With the State Individual Time Trial Championships over....so ends my season. My original plan was to end it with the Krugers Kermese series, but due to land use permits they are no longer able to hold the series. Last year I also did some cross races, but racing from February through October/November was just way too long and I didn't really enjoy cross racing all that much.
I set out to accomplish two goals this year:
1) Get my upgrade from CAT 4 to CAT 3.
2) To compete/complete at least one stage race.
I actually accomplished both of these goals on the same weekend back in April during/after the Cherry Blossom stage race in The Dalles. This was my first stage race and with my 2nd place in the first stage I had enough points to upgrade to CAT 3, which I did the Monday after the race.
Overall the year went well (22 races).
Podium placings: 8
Wins: 3
State Championships: 1
Some numbers on the year:
Highest ATL: 159.5
Highest CTL: 123.2
Lowest TSB: -73.7
The ATL and CTL ratings took place pretty close to the Cascade Classic which probably explains my poor performance there. I was clearly over-trained by the time I hit the Cascade Classic and when combined with the altitude, heat and some dehydration lead to extremely poor performances. If I had been using the Powertap all winter, chances are these numbers would actually have been higher :s
The low TSB took place early in the season just after getting my Powertap so this doesn't reflect as much toward my performance at the CC.
Power numbers for the year:
Max power: 1564 watts
Max 5 second: 1391 watts
Max 1 minute: 659 watts
Max 5 minute: 434 watts
Max 10 minute: 404 watts
Max 20 minute: 391 watts
Goals for next year:
1) Keep my power numbers high over the winter to go into the season next year strong.
2) Drop my weight back down to at least 190 pounds (spent the latter half of the season over 200 this year).
3) Win the CAT 3 TTT State Championship again.
4) Better my 40K ITT time again...get under 55 minutes.
5) Concentrate on ITT's more than road races.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Sunday, August 2, 2009
State ITT championships...
I want to thank whoever dialed up the perfect weather for the State Championship ITT's today. The weather was absolutely perfect this morning with temps in the upper 60's to low 70's and wind in the 3 mph range...Simply awesome!!!
It seems I found my legs that I left at home last weekend...well, most of them at least. Overall, my legs felt pretty good, but I think I could have/should have gone a bit faster today...but then I seem to always feel that way after a time trial.
Being the weather watcher I am, I was expecting a tailwind on the way out this morning, but was greeted with a headwind instead...though it was only around 3 mph or so, so nothing bad for sure.
The plan was to go out a little easy this year remembering my cramping from last year and my death at Cascade last week. Even going out easy my HR was around 161 bpm for the first 10-15 minutes...though my plan was to keep it around 152-155 bpm...but my legs didn't feel bad and my breathing wasn't to labored soooo, such is life.
After 5 - 10 minutes I picked the pace up and was able to keep my HR in the 160 bpm range for pretty much the entire race, which is where it should be.
During the race, I caught my 30 second guy somewhere around mile 7 or 8 and I'm guessing my 1 minute man shortly there after...then started to run into what I'm guessing were racers in the 40-44 category. At the start I only saw my 30 second guy so I didn't know what any of the other riders in front of me looked like, which in a way helped keep me pushing along the way.
The way back was a lot faster than the way out thanks to the tailwind with speeds in the 29 mph - 30 mph range most of the way back. That was a nice change of pace compared to the 24-26 mph I was going on the way out.
I ended up crossing the line with a time of 55:40 (26.73 mph average) which is 1 minute 19 seconds faster than last year....though I still cramped up a little after I crossed the line. Nothing like last year, but my left hamstring is a bit sore.
My time was good enough for 2nd place...lost by 32 seconds...but I'll take a PR of 1:19, especially after such a crappy performance last week.
It seems I found my legs that I left at home last weekend...well, most of them at least. Overall, my legs felt pretty good, but I think I could have/should have gone a bit faster today...but then I seem to always feel that way after a time trial.
Being the weather watcher I am, I was expecting a tailwind on the way out this morning, but was greeted with a headwind instead...though it was only around 3 mph or so, so nothing bad for sure.
The plan was to go out a little easy this year remembering my cramping from last year and my death at Cascade last week. Even going out easy my HR was around 161 bpm for the first 10-15 minutes...though my plan was to keep it around 152-155 bpm...but my legs didn't feel bad and my breathing wasn't to labored soooo, such is life.
After 5 - 10 minutes I picked the pace up and was able to keep my HR in the 160 bpm range for pretty much the entire race, which is where it should be.
During the race, I caught my 30 second guy somewhere around mile 7 or 8 and I'm guessing my 1 minute man shortly there after...then started to run into what I'm guessing were racers in the 40-44 category. At the start I only saw my 30 second guy so I didn't know what any of the other riders in front of me looked like, which in a way helped keep me pushing along the way.
The way back was a lot faster than the way out thanks to the tailwind with speeds in the 29 mph - 30 mph range most of the way back. That was a nice change of pace compared to the 24-26 mph I was going on the way out.
I ended up crossing the line with a time of 55:40 (26.73 mph average) which is 1 minute 19 seconds faster than last year....though I still cramped up a little after I crossed the line. Nothing like last year, but my left hamstring is a bit sore.
My time was good enough for 2nd place...lost by 32 seconds...but I'll take a PR of 1:19, especially after such a crappy performance last week.
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