, especially running). I did catch my 30 second guy at about 5-10 minutes out, which meant that I had nothing else to chase for the whole race, especially since there wasn’t a 30 second guy behind me (Adam Kaufman, also on Recycled, started a minute back).
After I calmed down, I started to settle in and chew up road (literally - I really hope that was mud and not cowpies). It took me a bit to figure out not to ride in the standing water channels on the road, but once I did, the cold wasn’t bad at all. Ended up catching the only guy in front of me, not getting caught by anyone, but having way worse power than I was hoping for (I was at about 326, and I was hoping for 350 - that’s a really big gap). Not sure what the deal was - I wasn’t breathing hard at all, I just couldn’t push my heart rate up and my legs felt dead.
I did notice that after the race I had some of the worst asthma I’ve ever had (maybe from the cold) - I was a little worried that I wouldn’t make it back to the car, and I was having a really hard time getting a half breath in. It’s possible that didn’t help the TT, and may explain why I wasn’t breathing very hard (couldn’t!) - then again, maybe not.
All in all, pretty disappointing - I was hoping to really burn this one up, and I ended up limping in instead.
Tour de Dung #2
After yesterday’s race, I was expecting to be pretty tired for Tour de Dung #2. And I was.
Our team had about 9 guys at the race, so my plan was to sit in for the first couple of 6 laps, and then hope my legs came around a bit.
In short, I didn’t really factor into this race at all. Pretty disappointing, mostly because I wasn’t aggressive enough at the end (a break went that I could’ve covered, but didn’t), didn’t position myself well for the sprint, and didn’t really set myself up to put the hammer down on the field. Also a bit disappointing that I seemed to be a bit underpowered today, compared to guys like the FRM rider that pulled us back into the field.
My teammates did a great job today though - covered a lot of breaks, pulled back the main break of the day, and factored in nearly every move (except the winning one, sadly). I think we’ll be pretty strong for the year, we just have to get a bit smarter about strategy and not miss out on the bigger moves (maybe let some smaller, doomed ones go?).
Our team had about 9 guys at the race, so my plan was to sit in for the first couple of 6 laps, and then hope my legs came around a bit.
In short, I didn’t really factor into this race at all. Pretty disappointing, mostly because I wasn’t aggressive enough at the end (a break went that I could’ve covered, but didn’t), didn’t position myself well for the sprint, and didn’t really set myself up to put the hammer down on the field. Also a bit disappointing that I seemed to be a bit underpowered today, compared to guys like the FRM rider that pulled us back into the field.
My teammates did a great job today though - covered a lot of breaks, pulled back the main break of the day, and factored in nearly every move (except the winning one, sadly). I think we’ll be pretty strong for the year, we just have to get a bit smarter about strategy and not miss out on the bigger moves (maybe let some smaller, doomed ones go?).
