my weekly race log

cheers :-)

Back in action: my first race of the season. It was an hour-long 4th cat circuit race at Hog Hill, this time going clockwise (instead of anti-clockwise). There was a dusting of snow around earlier in the morning, but they did their best to clear the circuit of ice before we started. They had to cone off one section and there were some dangerous puddles around, but it was just about OK.

In many ways it was my most comfortable road race so far: I was able to sit in the bunch fairly easily and the pace actually seemed quite slow. I mean, obviously it hurt a bit, but nothing like as much as previous races have done. I was biding my time and actually fantasising about making an attack on the hill with a lap to go. Eventually the sign went up saying five laps to go and I thought 'right - this is where the action starts'. Ten seconds later the riders I was following overshot a bend on the descent and went off the road. I couldn't help but follow them off. We just about managed to avoid falling over on the icy grass and then got back onto the road, but by this time the bunch was about 20 seconds ahead of us. I said "Let's work together to get back on" but half a lap later I realised I'd just dropped them. I chased hard but didn't make any headway on that gap, and evetually as the atacks started flying towards the end they upped their pace and got even further away.

So, a bit frustrating because I could have done much better without a bit of bad luck, but I'm optimistic about the next time.

but half a lap later I realised I'd just dropped them

haha, awesome!

That is brilliant NBS! Unlucky but I bet you came away feeling strong.

that's great. blows my mind that britishers are actually racing in mid winter.

made crit debut tonight after work in 34deg celsius heat on "the hardest crit course in melbourne". mixed it up for a while but the heat and the climbing that took up half the lap took their toll and i dropped out before the finish. think i might try the flat course another club runs on weekends next, that's probably more my thing i reckon.

AWESOME!!

Good luck, haitch.

Back at Hog Hill again for another hour-long race. No ice this morning, so the field was a bit bigger in my 4th cat race (I think 38 riders, compared to 27 last week). I didn't crash / go off the road this week. At one point (on the main climb) my chain came off when I tried to put it in the small ring - fortunately I was able to get it back on without stopping just by moving the derailleur back and forwards. We did 17 laps (about 21.5 miles) and I stuck with the bunch (whittled down to about 20 riders) virtually the entire way. I started off at or near the front of the bunch. On the second or third lap a break formed ahead of me of about five or six riders - everyone else seemed content to let it go, so I dug in and bridged across to it, only to find that it all came together as all I'd done was tow the bunch with him. After that I found myself lurking towards the back of the group most of the time, mostly because I'm still nervous about taking tight bends at high speed surrounded by riders. I lost contact after the climb with three laps to go, but teamed up with another rider and spent two minutes absolutely hammering it until we got back on. Then I lost contact again with one-and-a-half laps to go when the pace really hotted up. The bunch fragmented ahead of me and I could see the finish (the finish line is at the top of the climb) being contested by about six or seven riders about 300 metres ahead of me, while the rest of us straggled in in ones or twos. I had a 'sprint' of sorts against another rider, but to be honest both my legs were cramping up and I was relieved it was over. Anyway - I'm very pleased with that - it's the longest I've been in the action (15.5 out of 17 laps) and the closest I've come to finishing with the winner (probably about 45 seconds down).

today was STUPOR BOWL!!!!!!!

you did the right thing bu trying to bridge, but never bridge if people are on your wheel. make sure your jump/acceleration is timed so no one is with you next time.

Did my last race of the Hog Hill winter series today (there's one more round to go, but I won't be in London for it). The field was much smaller this week (23, down from 40), partly due to the weather - it was actually snowing while I was warming up and in the middle of the race there were hailstones. We used the 'Alpine' slalom section today (a three-hairpin bend descent) - the first time I've raced on it. As usual I tended to take these corners slower than most and drifted towards the back. However, I was feeling alright and worked my way up the field on the other bits: I actually led the bunch up the hill at the end of the first and second laps.

However, the hammer came down on the fifth lap and I found myself disappearing off the back. The field got smashed to pieces: a lead group of about seven opened up a gap, one or two riders in no man's land behind them, a second group of about five, then a whole series of individuals who had been shelled out. I worked my way up through the ranks of the shelled out - I was hoping I could get a third group to form so we could chase our way back to the second group, but unfortunately (with one exception) everyone I managed to catch just got left behind and/or retired. The exception was one man who I spent several laps chasing: he kept dropping me on the Alpine bit and then I'd spend two minutes chasing furiously before catching him before the climb, only for him to drop me again on the Alpine bit. I thought it would have made more sense for us to work together, but perhaps he'd already given up any hope of catching the second group and just wanted to protect his position.

By looking at landmarks at the side of the road and the time on my computer I was able to work out the time gaps. With 40-minutes gone (of one hour) I was more than 2 minutes behind the leading group and about a minute behind the second group. There was no way I was going to catch the second group, with or without the other rider just ahead of me, so I just focused on chasing him down. Then at the bottom of the climb I realised I had a puncture. I hadn't heard anything, but before I knew it I was riding on the rim. I didn't have a spare so I had to retire - very annoying. The man I'd been chasing-catching-losing-chasing-catching-losing for half the race got lapped by the leaders with about two laps to go and retired, so I guess that's what my fate would have been.

Actually, I've just seen the official results and it would appear EVERYONE (including the second group) got lapped apart from the leading group of seven riders. Weird: last week there were more than 25 of us still together at the front after 50 minutes, this week only 7 people were in contention after just 15 minutes. The guy who finished second is some kind of wonderkid 15-year-old.

Back in action at Hog Hill again today: a bit warmer, but there's been so much rain that there were dangerous muddle puddles around the course. There were at least two photographers there, so hopefully I'll be able to get a picture of my mud-splattered suffering Roubaix-style.

An attack went on the very first lap and the field just got broken into pieces within five minutes. I found myself in my familiar position: desperately chasing the chasers on my own. A group of four had broken away, there was another group of about seven chasing them, and then individuals like me hopelessly tearing after them (there were plenty behind me even at this early stage). As with the last race, I managed to work my way up through the field, but annoyingly the riders I managed to catch just went backwards once I got them when what I really wanted was someone to work with.

Eventually I teamed up with another guy, and then a few laps later we caught one of his team mates too and worked as a group of three. It was very complicated out there - we weren't really sure whether the people we were passing had been ahead of us, or if we were just lapping them, and then at some point the leading group of four came round and lapped us, so the commisaires must have had a tricky job keeping track of things.

On the last lap we caught a group of four at the bottom of the hill and I threw everything I had into a savage attack and sprinted off up the hill then soloed to the line. Technically it wasn't worth it (I haven't got the results yet, but it probably meant I finished 16th instead of 18th or something insignificant like that), but it made me feel pretty good! That's the first time I've managed to do that - normally I'm on the verge of hideous cramps by the last two or three laps.

Some photos:
Another rider and me looking surprisingly cheerful up the hill on an early lap
My group of three with one lap to go
The winner amusingly snatching victory by a centimetre while the guy in blue celebrates too soon

looks fun. how big is the hill in hog hill?

Not huge, by any means. You probably climb about 20 to 25 metres over a distance of 200 to 300 metres, but it's at its steepest (1 in 8) just before the top so you really have to slow down and change down the gears. It's the kind of hill you ride up once and think 'that wasn't so bad', but when you have to get up it at race pace 17 or 18 times an hour it really takes it out of you.

do you get out of the saddle and powerclimb?

I try to stay in the saddle and spin up, but more often than not I end up out of the saddle with a face of pain.

on a climb like that you should be out of the saddle as soon as the climb starts. it'll get you up the climb faster and you won't have to make the slow transition from sitting and spinning to powerclimb mode. try that next time.

Noted. That's what I did on my FINAL SAVAGE ATTACK (which was ultimately a bit pointless, as they didn't bother to give placings outside of the top ten), but I think if I did that every lap I wouldn't last very long.

don't SPRINT uphill. but get out of the saddle and pedal at a lower cadence, stronger cadence. focus on pulling the pedals up in the rotation just as much as pushing down.

is it less economical to get out of saddle? i do both, but i tend to go out of saddle when i'm:

(a) tired
(b) need to get blood flowing to lower legs
(c) ass is sore
(d) more than likely all of the above

ALSO: what are your hand positions on climbs?

I struggle between on the hoods where my chest feels a little bit constricted versus on the horizontal part between the drops/adjacent to the stem (what's the name for this part of bars?) where I can breathe better but feel like I'm losing torque.

imo whether it's less economical or not depends on the type of rider you are and terrain. on a climb like hog hill, the way NBS describes it, i would think it's more economical to dance on the pedals all the way up the short climb. you'd never do a long climb like that, you'd sit, spin, and settle into your threshold climbing pace. this climb seems more like a 30-second max (or less?) effort you have to keep repeating each lap.

horizontal part between the drops/adjacent to the stem

ona long winding climb i'd use that part of the bar. and on a short powerclimb i'd either be in the drops or the hoods.

haha, i asked you this same question last year on IM and you said the same thing now that i remember.

fricken pay attention shasta

imo it _is_ a little less efficient to stand but it gets out a lot of power and allows you to respond to cover gaps a little better. on a short 12% you almost surely will want to stand to hold your position esp in a big group, and if youre gonna stand anyway, get up at the bottom.

steve, those are ime called the bartops or tops, and for long climbs thats where u usually wanna be. not sure about torque.

my first race is in central park this saturday

and if youre gonna stand anyway, get up at the bottom

that's the most important part... if you know you keep standing by the end you aren't putting out enough power to hold your position. yes, it is less economical if that means it's going to HURT more, but you will be able to move quicker, and won't get caught up in trying to stand mid climb when the guy in front of your accelerates.

good luck on sat

f this TT shit, get back into the peloton!

thot they were called the "flats"

ill bring my shoecovers bruv

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/races08/lbl08/preview-stroch.jpg

stand going up this esp during lbl imo

other thoughts for NBS: considering this is the course you race on mostly, it wouldn't hurt to show up to hog hill on a training day and do some hill repeats out of the saddle on the climb.

Yeah, I did that in January. I wasn't working on position that time, but on gearing. I tried climbing the hill as fast as I could three times in a row with various different gearings (low from the start, high until it hurt and then changing down, etc.) to see if there was a magic combination - all three times were between 46 and 49 seconds (I probably underestimated the distance upthread) and all three times hurt and left me gasping so I didn't really get anything conclusive from that. I also practised hitting the various bends at different angles and speeds, trying to work out what was safe (but obviously it's a bit different when you've got people around you).

thinking about breaking the crit routine with something that gbx would appreciate:

http://www.wolfpackhustle.com/viewStory.php?storyId=593

dunno if i could race worth a damn at 4am!

I know it's not the same at all, but when I did my 24-hour relay race last summer, I did sessions at approx 9pm, midnight, 3.30am and 6.30am. Because I was able to pace myself quite well, I was able to keep largely consistent times up, with increasing fatigue making a small but obvious difference. What I discovered was my 9pm, 3am and 6am speeds/times were roughly consistent; but my midnight stint was almost 10% slower than the others for no apparent reason. So for me at least it seems that's when my circadian rhythms really didn't want to be riding.

that looks pretty fun. is that approved by the marathon promoter? cause if it is, they're the best. if its not, id think theyd be looking to shut that right down.

if u wonder where all the fattey masters are in co, they tting. jfc, this thing nearly sold out in 30 mins, then crashed the reg system due to overload.

http://recordracer.com/eventreg/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=59&Itemid=74

i should promote a tt series on sunday mornings somewhere out in egypt if theres this much demand.

even if 1/3 of the entrants are no fee juniors, which i doubt, they're taking in over 50k.

The first signs of spring coming and bringing the worst winter ever to an end were there today. I was able to race without overshoes and wearing fingerless mitts instead of thick gloves (although I still had tights on and two long-sleeve tops on under my race top).

I did a lumpy 25-mile time trial in 1:09:32, which is my second-fastest time, so not bad for this stage of the season (although, some way off my PB). Pretty pleased with it really, as it was very windy today, and on Saturday I was dying of a hangover and wondering if I would be able to ride.

Rebecca Romero (gold-medal winner at the Beijing Olympics for the pursuit, and silver-medal winner in the Olympics before that in rowing) was in the same race as me - I saw her coming towards the finish just after I started. She got just under the hour, beating all the other women, and all but five or six of the men. They've removed the pursuit from the track programme in the Olympics, so she's trying to reinvent herself as a time trialist. Good luck to her.

my teammate won the red hook crit:

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/03/news/in-brooklyn-unifying-machines-and-a-win-for-a-russian-bike-messenger_108837

a lapped rider crash splitting the winning break would really piss me off. i guess thats all in the game there

From BSNYC

The Red Hook Criterium also illustrates yet another handy use for time. In addition to using it to enforce parking rules and to determine winners, you can also use it to "curate" your participants. Starting a bike race at 11:00pm (as they did with the Red Hook race) ensures that your race will be mostly free from uptight roadies, who become cranky and begin to panic if they are not in bed by 9:30pm. Conversely, beginning races at 6:30am (which is when most sanctioned local races start) ensures that your event will not include the sorts of people who race in t-shirts and beards

I'm pre-entered into a race on Saturday, but I'm currently off work and stuffed full of antibiotics and paracetamol with tonsilitis. I haven't ridden since last Wednesday and I've been in a world of pain since Saturday. With any luck I'll feel better by the weekend, but I don't know if it would be that sensible to do the race.

You never know, an involuntary taper could work in your favo(u)r?