At times it is trying.
I race in difficult fields. Even when they don't go "fast" there always seem to be twenty guys who win all the time in every race I do. It's the same cast of characters (as I am starting to recognize the names every time and even strike up conversations with folks I see often.)
But it does make it tough to finish well. Certainly, winning seems far off.
So I have to be content with whatever little personal achievements I can muster. Sure, I could race "down" and stick to doing cat 3/4 and cat 3 races from now on (where I would stand a better chance of doing well) but, fundamentally, it's not why I do this.
Hilltowns is the Massachusetts State Championships, and attracts a gigantic crowd of top-level racers every year. This was my third time. I had been 41st and 37th before, never quite making the selection on the huge climb of East Hawley Road.
This time, I resolved to not worry about it, and just ride my pace if I got separated from the leaders there, and then let the chips fall where they may. I think it was the right choice, since I set another 20' seasonal PR on that hill, and ended up in a rather large group of riders who stayed together until the final climb. I still had something left in the tank to finish strong however, and got away from them with three other guys to contest the sprint. Since results were not posted until several days later I was thinking I had my best finish yet there. This didn't happen however (possibly due to the larger field this time) and I was 42nd.
Sigh.
So, the next day arrives. I am still feeling good about Hilltowns (not knowing yet just how many riders were up the road) and come to the NY State TT with a clear head and a positive attitude. My legs, however, never showed up.
This wasn't all that surprising. I've been in the midst of a gigantic training buildup over the past several months, and am rather used to racing with a certain degree of fatigue. This is intentional, but the load placed on my legs from my record-setting hill climb the day before was palpable.
The result was that I was caught in a personal no-mans'-land between spinning too small a gear, and trying like crazy to push a bigger gear, only to have the legs simply tell me they couldn't do it. Add the not inconsiderable headwind on the back leg of the TT, and the result was a very tepid pace, perhaps 1:00 or more slower than I am capable of on a peak performance.
I've learned how to squeeze as much speed as possible out of poor performances this year however, mainly from positional discipline and choosing the right times to go hard, rather than trying to stay on power target all the time.
I get to the finish, having passed no-one, and having been passed by no-one. (I had a huge gap of 1:30 in front of me as two riders failed to show at the line.) One rider flatted, which meant there were only three of us left. I asked the rider who I felt the most dangerous what his stopwatch said and we compared numbers.
Hmm... maybe I do have a shot at this after all....
With renewed energy I returned to the parking area and awaited the official results, a bit more confident that I would score at least silver and maybe even win it. All depended on how the official times turned out. They post.
And...
They screwed it up, badly. over half a minute was added to my time and I was given 3rd. I returned to the start area to file a protest and show them my GPS. Then I must have ridden over some glass as my brand-new tubular blew open. Then I spend about 20 minutes going back-and-forth with the official scorer who seemed unwilling to accept the fact that his system wasn't working properly.
The only answer he was able to give was that ALL of us had the same error applied to our times and therefore, the time differentials were accurate. (of course, this could not be true, since many people who I asked had accurate times posted)
Whatever. I accepted my bronze medal and went home.
Still not certain how I was going to feel I decided at the last minute to do Capital Region. I knew it was going to be most of the same top-level guys that I saw at Hilltowns, and so my goal was to make it to the end with the (likely to be small) main field.
I have never accomplished that. Capital has a horrible steep wall that comes up right after a sharp hairpin from a fast descent. Suddenly you have to stand up and mash your smallest gear over 20%+ grades on switchbacks. The guys with the strong legs who can repeat those efforts do well at this.
I made it the first time. The second time, not quite, and then spent the third lap off the back with a (still strong) group plowing away through the (sometimes intense) rain and came in 24th.
With nearly 40 at the start, and 60 total including the 50+ men, 24th wasn't terrible. I think a third or more of the field DNF on this one, possibly due to rain.
When I got home, I poured about a beer glass worth of water out of the seat tube.
So, once again, I have to be content with little gains on the way. A few small power increases. A bit of extra endurance. A few places better than times before. A little higher ranking. (I have managed to be the 715th ranked cat 3 in the country by racing against such stiff competition)
I figure, eventually, I'll be strong enough to really mix it up with these guys, but for now, I guess it's all about the little things. These weekends are not always so good for my confidence, but I am signing up for Catskills anyway, and keeping realistic views of the long-term improvements that are really the main focus.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Michelob Ultra Road Race
As a sort of sharpening attempt for the Tour of the Catskills, I selected this 20 mile citizen's race and entered the A field. I also decided to do the 5K an hour beforehand. I have never attempted this combo in this order, but it worked out well. The 5K was controlled, a nice workout, I tried to run about 6:20 splits the whole way and I did just that. Ran 7th overall, 19:21, got an age group award. I haven't run many 5K's at all this year so it was nice and a good primer for a big running only training cycle coming up in September!
I then went out in the bike race and hoped for the best! It was pretty mild for most of the way. The team time trial (the first event of the day) seemed to slow the field. There was a team of about seven guys and only five others in this race , and no one really pushed. It is a fairly tough course to take off on anyway as it is dead flat and straight (I am sure it was an excellent time trial course). Then it started pouring, and we cruised along pleasantly, aside from being drenched, for 15 miles. Then there were attacks, chases, etc... I chased one down, as with an uphill finish, I knew I at least had a shot in a bunch sprint if I could keep everyone together. Ultimately, one of the Once Again guys led out their strongest (I assume) rider and he won. I wound up 3rd, two tenths of a second off of 2nd and maybe the same distance ahead of 4th. I was content with the finish and happy to wind up with two medals on the day.
Also, having not done this before, I can say it is WAY easier to run then bike than the reverse!
I then went out in the bike race and hoped for the best! It was pretty mild for most of the way. The team time trial (the first event of the day) seemed to slow the field. There was a team of about seven guys and only five others in this race , and no one really pushed. It is a fairly tough course to take off on anyway as it is dead flat and straight (I am sure it was an excellent time trial course). Then it started pouring, and we cruised along pleasantly, aside from being drenched, for 15 miles. Then there were attacks, chases, etc... I chased one down, as with an uphill finish, I knew I at least had a shot in a bunch sprint if I could keep everyone together. Ultimately, one of the Once Again guys led out their strongest (I assume) rider and he won. I wound up 3rd, two tenths of a second off of 2nd and maybe the same distance ahead of 4th. I was content with the finish and happy to wind up with two medals on the day.
Also, having not done this before, I can say it is WAY easier to run then bike than the reverse!
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
The weekend of wind and heat.
As Chris already described in the last post, the Empire Classic (on saturday) wasn't exactly as advertised. The only real differences in the 1/2/3 race were that the pace set by the hard men going up that steep wall was way too much for me, and we had to do it ten times to finish this one.
1 minute anaerobic power has generally been my weakest area, and had this race been as advertised, I don't think it would have been an issue. As the race was in reality however, it became the most important area. I crushed my personal record by 25 watts to set a new record of 7.77 w/kg. That wasn't even enough to maintain pace with the leaders and I had to chase back on.
After looking at the Strava files for some of those who ended up ahead of me, it appears that they never took it quite that hard on subsequent laps, but it was still hard enough to cause total destruction of the field by the middle of lap two. I ended up in the gruppetto of riders who were pretty much out of contention, but hoping to finish anyway.
We picked up a few more on the way and at one point probably represented the greatest percentage of riders in the race, but the wind and heat was just way too much for a lot of guys, and many dropped out as we passed the start-finish line.
By the time we had completed the ninth lap, there were only 5 of us left. 3 hours into the race, and pretty far behind the leaders, the judges decided to stop us at 9. There was a bit of resistance to that (as we were not really in danger of getting lapped) but I understood the reasoning behind it, especially as the marshalls would have to deal with another 20 minutes of heat and impatient motorists.
I'm not exactly sure how the scoring worked out, but I think I ended up 17th out of 29. meh.
It didn't bother me all that much, since the cast of characters up the road was pretty much stacked with strong 1s and 2s who are well known around here, and even as far away as Ohio.
Fast forward to day two, and I woke up pretty well rested after such a hard race. I wasn't sure if my legs were up to the challenge of another hard effort in the wind and heat, but I was willing to give it a shot.
The East Aurora Time Trial is 13.4 miles, a circular course (not an out-and-back) with a pretty large amount of elevation gain for a TT that is not specifically a climber's TT. That basically means a hard effort, and pacing is going to be tough to figure unless you know the course.
Which I did not.
So Pete and I rode the course twice. Once at warm-up pace, then once again for the real deal.
And it's a damn good thing we did. Crit corners on a TT bike! Twisties! Multiple chances to take wrong turns! Ups! Downs! Everything!
So, for the actual TT, my legs only partially showed up. They weren't really producing the kind of power I'd expect if I were fresh (a three hour race in the heat the day before may have had something to do with this) and I averaged 10w below threshold.
The wind was brutal. Mainly a headwind out, followed by a long crosswind section, short tailwind, then long crosswind section again. The crosswinds were enough that you had to ride leaned over into the wind with the disc rear wheel. That worked great until a large vehicle went by, and then you had to suddenly compensate for the quick turn your bike made into the vehicle!
I've done that plenty of times before however, so it didn't faze me too much.
I gave this one all I had, even sprinting the last 18 seconds to the line, and managed to get on the podium (3rd).
better.
Good thing I chose the masters 40+ for this one. The cat 123 would have had me roughly in the same general area as the day before.
Saturday's Race
Sunday's Race
1 minute anaerobic power has generally been my weakest area, and had this race been as advertised, I don't think it would have been an issue. As the race was in reality however, it became the most important area. I crushed my personal record by 25 watts to set a new record of 7.77 w/kg. That wasn't even enough to maintain pace with the leaders and I had to chase back on.
After looking at the Strava files for some of those who ended up ahead of me, it appears that they never took it quite that hard on subsequent laps, but it was still hard enough to cause total destruction of the field by the middle of lap two. I ended up in the gruppetto of riders who were pretty much out of contention, but hoping to finish anyway.
We picked up a few more on the way and at one point probably represented the greatest percentage of riders in the race, but the wind and heat was just way too much for a lot of guys, and many dropped out as we passed the start-finish line.
By the time we had completed the ninth lap, there were only 5 of us left. 3 hours into the race, and pretty far behind the leaders, the judges decided to stop us at 9. There was a bit of resistance to that (as we were not really in danger of getting lapped) but I understood the reasoning behind it, especially as the marshalls would have to deal with another 20 minutes of heat and impatient motorists.
I'm not exactly sure how the scoring worked out, but I think I ended up 17th out of 29. meh.
It didn't bother me all that much, since the cast of characters up the road was pretty much stacked with strong 1s and 2s who are well known around here, and even as far away as Ohio.
Fast forward to day two, and I woke up pretty well rested after such a hard race. I wasn't sure if my legs were up to the challenge of another hard effort in the wind and heat, but I was willing to give it a shot.
The East Aurora Time Trial is 13.4 miles, a circular course (not an out-and-back) with a pretty large amount of elevation gain for a TT that is not specifically a climber's TT. That basically means a hard effort, and pacing is going to be tough to figure unless you know the course.
Which I did not.
So Pete and I rode the course twice. Once at warm-up pace, then once again for the real deal.
And it's a damn good thing we did. Crit corners on a TT bike! Twisties! Multiple chances to take wrong turns! Ups! Downs! Everything!
So, for the actual TT, my legs only partially showed up. They weren't really producing the kind of power I'd expect if I were fresh (a three hour race in the heat the day before may have had something to do with this) and I averaged 10w below threshold.
The wind was brutal. Mainly a headwind out, followed by a long crosswind section, short tailwind, then long crosswind section again. The crosswinds were enough that you had to ride leaned over into the wind with the disc rear wheel. That worked great until a large vehicle went by, and then you had to suddenly compensate for the quick turn your bike made into the vehicle!
I've done that plenty of times before however, so it didn't faze me too much.
I gave this one all I had, even sprinting the last 18 seconds to the line, and managed to get on the podium (3rd).
better.
Good thing I chose the masters 40+ for this one. The cat 123 would have had me roughly in the same general area as the day before.
Saturday's Race
Sunday's Race
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Empire Classic Road Race Cat 4
I decided to make an exception to my less than 1-2 hours of traveling for a race rule and do this race near Buffalo. Brad Helmetsie also made it out for the 4 race and Andrew Williams was signed up for the 10 lap 1-2-3 race. The course was a 7 mile rectangle, which was repeated 5 times for the cat 4 race. There was some debate about how hilly the course would be. It seemed like there was some significant elevation change on each lap, but since it was confined to a small rectangle on the top of a ridge, we were hoping it would be "Big-ring" climbs similar to our own Binghamton Circuit, or the Corning Circuit at Watkins Glen.
Well, we were completely wrong. The course actually was about a mile and a half of false flat, followed by a brief descent, and a sharp turn onto a wall. To make matters worse the road was in horrible shape on the wall, so getting the right line going into it was important. The backside of the course consisted of very fast rollers, followed by another descent and turn, followed shortly by a moderately long climb of about 6% or so. Finally, after that climb, there was a slight decline before leveling back out to the the false flat that passed through the finish area.
The first lap hurt as I didn't get in much of a warm-up, but I was able to stay near the front of the pack. The second lap wasn't quite as painful through the climbs, and I was happy to see that Brad was hanging in there so far, despite the walls, which aren't quite his cup of tea. On the long climb at the end of the second lap, I settled into a nice rhythm, and found myself moving to the front of the pack. I felt comfortable maintaining this pace, and the climbs are always easier if I can set the pace, rather than try to match others, so I just kept it up, and the next thing I knew I was cresting the top with quite a gap on the field.
One Corning rider bridged up to me so we settled in to a two-man rotation through the finish area. Unfortunately, we didn't last long, and soon the entire pack was back with us. They didn't surge past me like normally happens, though, so I got stuck pulling the peloton for a while. I used it as an opportunity to set my own pace near the front going up the wall. I still felt good even after these efforts at the front, although, I knew I should probably be conserving a bit more if I wanted to place well at the finish. My efforts did seem to help in that respect to some degree, though, because the field of 20 was now down to no more than half that. Unfortunately, my teammate Brad was among those missing. (Sorry, Brad, if my efforts contributed to that).
The rest of the race played out with several riders attempting to break away from this smaller group. We were able to reel them all in except for one strong rider that got a significant lead. There seemed to be a lack of desire in our group to chase him down as well, so once again, I found myself pulling at the front more than I wanted to be. On the last lap, I made sure to be at the front heading into the final climb, but one rider pushed hard and got a gap over me that I couldn't quite close. As I tried, 3 more riders passed me, with 2 jumping on the lead guy lengthening their lead over us. I then overtook the 3rd rider that passed me, as he tired. Unfortunately, as we crested the climb, he was able to stick to my wheel, leaving me to pull him right to the finish and him go around me at the last second, which he did. I sprinted but he got me by a wheel's length, so I finished in 6th place, scoring my second upgrade point ever (only 18 more to go before next Corning Circuit if I want to upgrade).
It wasn't until after this race that I realized that the rider off the front must've had several friends/teammates in our group, which is why they wouldn't chase. Those guys that wouldn't work at all to chase were also the ones that got away from me on the final climb. I'm not sure what I should've done had I realized all this during the race. Ultimately it was a mistake to let the guy get away, but once he did, I should've realized what was going on and just forgotten about him. Basically, I viewed him as points getting away up the road, but the fact of the matter is I wasn't going to reel him in by myself, and if I'd conserved more, I might've had 2nd or 3rd instead of 6th, so once again, lessons were learned in a road race, and I'm fortunate to be able to focus on these types of lessons...the ones related to strategy, and not just finishing with the pack or finishing in the top third, but how to race smart in order get on the podium.
The results are posted here: http://jonrosensystems.com/computers/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/2012-06-30-Empire-Classic-r1-.html
One Corning rider bridged up to me so we settled in to a two-man rotation through the finish area. Unfortunately, we didn't last long, and soon the entire pack was back with us. They didn't surge past me like normally happens, though, so I got stuck pulling the peloton for a while. I used it as an opportunity to set my own pace near the front going up the wall. I still felt good even after these efforts at the front, although, I knew I should probably be conserving a bit more if I wanted to place well at the finish. My efforts did seem to help in that respect to some degree, though, because the field of 20 was now down to no more than half that. Unfortunately, my teammate Brad was among those missing. (Sorry, Brad, if my efforts contributed to that).
The rest of the race played out with several riders attempting to break away from this smaller group. We were able to reel them all in except for one strong rider that got a significant lead. There seemed to be a lack of desire in our group to chase him down as well, so once again, I found myself pulling at the front more than I wanted to be. On the last lap, I made sure to be at the front heading into the final climb, but one rider pushed hard and got a gap over me that I couldn't quite close. As I tried, 3 more riders passed me, with 2 jumping on the lead guy lengthening their lead over us. I then overtook the 3rd rider that passed me, as he tired. Unfortunately, as we crested the climb, he was able to stick to my wheel, leaving me to pull him right to the finish and him go around me at the last second, which he did. I sprinted but he got me by a wheel's length, so I finished in 6th place, scoring my second upgrade point ever (only 18 more to go before next Corning Circuit if I want to upgrade).
It wasn't until after this race that I realized that the rider off the front must've had several friends/teammates in our group, which is why they wouldn't chase. Those guys that wouldn't work at all to chase were also the ones that got away from me on the final climb. I'm not sure what I should've done had I realized all this during the race. Ultimately it was a mistake to let the guy get away, but once he did, I should've realized what was going on and just forgotten about him. Basically, I viewed him as points getting away up the road, but the fact of the matter is I wasn't going to reel him in by myself, and if I'd conserved more, I might've had 2nd or 3rd instead of 6th, so once again, lessons were learned in a road race, and I'm fortunate to be able to focus on these types of lessons...the ones related to strategy, and not just finishing with the pack or finishing in the top third, but how to race smart in order get on the podium.
The results are posted here: http://jonrosensystems.com/computers/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/2012-06-30-Empire-Classic-r1-.html
Broome County Triathlon Surprise Race
It was a surprise and bitter sweet entry as it was supposed to be my wife's race but her nagging injury still has her sidelined. I wish she could have raced it instead. But I got out my wetsuit from its two year hiding spot and gave it a try. I really relaxed the swim... a lot. It helped... a lot. I came out of the water as if the race hadn't started yet. On the flip side I was in about 60th place now. Once I got on the bike, I really tried to work. The course is tough. It starts uphill then has a turnaround right on a downhill, more uphill, and then some flat (relief) for a while before the finish. And I got a chance to test out my new aero helmet!
I had a bike split that averaged about 20.6 which is good for me in a triathlon, especially on this course, and a good two minute improvement over 2010. Now I was in 8th place. On the run, I just ran my usual triathlon leg, moderately suffering while remaining in control enough to not cramp or pass out. I ran a 21:34 5K on a relatively tough course and wound up 5th overall. A great day for me, considering especially, that this was not a pool swim triathlon, and by far my best ever open water tri! So a nice surprise race I guess! Hopefully my wife will be back hammering this next year though...
Congrats to our team participants yesterday and also to the Mission in Motion swimmers/riders/runners out there!
I had a bike split that averaged about 20.6 which is good for me in a triathlon, especially on this course, and a good two minute improvement over 2010. Now I was in 8th place. On the run, I just ran my usual triathlon leg, moderately suffering while remaining in control enough to not cramp or pass out. I ran a 21:34 5K on a relatively tough course and wound up 5th overall. A great day for me, considering especially, that this was not a pool swim triathlon, and by far my best ever open water tri! So a nice surprise race I guess! Hopefully my wife will be back hammering this next year though...
Congrats to our team participants yesterday and also to the Mission in Motion swimmers/riders/runners out there!
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