my weekly race log

yaw rly? kudos thx. also pls2link to zipp disc with neg drag coeff pls.

yo dont believe the chart.

yaw is the sound of wind tunnel charlatans tryna suck money outta your wallet with a twenty foot prop

also i have very hard time believing a rear 3 spoke is faster than a disc

k thx bye, gotta go buy some shoe covers now, i could jump up to third last with that shit

In the center of the aero "sweet spot" – a wind angle of 12 to 18 degrees – the Zipp Sub-9 was the first wheel ever to produce forward lift

note the warning that advises to use with caution on most of the latest TT frames, lolll

New PB today: ten mile time trial in 24.10 (average speed 24.8mph).

Had to give up today 35 minutes into a 50-minute circuit race: the weather was just appalling, strong gusty wind and torrential rain. It wasn't the fact that my clothes felt like I'd jumped into a muddy river or that my eyes and mouth were full of gritty water - I just didn't feel safe at all. I couldn't even see where I was going at times and felt sure I was going to bring someone down - I just couldn't handle the bike at the kind of speed that was needed. A very annoying waste of time.

NB+S: That sounds like my first road race... nasty, hope I never have to ride noless race in those conditions ever again.

I did my first TT today. 10 miles out and back... downhill then uphill. I thought I gave it my all but I only averaged 24mph which felt pretty slow compared to how fast I normally ride that road.

I passed 2 dudes on TT bikes with full skinsuit, shoe covers, disc wheels... felt awesome... until a dude with the craziest sounding wheels passed me at mile 6... I tried to go with him but he was just too aero for me and would pull away everytime the road flattened ever so slightly. He had a hell of a kick too.

i got 3rd... got who beat me by 3 seconds is cat1 :-O

(merckx btw)

Steve: was that 10 miles out and 10 miles back or 10 miles in total? Do you have a time trial bike / were you using clip-ons / just a road bike?

The story of my race in pictures:
The leaders all seem to have kept their sunglasses on. I thought this was a bad idea as it would like driving through the rain without windscreen wipers. However, I ended up virtually blinded, so I guess these guys knew what they were doing.
http://www.londoncyclesport.com/index.php?option=com_phocagallery&view=detail&catid=300:rapcon2201034s&id=25015:rapcon3&tmpl=component&Itemid=79#
Me near the back and virtually obscured by spray
http://www.londoncyclesport.com/index.php?option=com_phocagallery&view=detail&catid=300:rapcon2201034s&id=25017:rapcon5&tmpl=component&Itemid=79

barf! that looks very very wet indeed; I hate riding in the wind & rain

is there a thread on here where u chronicle ur getting (back?) into racing nb&s?

haha it's probably this one eh? d'oh

Hmmm. I can't see those pictures, so I'll just post links.
Leaders with sunglasses on
Me near the back and drowning
Alone, soaked through and thoroughly pissed off
What I felt like doing
Rain easing off and with a companion, but bunch more than a minute ahead (see top right)
Leading two riders up the hill, but battling a sense of futility as the bunch move ever further away

I gave up shortly after that. The shiny road surface in this photo gives an idea of what it was like, but going down a hill at well over 30mph with a tight right hand bend at the bottom, in a bunch, in the wind, without being able to see a fucking thing. Not my idea of fun.

xpost - cozen - yeah, this one I'd imagine, probably need to jump upthread to about January 2009.

NB+S one thing i learned from riding in those conditions is to remove your seat post and hang your bike upside down.... you'd be surprised how much water leaks into the frame via spray. frame water is not good for the bottom bracket imho.

my TT was 10 miles... 5 miles out downhill and 5 miles back uphill. I competed in the Merckx division which stipulates no TT bike, no TT bars, no clip-ons, no aero helmet, etc. i was riding in my usual get up.

Thanks for the heads up, Steve. I just took the seat post out and turned the bike upside down and a load of dirty water came out. Then I turned it the right way up, but I could still hear water swooshing around inside, so I turned it upside down and another lot came out. I repeated this about ten times - I can't believe how much water was in there. I still think there's some in there somewhere, but I can't see to get it out. When I turn the bike upside down some water seems to be leaking out of the forks - is this possible?

I hung my bike up in three different positions: from the steerer tube, from the bb, and from the rear triangle... about 10 mins in each position and that seemed to do the trick.

your fork catches probably most of the spray from the roostertails off the guys in front of you... you may have a soggy head set at this point... it should come out in time but if not, run it by the shop.

pix from my first TT:

start: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4052/4652372911_f944ab4dcc.jpg start (close): http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4045/4652377171_0f672d8a2f.jpg finish: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4022/4652376419_9881f4dd5c.jpg

please note: total lactic arrest/oxygen debt at finish.

24 mph non aero is quick, but your placing speaks for itself obv

lol you can't "go" with someone in a TT!

nice result though!

riding the edge of the box in a tt is classic where im from

haha, cutty i meant i "responded" and attempted to match speeds with the guy, i did not jump on his wheel or anything.

Hunt3r: how do you best keep yourself from "daydreaming"/lapses from max sustained efforts? also what is the "edge of the box"?

Sp here's what sucks about my TT result and kinda what i'm beating myself up about:

The course is 10 miles, 5 miles downhill out then 5 miles uphill back. For the uphill (let's just call it a positive grade, it's only 1% net grade). A couple weeks ago I rode that uphill portion of the course as part of a 60 mile ride. My avg speed was 22.6mph, avg heart rate was 149bpm, avg watts were 329W. I was riding solo tempo, certainly not pushing it, just keeping in a steady zone 3, not conscious of this part of the course.

So when I raced on Saturday, my effort over the same leg was 22.3mph, avg heart rate was 171bpm, avg watts were 313W.

Now I know that there could be differences in wind/conditions but let's be real, I should have at least GAINED a couple MPH by exerting myself from Z3 to Z5 right? Halp.

get on yr job imo

shasta thats weird about your z5 power drop. on the bright side 313 watts is great, and you'll go back to 330+ im sure.

so im quitting iltrmb until the earliest of: i attempt the imogene pass run in september, injury forces me back to the bike, or some remarkable bike-thing happens that i cant resist talking about.

take care and have fun!

im a runner now, you two wheeled fucking menaces :-p

:0

whattttttttttt???

when come back pls2bring disc wheels.

Another race again tonight. This time I was on a circuit I've never raced on before. It's used as a test track by Ford: I was kind of expecting it to be like a motor racing circuit with broad sweeping flat corners, but it wasn't really like that. The central section was basically a two-way road with just a white line separating the two directions, while at either end there were giant bends with very steep banking, more like a velodrome track. The banking switched over halfway through each bend, so it was impossible to avoid it: if you rode low on the first bit then you would forced high on the next bit.

There was a very strong wind from east-to-west, which meant the home straight leading up to the finish line was actually the slowest bit of the circuit. This made it very difficult for any breaks to go clear. At first I lurked near the back while I got used to the circuit and especially to riding on the steep banking (which I'd never done before). After about 15 minutes I decided to move up through the bunch to get a better position, but instead ended zooming off the front. A break formed around me and stayed clear for about a lap before getting reeled in - I couldn't have stayed in the break for much longer anyway, it was too hard work. About ten minutes later I did more or less the same thing, with more or less the same result.

After that I decided to conserve my energy so rode near the back of the bunch again and avoided any sapping digs. When the bell went for the final lap I was very near the back. I was planning to attack on the climb again, but this time I got boxed in. The last lap was fast and I was desperately trying to move up on the left hand side, but it was very difficult as the gaps just weren't there a lot of the time. There was a big bunch sprint for the line and I was somewhere in the middle (maybe 20th or 25th out of 40 or 50? no results yet) - next time I'll make sure I'm in a good position going into the final lap.

We did 24 miles at 23mph.

Photo

The thought of a bunch sprint in amateur racing - and being in the middle thereof - fills me with horror!

[LONG]
And now something from the "Bad Ideas in Amateur Cycling" file....

Fat Mantis "Steve Shasta" decides to enter a Hill Climb Time Trial.

The course is only 10km and ascends midway up Mt . Diablo (2nd tallest mountain in the Bay Area) approx 1,750 feet of climbing, most of which occurs in the last 5 miles of the race. I'd wager to say that 2/3rds of the vertical climbing occurs in the last 5k. So it's like a steadily increasing incline with quite a few switchbacks.

In retrospect, this was really silly for me to race this event. I had done this course twice previously on pretty low-effort rides... once in 38 minutes and once in 35 minutes. Last year a sub-33 time would get you in the top 10 for my category... ehhhh?

Race day: hot. Almost 90 degrees mid-morning in the shade. Gusts of dry wind that would prove beneficial as they provided mostly tail winds on long flatter stretches.

Had an average warmup but felt a little unsettled. My 30 second man was a guy who I know is pretty fast, and I was the 30s man for my most competitive teammate. Bah... Mouth was sticky, poured water over my head at the starting platform.

Take off hard, too hard. My max HR is 190... I'm at 184 on the flats. Pushing high 20mph over rollers. Get up the first 1k feet without incident. Laboring. I can see riders up ahead on the turns of the ridge. Next thing I know, my 30s man teammate has caught me. around the 5im mark He's in a compact with a 27 and is really spinning. I'm out of gears on some of the steep pitches but can maintain with short bursts.

After I'm passed, there are riders EVERYWHERE. Passing rider who are shattered, it's really hot due to the tailwind, dudes are riding like zombies, not holding their lines. My eyes are stinging. I dump more water over my head and a little in my dry, sticky mouth. HR is still in the high 180s. The course flattens out a little before the final 6 switchbacks and as much as I want to enjoy the less steep sections, I have to dig deep to push... try to keep my mph over 15 to carry my momentum into the bends.

The switchback curves are really steep with some relief on the straights, I'm gear shifting like crazy, pick off a few more guys who are taking bad lines up the mountain. On the last hairpin 2 riders ahead of me go wide to take advantage of the easier grade and to catch more of the tailwind. Sweet strategy guys but I just want to finish. I take the crazy steep inside route and pass them easily. I've got half-mile to go and I am really hurting. 27 minutes of near-max HR has made my legs unresponsive, I can't see cuz of the stinging sweat, my heart is in my head, throat sore from gasping. I know that this is a max effort for me, I don't think I've ever submitted my body to such a test before. I am in the saddle, driving from the hips, just trying to keep the pedals going as fast as possible. I hit the 200m to go sign and I stand up but it doesn't feel as powerful as back in the saddle and driving the pistons. I cross the line with absolutely nothing left.

So considering I gave probably my hardest concentrated effort ever, I'd see it in the results right? Wrong. My teammate who I'm pretty on par with on most rides beat me by 1:45. My time was 30:50, which is about 12mph/330Wavg for 30mins. 18th place in the lowest category! Ned Overend (remember him?) beat me by like 7 minutes. 2 guys beat the course record so it was definitely a fast day.

And so comes the day when the Fat Mantis decides never to do a HC TT ever again. Leave that to the spindly mantis folks and their 25 inch waists.

legendary hardman

Judging from this photo I managed to claim third spot in the women's race on Saturday:
http://londoncyclesport.com/Assets/LondonCycleSport+Digital+Assets/rapcon20103gall.jpg
Unfortunately I was actually in the men's race.

haha, great pic.

uh... so... more Race Report time. I'll try to keep it short... er, med length.

47 miles = 1.67 laps of a 27 mile loop. almost all false flats except for 2x400ft bumps that come in rapid succession and then a 1000ft hill climb averaging 8%... the second time around you finish at the summit of the climb.

Being short on climbing skills (=fat mantis), I tried to push the pace as much as possible before the hill but this was a huge mistake as the lead pack (50 of about 75 starters) just launched up the climb at a pace that was far beyond my fitness... so I stayed in my comfort zone (95% of max HR) for the 8:30 minutes (my PR by 90 secs up this hill btw). This left me with two options after reaching the summit: (a) head back to the parking lot and call it a day or (b) solo all the way back to the lead group. I chose (b) and via some sort of miracle, I caught the pack right around the start of lap 2 (solo'd 10 miles at around 24mph, mostly downhill grade but with headwind).

Once I caught back on, I was a little more humbled not to push the pace... until about 7 miles to go, realizing that there's no way I could outclimb these guys and we're just pootling along at 22mph just recovering for the final climb, Fat Mantis Steve Shasta decides to uncork another TT effort. I have my HRM broadcasting in large type on my computer and I keep my head down and figure I can push it to about 95% and still have something for the final climb so I just mash until I get up to 95% of max and then peak over my shoulder....

Instead of the 4 abreast and 12 deep pack going 22mph, there is now a single file line of 50 riders going 25mph. I have accomplished little in the grand scheme. So I sit back up and drift back to mid-pack and decide to recover with everyone else. Final climb, I decide to throw HR to the wind and ascend nimbly (not fast enough to blow up) and then to slowly pick off whoever I can. With about 500m to go, I have a guy on my wheel breathing harder than me (an impressive feat tbh) and then a guy with a kit I don't like who keeps getting out of the saddle and attacking, putting 3-5m on me and then when he sits down, I'm back on his wheel. I'm a sitter (unless it gets real steep), so I'm content to just spin and drive through the hips, keeping the cadence as high as possible yet still pushing enough watts to get me ~10mph up a climb of this difficulty.

Guy with ugly kit ends up attacking one last time about 100m to go but I realize it's too early. I go with him rather then let him take his 5m and as soon as he lets up a little I go past him and aim for the 2 guys about 15m ahead of us. I fall short of catching them, but I drop ugly kit and heavy breather at least.

Final result: 27th out of 75 starters, 63 finishers, 1:17 back from first place. Not great, but I have been training very hard with no taper and this course was definitely not suited best to my Fat Mantis ability. It was also a mixed field, combining my level with the one above so I'm curious to see how I fared out of just my category.

Lessons learned:
(a) stop registering for these damn hilly races. It's hard enough being a Fat Mantis; being Pack Fodder is just insult to injury.
(b) never give up. I had a dark moment where I considered calling it a day but I powered back to the leaders and ended up beating ~1/2 the guys who dropped me on the climb on the first go-around.
(c) when you see a Ritte Team Rider with their dope-ass sexy bikes and kits, make sure you beat them. That felt good. It is nice to have a cool-looking bike and kit, but it is also nice to have good training and fitness level to back it up iykwim.

Good work. The most important thing is beating the guy with the ugly kit.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4066/4720096060_3c517101ca_b.jpg

I go past him and aim for the 2 guys about 15m ahead of us. I fall short of catching them, but I drop ugly kit and heavy breather at least.

ugly kit is obscured in this pic, heavy breather in the neon green kit fading in the background.

is that duck phillips in the lead?

Today's my birthday and I sensibly started celebrating it this morning by doing a time trial. It was on the same 10.2-mile course which I rode 3 times last season - not a fast course, and quite lumpy (if not actually hilly as such - you can stay in the big ring the whole way round, but get slowed down to about 15mph on some sections). My best previous time was 27.19 (22.4mph), so noticeably slower than my ten-mile PB on a flatter course.

I got a new track pump so I made sure the tyres were right up to 120psi before I started warming up. Unfortunately I somehow managed to catch my hand in the locking mechanism, so I had to ride with a bleeding palm and blood blister, but never mind. I set off incredibly fast, averaging 25mph for the first 4 miles. By the turn (after a long drag) my average was about 24mph and by now I had a couple of distant riders in my sights.

The return leg had a slight headwind, but I wasn't focusing on speed, just on trying to reel in the two riders. First, after about 6 miles, I caught and passed one of my clubmates (not the fastest guy, it must be said) for three minutes. Then I gradually started gaining on my minute man. It was painful progress: every time he went past a landmark I'd count the gap between us. First 19, then 16, then 12... Eventually, after having him in sight for about 3 miles, I came past and dropped him. He was on a proper time trial bike with rear disc wheel, so that felt very satisfying. The worst of the 'hills' are in the final mile so I was beginning to feel a bit ragged by then, but I gave it everything.

I knocked more than a minute off my course best, time 26.12, average speed 23.4mph. And then at the results board the organisers gave me a birthday card and a bottle of wine. Nice.

*very polite but enthusiastic applause*

well done NB+S!!!

LONGGGGGGGG:

With temperatures peaking at 110F Saturday and cooling to a mere 101F
today, the brutal heat became a massive factor for the purportedly
"unchallenging" stage profiles of the Ch1co Stage Race.

I registered in the Masters 35+ 4/5 Category. Not because I like to
pick on old people, but more because the Cat5 field was really small
(~10 riders) whereas the Masters 35+ 4/5 was the largest (36 riders)
and also offered a pretty large ca$h money purse to top 10 placement
in the GC. Boo-ya.

Saturday was the P4skenta Road Race, a 44 mile loop through the dry
rolling hills about an hour northeast of Ch1co. Yeehaw. Pretty
awesome to see both Mt. Shasta and Mt. Lassen's snow covered peaks on
the horizon despite the triple digit temps. Our heat only had to do
the lap once and I'd heard from several sources that the course was
flat and fast. Which it was, for the first 25 miles. One rider who
will remain nameless (5t3v3n W00 - Th1rd Pill@r) was wearing arm
warmers (uh...?) and then when reaching for food from his jersey
pocket, dislodged his point and shoot camera (UHHHHHHHHH?) and it fell
to the ground, then bounced into my VIRGIN BRAND NEW* REYNOLDS ATTACK
wheel (*well I got it for $175 off craigslist, 2 years old, ok
condition). What.the.frak. I assumed that the cat4 masters were
wisened zen-masters, apparently not true.

At mile 23 the smooth pavement turned to cracks and potholes and then
threw in some dipsy-doo rollers. Someone (me) attacked during the
first set of rollers and split the field in half. Ouch. At mile 35
the road gave way to 10km of "gravel", which was the same false flat
uphill rollers, but this time with squirrelly dirt and loose rocks
which sent riders who weren't on the front unexpectedly sideways with
very little warning. Tension! At this point in time I had gone
through both of my 24oz. water bottles filled with ~93 degree cytomax
(YUM!) and my mouth was parched. Not fun. Once the gravel section
ended with only a few miles to go, our group of 12 surged up
the final short climb. Well all except me. Have you ever bonked?
Dizzy, cross-eyed with no legs? Burping up hot cytomax mixed with
stomach acid? Weaving all over the road until you actually roll off
the road into a ditch? Oh you have too? Nevermind then. There I was
three miles to go, in my granny gear, whimpering for my mommy until
suddenly.... Could it be a neutral feed zone on the horizon? Yes! A
bottle in my mouth and a bottle over my head = me back in business.
Finished 12th but lost a critical 4 minutes to the stage winner, and
about 3 minutes on the other 10 riders ahead of me.

Today (am): Agu4s Fri4s Time Trial (for the record, there are no
agu4s fri4s anywhere near this forsaken wasteland). Flat 10 mile out
and back. Triple digit weather, even at 10:58am. I borrowed [DUTCHMAN]'s
trainer and [CLIMBA]'s clip-on aero bars. Both of those guys are
awesome by the way. I managed to place 6th (0:52 behind the leader)
but only one guy who beat me in the RR placed higher in the TT. O_o

Today (pm): Downtown Ch1co Criterium. I'll be honest with you guys:
I had pretty much "checked out" at this point. I was fried, my legs
ACHED, the weather was miserable (I promise I won't ever complain
about the fog again). I totally lagged getting from the hotel to the
race until oh only 20 mins before the start time and then realized in
my laziness I had forgot to take the aero-bars off my bike. Ruh roh.
Obviously my "No-Fail 45min Crit Warmup" on [DUTCHMAN]'s trainer was out of
the question, instead I opted for a half-assed lap around the block
and then sat under a tree with some ice water and some Missy
"Misdemeanor" Elliott. Work it!

The 45 min race goes off. The pace is a brisk ~25-26mph. The
downtown tarmac sticks to the wheels. Oh, I've never done a crit race
before so I'm all over the place. Bad lines, poor handling, etc. If
you've ridden with me you know what I'm talking about. Hey who wants
to do Giro di SF with me lolz. Typical dudes doing attacks off the
front for chances at lackluster lower category primes, blah blah.
About 20 laps in the pace slows to 22-23mph and I find myself near the
front, when suddenly a hometown rider (Sierra Nevada jersey, pretty
unmistakable) blasts by me. I grab his wheel and we do a lap gaining
about 5-10 seconds on the field. After the lap he sits up and I'm
like "sup dude, let's work together..." and he's all "i'll try, i was
just going for a glory lap" and i'm like all "..."

So I decide to just put my head down and mash to see what happens and
the next thing I hear the announcer say "5 laps to go, and 5t3v3 5ha5t@ has opened up a 30 second gap". nowai. On one of the u-turns I
peak a look and I see the pack indeed about 30secs back. I start
doing OCD math internal monologue in my head: "In order to catch me
they need to make up 6 seconds a lap which over a course of 0.6 miles
equates to roughly an incremental velocity differential of..." and
then I just shut up and started mashing harder. My max HR is 185bpm.
I finished at 191bpm for a 9 lap solo break win. Primes collected:
5sec time bonus prime and Giro Semi Compact sunglasses. Finished 18
seconds up on the group sprint which earned a 20sec time bonus as
well.

Not sure what the GC final standings were, I had to book it back to SF
but I'm definitely happy the way things turned out.

When you least expect it and are least prepared, crazy things can happen.

Thanks for reading and thanks for riding.

congrats!

THE FIRST WIN? KUDOS!

Thanks for reading and thanks for riding.

also lol

I assumed that the cat4 masters were
wisened zen-masters

why would you think this?

Definitely inspiring me, I'm down 2 kg and well on my way from obese mantis to fat mantis status, aiming to at least do the kiddie pool cat 5 at the washington boulevard oval before the summer is out.

(slowly reading through the Nutrition Nazis thread and will be putting a proper plan into effect once I get my house move sorted)

Holy shit, Shasta, that's fantastic!

PODIUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FUCKIN A! SHASTY!!

Did you do a Fat Mantis fistpump when you crossed the finish line solo?