my weekly race log

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/216427_10150168232662585_90969637584_6829111_6824360_n.jpg

yesssss

here's a vid of my teammate soloing off the front and me doing my job (tailgunning)... at the end I "drop" off an empty bottle with Mrs. Shasta:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMbYkD_VpnQ

saturday i had a _1.14 mi_ section at average 41.68 mph, max 45.2 mph. on a _separate_, earlier segment, the fastest .35 mi had an avg 44.17 mph, max 47.04 mph. ;)

http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr222/Chass3ur/Haystack.jpg

wonder what zirbel did through that shit.
xpost

awesome pics shasta

The first stage was a 60 min crit... kind of out and back over a hump in the middle with two TIGHT s-curves at each end. Pretty technical and a little too much elevation then I'd prefer. 35 starters, pace was pretty brisk from the gun, a few breaks attempted but nothing stuck. With 2 laps to go the field is getting strung out and I'm top 15 when wheel #5 comes into the s-curve a little hot and kisses the pavement. Top 4 attack, leaving the rest of us (about 20) to avoid the carnage and chase. It wasn't in the cards so I stayed out of the wind until half a lap to go, then took the front and didn't let up. Won the pack sprint by about 3 bike lengths. Got top 5 which was my goal and was stoked. Would have preferred to take a shot at the whole field but crashes happen and you just have to accept that.

Our field was shattered (only ~1/2 starters finished), found this guy (who we lapped) who started filming the last 2 laps of our race (including the crash), you see me a couple times in varying degrees of form (bad then good), ha:

http://contour.com/stories/race-video-sea-otter-crit--2

as i crested the hill about 2/3 way through my tt last night i realized that blood was spattered all over my legs, my bars, my lower face and the front of my skinsuit. dramatic.

took 35 secs off my time, but most people were faster, so no change really.

uh....... why?

dunno, guess i had extra.

it was just a nosebleed.

i was wearing a funny 1990s nwt skinsuit that i bought off ebay for cheap, so it got broken in properly. my old team skinsuits are (finally) done. the uh, "mature" guy who helps with event officiating laughed when he saw the skinsuit and said "i bet i'm the only guy here who even knows who that company was!"

Celestial Zinger?

WHERE DID BLOOD COME FROM? NOSE?

dude!

yeah, it was a nosebleed! no biggie, it stopped before i was even done racing.

the skinsuit is rather nice, it is a parkpre suit from 1997 i think. since it was for mtb racing, it even has two small flush pockets on the back, which is pretty great.

i had a rebadged parkpre steel road frame for a year back in the mid 90s, i feel i can wear this suit.

i do not look this pretty in my parkpre skinsuit

http://gallery.roadbikereview.com/data/roadbike/500/paolacurves.jpg

Aero hoop earrings

they did not come w/ my skinsuit :(

i do have shoecovers tho

Not exactly topical any more (because I've been without a computer for a week), but this I think this photo shows me powering off the front of the pack with two laps to go in my race last Saturday (before being caught and nearly dropped by the time we came back up the hill with one lap to go):
http://www.londoncyclesport.com/index.php?option=com_jphoto&view=image&id=4591:eagle92&Itemid=79

Awesome. That hill looks brutal for a short race course.

shasta i need to borrow about 20 watts on wed to make ends, with all u got im sure you wont hardly notice. thx.

Aw any time dude, it would be my honor to do a two-man TTT with you at some point.

Did the most ridiculous boomerang shaped crit today: 2x 75-degree sharp corners, then 2x180 hairpins for good measure. Basically sprint intervals, throwing in some late-afternoon intense winds that came out of nowhere. I did a lot of work to stay in the front to avoid the accordian effect, dealing some damage here and there (field got whittled down pretty quickly). Then a strong rider attacked and got a good 10 second gap, no reaction. Then I got stupidly caught off-guard when 2 other strong riders bridged up. Two of the three guys in the break had teammates that immediately took the front and slowed shit down so I did a "roll-off"/soft attack and somehow got about 10 seconds up on the field but still 10 long seconds to the break. I was burying myself trying to get up to them but they were content to stay away for the insta-podium. Ended up spending the last 6 miles in solo no-man's-land TT as the break's gap grew but nonetheless I was also putting time on the ever-dwindling peloton due to the brutal winds and severe course layout.

I ended up 4th.
14.9 miles
22.8 mph
avg pwr 244W (3s = 1102W, 1m = 352W, 10m = 264W)

Vid (warning: dull 20 second gaps)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GYYiOJFEiI

thx! 6 mi sounds excruciating.

Back at Hog Hill again today for another 4th cat crit. It was a hot, sunny day and very gusty - annoyingly the wind was either a headwind or awkward crosswind round the whole circuit except coming up the hill. There were 33 starters, but the pace was fast from the off and the bunch got whittled down and down (a crash on the second lap didn't help matters). The race was supposed to be an hour long, but they were running behind schedule and decided to shorten it to about 45 minutes. I was still there in the bunch when they announced five laps to go - I counted and there were 13 of us so whatever happened I was going to equal my best performance in a race of this level (set last weekend). It was getting really strung out in the closing laps and I was right at my limit - with three to go I found myself last in the line and it got stretched into single file and I had to bury myself to stay in contact. With two to go I dropped off, with one to go I was about 20 seconds down, and at the finish I was maybe a minute behind. I either got 12th or 13th - I'm waiting for the official results. When I left they only had the results down to 11th place, which suggests I was 12th as I was the last to get dropped and the first person behind the bunch.

Here are three short clips on different parts of the circuit of the race before mine which I took with my phone:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6N2uI_s7xY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJWaBlvoIl0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO3kVQFpp0I

My weekly face of pain shot (but I do like my shades):
http://www.londoncyclesport.com/index.php?option=com_jphoto&view=image&id=5203:bill273&Itemid=79

ROAR! I AM A MIGHTY LION!

My best performance so far - way beyond my expectations.

I had my second attempt at a proper road race (as opposed to a closed circuit crit) today, once more with the vast majority of the riders being 3rd cats (i.e. better than me) and over a distance far greater than any race I'd ever done before. My previous effort at the end of March had ended in miserable failure (dropped after just 4 miles), so I wasn't even entertaining thoughts of finishing this race - just gaining experience and trying to avoid embarrassment. Amazingly I managed to stick in the bunch the whole way - I nearly lost contact a few times, especially for the last 15 miles when my thighs were cramping up, but I dug in and moved up whenever I could and rolled in with everyone else after more than 60 miles at 24mph. I've got so much more self belief now.

Wow! Well done.

Did two races today at a flat fast crit course.

Race #1 was a crashfest, 100 racer field, 3 major crashes. We spent 4 laps neutralized including being neutral with 5 to go, and then again with 2 to go. Not fun. I did a lot of work racing with my legs, not so much with my head. With 1 lap to go I found myself in front so I decided to just stretch things out, I got swallowed up with 400m to go. Sat up.

Race #2 was more tactical... our sprinter (!!!) got in an early 7 man break that stayed away for about 80% of the race. The other 4 of us patrolled the front, trying to latch onto any bridge efforts but with about 3 to go it all came together. I was #2 in our lead out train, in charge of a 90 second effort through a twisty headwind section delivering the remainder to the home stretch for the bell lap. Things went almost according to plan except that our sprinter got dropped off about 400m which was a bit too far out, esp as he had done quite a bit of work in the break. We salvaged 6th which was in the money, so we got a little deposit into our beer fund. Good times.

does this humongous ass make my ass look big?

http://www.mountainmoonphotography.com/Cycling-5-dollar-downloads/Road-and-Time-Trial-2011/Cherry-Creek-TT-3-2011/16819890_mHbFMm#1269142111_Gb8Jp3b-L-LB

"mountain moon"

stunning!

(not your ass)

lol

you running a 55? looks big, like you could serve a L pizza on it.

which is nice, as i look like i just did, in fact, eat the whole fuckin pizza, nom nom nom.

it's a 54. now that i look it at, i wonder if that's really a 39 on there? i cant remember how i cobbled that bike together, i might have swiped an old cx crank from the discard pile that had a 38 inner?

during my tt i came up behind a car last night, which then moved all the way to the center line to prevent my pass. i had to sit up, hit brakes, speed went from 25 down to 19. i waited, then a guy i had passed like 20 secs before passed the truck on the right w/out slowing. >:|. so i did the same. lost about 10-15 secs, then went into red trying to get back in the game. still, i am scraping into the top 50% of the small field these days, which was one goal.

Did another race this evening, this time on the Dunton test track where I raced three times last summer. I don't have my official placing yet, but I was in the bunch and nowhere near the action in the sprint finish - probably about 20th like the last time I raced there. I was fairly active tonight: I bridged across to a break of four and did some work until we got caught, I rode at the front a few times (and accidentally went off the front on my own a couple of times without actually trying to), I tried to go for a prime, but couldn't follow the guy who got it. Every time I've raced there, breaks form but always get reeled in and then there's a mass bunch sprint. I don't think I've got much of a sprint, so if I race there next time (in a fortnight) I might just try a series of crazy attacks to see what happens - it'll probably end up with me getting dropped, but it might be more interesting / useful training. The race was just over an hour long, average speed 24.3mph.

if there is one piece of advice i would give to ppl racing mostly crits and flattish circuits, it would be to minimize training endurance and improve your sprint as much as you can. i wish that i had. its just a much better proposition than hoping your break sticks.

^^^truth^^^

Esp if there are no u-turns, significant hills, tricky sections/chicanes, there is really no other way to win.

Yeah, that circuit is flattish (a climb of sorts at one end, but more of a drag than anything) and has no tricky bends at all. I've actually been doing better at Hog Hill (which has the tight bends and the nasty climb) and have still been there when half to two-thirds of the field has been burnt off, so I think the hill does me a favour, whereas on the flattish circuit last night I was never in danger but there was a much bigger group coming to the finish. It's not so much the sprinting itself, more the positioning - if you're not in the first 7 or 8 coming into the home straight then you can never find the gaps to actually open up a full on sprint safely. But it's incredibly difficult being in the first 7 or 8 when you've got 30 or 40 riders all trying to be there.

Back at Dunton again tonight. This time a break formed right from the start and stayed away for the whole race. It's the fifth time I've raced there and I've never seen a break last more than about 5 minutes before. After about 15 minutes I realised they probably weren't going to get caught - there were about 6 to 8 of them including several team mates working together - so I tried to bridge across. They had a lead of about 300 metres - I went as hard as I could on the hill (keeping it in the big ring) and rocketed out of the bunch. I got within 100 metres of the bunch and then started to die. Another guy came speeding past me and I desperately tried to lock onto his wheel, but then he started to die too. The bunch swallowed us back up shortly afterwards.

The break stayed at the same kind of gap for ages, so I had another go later on - this time with about 4 others doing through and off, but we still couldn't get to them. In the last ten minutes or so (the race was just over an hour) the gap opened up (I think they shouted 24 seconds to us with two laps to go and 35 seconds when the bell went) so it was just a sprint for minor placings. I kept myself in about fifth spot in the bunch (which still had over 20 riders in it, I'd guess) all the way round and as we came round the final bend I found a gap on the left and went as hard as I could. I was out front on my own and going flat out thinking 'Yes - I've finally timed this to perfection'. But I hadn't - I was further from the finish than I'd thought (about 500 metres) and I just couldn't keep it going all the way to the line. With about 200 metres to go people started to come past me and I had to sit up as I was spent.

last wednesday it snowed pretty hard, so i didn't go. this week it was cancelled for hail and lightning. i'm pretty pissed, because i paid for both and i just lost the entry fees, no reschedule.

I had a 115-mile round trip driving from London-Sudbury-London this afternoon to take part in road race. The course was so far away from home that I hadn't had a chance to ride round it before so I had no idea where we were or where we going at any stage. It was all on country lanes and we were actually filling the whole road from left to right (despite the fact that the roads are open to oncoming traffic). This initially seemed insane, but I decided it must be safe enough to copy everyone else - as long as nobody was shouting or signalling then you could assume there was no danger up ahead. The roads kept twisting and turning and I saw several riders actually leave the road on sharp bends. Suddenly after one sharp left there were a load of people on horses and the race was halted for a minute or so. The race was about 55 miles long, but I got a rear wheel puncture after just under 11 miles. Strangely, as an amateur 4th cat, I had no following team car with helpful mechanic to furnish me with a spare wheel or bike, so I spent five minutes or so changing the inner tube, by which time the bunch would have been a couple of miles away and my race was prematurely over.

after two week layoff, did final tt of series. did a pr by about 15 secs due to nice conditions (at last), finished 5/15 in cat. really glad it's done, tired of worrying about weather and carting shit around. i'll probably due the state champs for 40k tt in 2 weeks, then...? i don't think there are any opportunities left.

i sometimes wonder if a warmup really makes a shit of difference. i didn't have time to do one yesterday, aside from a 5 min ride up a little hill on the way to the starting line.

Okay, so I've done a bunch of races with a bunch of shitsteenth place finishes that I didn't feel merited my morose dull ruminations on my mediocrity on this thread.

But I was down in LA on vacay over the weekend and entered a criterium "behind enemy lines" (cue: NorCal vs. SoCal rivalry).

A few observations:
The race was a little slower than an equivalent NorCal race (about 2mph slower for a flat 4-corner office park ordeal)
The race was much safer than an equivalent NorCal race (no crashes or close calls that I noticed)
Breakaways were given a lot of leeway
There was a team of 10 guys that were really doing nothing all race long which I thought was odd, I think it was even their title race!

They announced a prime with 9 laps to go and a few guys attack. I am sitting in the top 10, just trying to read the race as it was playing out a little stranger than I'd imagined (a fast paced crash fest with SoCal crit monkeys oozing steroids!) With 8 to go we catch the prime winner and runners-up and I decide to open it up a bit (32 mph/800W) on a solo attack and see what happens. With 7 to go, I glance back to see two guys attempting to bridge and about a six second lead on the pack. They bridge across and I am very relieved to see a member of the big host team is now in the mix as that means we will have some relief from their potential big lead-out train chase if our break sticks going into the finish.

We do a really good job of trading pulls in an efficient paceline and we're taking the corners much more swiftly than the pack does through traffic so I gain confidence that this break has a chance. They throw a couple primes at us (sunglasses and a clif energy blox) and I sprint for those to make sure we're keeping the pace spirited as our lead grows to about 15 seconds. With 5 to go, I decide to go all in and ratchet the pace up a little bit (28-29mph). With 3 to go I can see that my breakmates are hurting a little bit but are still committed, and I grunt a couple words of encouragement because I'm not sure I can take it on home alone. With 1 to go we're still holding 28-29mph but I take a good look back and I can see the field coming fast maybe 5 seconds back. We are trading 250m pulls at this point so I figure out my last pull will be with 500m-250m to go, I might as well lead myself out at this point. It's too tight to play games.

Half a lap to go, it's my turn into the headwind and I just let it all out. I am more of a 1km-500m guy so unfortunately for my breakmates they probably did not expect a jump so far out. I hit the last corner alone but can hear an all-too-familiar murmur of dozens of carbon wheels coming up not far behind. I hold my speed all the way through the corner, pop out of the saddle and sprint for the line.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj84J_LJSYc

Sadly, both of my breakmates got passed on the final stretch, one got 5th and the other got top 10. But what can you do.

It was my first win of the year and it was a big field so I'm pretty stoked on the result. Most of my key races are coming up (SF, Oakland, Berkeley) so this gives me a little bit of confidence in the next couple months of racing. And it feels good to REPRESENT NorCal, not gonna lie. ^__^

awesome! great salute too!!

Jerk NoCal interlopers.....

nice job Shasta. Funny to hear Ralph's (the announcer) same finish line schtick in your video.