Well, things haven't gone quite as planned with my original training plan. To this point the weather has been nicer than normal with a lot of days where there was little or no rain, which allowed me to ride outside more. So I decided to hold off on my intervals for a while and focus more on "Tempo" paced rides with some harder work when possible during group rides on Saturdays.
However, I have slowly been building the hours per month back up on the bike. With the end of December coming to a close I should have just under 50 hours on the bike and a little over 900 miles ridden....not to bad for the month of December.
I however, did start my interval training two weeks ago with my current schedule looking like this:
Monday: 1.5 hours on the trainer....20 minute warm up, 20 minute threshold interval, 10 minute recovery/endurance pace, 20 minutes of 1x1 intervals at VO2 max or higher, 20 minutes endurance pace to finish.
Tuesday: 2 hours of high endurance or low tempo pace either on the trainer or outside on my single speed.
Wednesday: 2 hours of high endurance or low tempo pace either on my trainer or outside on my single speed.
Thursday: 1.5 hours on the trainer.....same intervals as on Monday.
Friday: 1 - 1.5 hours of recovery paced riding.
Saturday: 3 - 3.5 hours group riding. We usually get a good 30 minutes of very fast paced riding near the end of the ride, and have been working on break aways, chasing breaks and pace-line work....which has allowed some sprinting.
Sunday: off the bike.
This gives me 11 - 12 hours a week on the bike, with some good threshold and VO2 max work thrown in. I can see that my 20 minute power levels have dropped a little over the past few months however over the past two weeks I've already put 18 watts back on and am holding a more steady interval for the full 20 minutes.
The group rides have been very good for me this year because of some of the high speed pace-line work we have done. Pretty much every ride we have done 20-30 minutes of high intensity work near the end of the ride...which means speeds between 24 and 30 mph. On my single speed my gearing is 73 gear inches (equivalent to a 53x19 or pretty close)...which means when we get going I'm spinning 120-150 RPM for the duration of the pace-line work. I've even hit 35 mph on one stretch during break away work which is around 165 RPM....so I'm getting my speed work in :D
I also know my sprinting power hasn't gone away over the last few months. A few weeks ago a teammate of mine and I had a fun sprint. He matched the gearing on my single speed and we went "Sign Sprinting". He had his powertap on his bike and clocked 1595 watts during the sprint and we were either dead even or I beat him by maybe an inch or so....but I'm a good 35-40 pounds heavier than he is which puts my top end power over 1600 watts right now....which is better than I hit this past summer.
My big issue that I need to work on right now is my weight....I'm just way to heavy for this time of the year.
Last year the heaviest I allowed myself to get was 208 pounds during the winter, which made dropping back down to 195 or so for the race season fairly easy. This year however with my over training during the summer, lower levels of riding during the months of August, September and October and eating like I was still riding 18 hours a week....my weight has hit a high of 220 pounds this winter. With the new year coming around...it's time to start cutting calories.
Overall...I'm not too worried about my weight though since two years ago I dropped about 50 pounds in less than 4 months heading into the race season...this year I only have 20-25 pounds to drop so not nearly as hard as before, but still not super easy. The big key is cutting calories and turning up the intensity on my training which I've started with the intervals.
In the end...Lots of work to do, but I think I'll be ready for the upcoming race season that's quickly approaching. The first TT of the year is the 3rd week of February and there are 4 road races in March.
One racing change for me this year....I'm likely going to race in the masters 40+ category for most of the races this year instead of in the CAT 3's. The reason...fewer people and somewhat less aggressive riding compared to the CAT 3's. However, since the masters category is CAT 1/2/3 the races are still fast, and in many cases faster than the CAT 3 races....so it's not going to be any easier, that much is for sure!
On a side note...by the 31st of this year when you take my trainer mileage (which is pretty close to what I would do on the road) as well as my road mileage I will have ridden over 11,750 miles on a bicycle this year...a new record for me :D
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Fall is here...
The days are getting shorter, the morning air a little crisp and the rainy days more frequent...which means fall is here and winter not far away. With this in mind I've moved my Powertap to my indoor trainer and am prepping my singlespeed for the winter months.
Many of my teammates have moved onto the "Cross" season, as I did for a while last year...but it's just not for me. To much of a risk for tearing up a knee (I've already had too many knee surgeries) and in all honesty I just didn't enjoy racing cross that much. There are so many people at the cross races that if you are not in the top 20 by the first corner, your race just became a training ride due to bottlenecks when the course narrows...Today was the first "Cross Crusade" race and over 1350 people showed up to race, which means well over 100 people per category (I wouldn't be surprised if the C's had close to 200 people).
With that said...The winter is where I get in a lot of "Quality" training because the workouts on the trainer are so structured. There are no hills or wind to get in the way, rain is no longer an excuse for not riding and the workouts can be planned out weeks in advance. With the Powertap it makes it easier to follow specific plans, which is something I couldn't do before.
My plans for the winter include a whole lot of 2x20's and tempo rides with my main goal...to raise my FTP for Time Trials and MTB racing next year. My hope is to steadily raise my 20 minute power each month over the winter. I'm starting this month at 320 watts with hopes of raising it 20 watts each month through February when the racing season starts again.
So...October 320 watts, November 340 watts, December 360 watts, January 380 watts, February 400 watts....Then scale back just a little for March to really hit it hard in April and May when the TT season starts culminating with the Team Time Trial at the end of May.
I hit 391 watts for 20 minutes this year so this should be attainable. My goal for next year is to break 400 watts for 20 minutes and if possible break 420 watts, while getting my weight back down to 190 pounds or if possible 185, which I haven't seen since the start of my 8th grade year :)
My basic training plan will be this:
Monday: 2 hours (2x20's) with a 10 minute threshold effort near the end of the workout
Tuesday: 2 hours at tempo
Wednesday: 1.5 hours at endurance pace
Thursday: 2 hours (2x20's) with a 10 minute threshold effort near the end of the workout
Friday: 1.5 hours at tempo
Saturday: Group ride on my singlespeed (hopefully 2.5 - 3 hours on the bike)
Sunday: Off the bike
So bring on the rain, winter and college football...Lots of work to be done over the next few months :)
Many of my teammates have moved onto the "Cross" season, as I did for a while last year...but it's just not for me. To much of a risk for tearing up a knee (I've already had too many knee surgeries) and in all honesty I just didn't enjoy racing cross that much. There are so many people at the cross races that if you are not in the top 20 by the first corner, your race just became a training ride due to bottlenecks when the course narrows...Today was the first "Cross Crusade" race and over 1350 people showed up to race, which means well over 100 people per category (I wouldn't be surprised if the C's had close to 200 people).
With that said...The winter is where I get in a lot of "Quality" training because the workouts on the trainer are so structured. There are no hills or wind to get in the way, rain is no longer an excuse for not riding and the workouts can be planned out weeks in advance. With the Powertap it makes it easier to follow specific plans, which is something I couldn't do before.
My plans for the winter include a whole lot of 2x20's and tempo rides with my main goal...to raise my FTP for Time Trials and MTB racing next year. My hope is to steadily raise my 20 minute power each month over the winter. I'm starting this month at 320 watts with hopes of raising it 20 watts each month through February when the racing season starts again.
So...October 320 watts, November 340 watts, December 360 watts, January 380 watts, February 400 watts....Then scale back just a little for March to really hit it hard in April and May when the TT season starts culminating with the Team Time Trial at the end of May.
I hit 391 watts for 20 minutes this year so this should be attainable. My goal for next year is to break 400 watts for 20 minutes and if possible break 420 watts, while getting my weight back down to 190 pounds or if possible 185, which I haven't seen since the start of my 8th grade year :)
My basic training plan will be this:
Monday: 2 hours (2x20's) with a 10 minute threshold effort near the end of the workout
Tuesday: 2 hours at tempo
Wednesday: 1.5 hours at endurance pace
Thursday: 2 hours (2x20's) with a 10 minute threshold effort near the end of the workout
Friday: 1.5 hours at tempo
Saturday: Group ride on my singlespeed (hopefully 2.5 - 3 hours on the bike)
Sunday: Off the bike
So bring on the rain, winter and college football...Lots of work to be done over the next few months :)
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Seasons End...
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.
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.
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.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Cascade Classic Day 3...
Today....I called it quits on the race.
I woke up and could tell I had nothing in my legs and I knew I'd get dropped from near the start of the race. The way I figured it was better to just call it good and not race then trash my legs even farther in the heat to try and battle my way into 80th place again.
My stomach still didn't feel well and felt nauseous for about 1/2 my 3.5 hour ride home from Bend. I also had a headache for the better part of the day that 3 Advil helped with but didn't eliminate.
In all honesty, I'm not sure what happened this weekend. Two weeks ago I set a 20 minute power PR....this week I couldn't get within nearly 70 watts of that for 20 minutes. I'm not sure if it was the altitude (one race started at 5400 feet and ended at 6400 feet, the ITT topped out around 4500 feet, the crit was around 3500 feet)...the heat with temps in the upper 80's, lack of sleep (only got around 12 hours total for the weekend) or over-training that made me turn in such a crappy performance for the weekend...maybe it was a combination of all of them...not sure, but I do know it was a horrendous performance for me.
I've taken the last 3 days off the bike and am starting to feel a bit better, but am still contemplating competing in the State ITT championships this weekend. I've got until Wednesday to sign up so I'm waiting to see how I feel tomorrow after a ride before signing up. Hopefully the legs come back quickly so I can compete and try and get a state title...but after this weekend, I'm not so sure my chances are all that good for turning in a descent performance.
I woke up and could tell I had nothing in my legs and I knew I'd get dropped from near the start of the race. The way I figured it was better to just call it good and not race then trash my legs even farther in the heat to try and battle my way into 80th place again.
My stomach still didn't feel well and felt nauseous for about 1/2 my 3.5 hour ride home from Bend. I also had a headache for the better part of the day that 3 Advil helped with but didn't eliminate.
In all honesty, I'm not sure what happened this weekend. Two weeks ago I set a 20 minute power PR....this week I couldn't get within nearly 70 watts of that for 20 minutes. I'm not sure if it was the altitude (one race started at 5400 feet and ended at 6400 feet, the ITT topped out around 4500 feet, the crit was around 3500 feet)...the heat with temps in the upper 80's, lack of sleep (only got around 12 hours total for the weekend) or over-training that made me turn in such a crappy performance for the weekend...maybe it was a combination of all of them...not sure, but I do know it was a horrendous performance for me.
I've taken the last 3 days off the bike and am starting to feel a bit better, but am still contemplating competing in the State ITT championships this weekend. I've got until Wednesday to sign up so I'm waiting to see how I feel tomorrow after a ride before signing up. Hopefully the legs come back quickly so I can compete and try and get a state title...but after this weekend, I'm not so sure my chances are all that good for turning in a descent performance.
Cascade Classic Day 2
I think I'm going to put this day down as possibly my worst race day on the bike ever. I couldn't get anything going all day and by the end of it was suffering.
The ITT came pretty early in the morning with a start time of 9:17 am. I went through my normal warm up and didn't feel too bad all things considered. Got everything put away and headed for the starting line.
The countdown started and I was off....Going hard from the start...a bit too hard. By the first 1/2 mile I had to slow down to regain my legs/lungs. I was breathing super hard, but only had a HR of 148 - 150 bpm and couldn't get it to go up. After a minute or two I felt things returning to normal and slowly picked things up. About 2/3 the way up the climb (on an out/back course) I was passed by my trailing 30 second man...the first time I think I've ever been passed in an ITT.
I was actually making pretty good ground on my 30 second man, who was just in front of me and that I had passed shortly after the guy behind me passed me. My legs were on fire, but it felt like I was pedaling in mud.
At the turnaround I put everything I had into the descent, but found that I was under-geared for a portion of the course using a 52x12 for my biggest gear. I spun out on one section doing 44 mph and really needed an 11 tooth rear cog, which would have given me a few more mph at several points on the downhill.
In the end my effort was good enough for 52nd place on the day with a time of 24:54 on the 10 mile course. The worst ever in an ITT by me ever.
After the race my legs were feeling a bit like Jello, but I still had the crit to compete in later in the day. Needing some food, some of my teammates and I went for a late breakfast where I had a pretty good Denver Omelet with some hash browns. However, they didn't settle well, or I was having some issues with digestion because by the time the crit came around, I could still feel them sitting in my stomach...and they didn't feel good.
The CAT 4's finished, so I jumped on the course to get a little warm up. Coming around on my first warm up lap racers had already started lining up getting ready to race. So from the start I was pushed to the back of the pack.
Once the whistle blew and we went through the first set of corners, accelerating out of turn 2...I knew I was in trouble. My legs had nothing in them, no top end at all. I got out of the saddle and accelerated as hard as I could staying in the packs draft. As the race went on, I slowly moved back, farther and farther until I was dangling off the back.
The final breaking point was when a "TALL" rider in front of me lost the wheel of the guy in front of him and I couldn't accelerate around him to latch back on the pack. From that point the four of us there were all off the back and later got pulled at the 20 minute mark in the 30 minute crit.
This was the first time I've ever been pulled from a crit and in reality the pace wasn't that bad and nothing I shouldn't have been able to handle, but with not acceleration left in my legs I couldn't do anything to stay alive.
After the race I showered and met up with some teammates to watch the pro's race...which was pretty cool. A breakaway of 4 got away early and stayed off for a long time, almost lapping the field...at which time the leaders of the main peloton picked the pace up and started pulling 5 seconds a lap back on the breakaway...catching them with 1.5 laps to go. Crazy how fast those guys can go when they want to.
Back at the hotel, all I could do is sit in amazement at how poorly my day on the bike had gone. I guess ever body has one...today was it for me.
The ITT came pretty early in the morning with a start time of 9:17 am. I went through my normal warm up and didn't feel too bad all things considered. Got everything put away and headed for the starting line.
The countdown started and I was off....Going hard from the start...a bit too hard. By the first 1/2 mile I had to slow down to regain my legs/lungs. I was breathing super hard, but only had a HR of 148 - 150 bpm and couldn't get it to go up. After a minute or two I felt things returning to normal and slowly picked things up. About 2/3 the way up the climb (on an out/back course) I was passed by my trailing 30 second man...the first time I think I've ever been passed in an ITT.
I was actually making pretty good ground on my 30 second man, who was just in front of me and that I had passed shortly after the guy behind me passed me. My legs were on fire, but it felt like I was pedaling in mud.
At the turnaround I put everything I had into the descent, but found that I was under-geared for a portion of the course using a 52x12 for my biggest gear. I spun out on one section doing 44 mph and really needed an 11 tooth rear cog, which would have given me a few more mph at several points on the downhill.
In the end my effort was good enough for 52nd place on the day with a time of 24:54 on the 10 mile course. The worst ever in an ITT by me ever.
After the race my legs were feeling a bit like Jello, but I still had the crit to compete in later in the day. Needing some food, some of my teammates and I went for a late breakfast where I had a pretty good Denver Omelet with some hash browns. However, they didn't settle well, or I was having some issues with digestion because by the time the crit came around, I could still feel them sitting in my stomach...and they didn't feel good.
The CAT 4's finished, so I jumped on the course to get a little warm up. Coming around on my first warm up lap racers had already started lining up getting ready to race. So from the start I was pushed to the back of the pack.
Once the whistle blew and we went through the first set of corners, accelerating out of turn 2...I knew I was in trouble. My legs had nothing in them, no top end at all. I got out of the saddle and accelerated as hard as I could staying in the packs draft. As the race went on, I slowly moved back, farther and farther until I was dangling off the back.
The final breaking point was when a "TALL" rider in front of me lost the wheel of the guy in front of him and I couldn't accelerate around him to latch back on the pack. From that point the four of us there were all off the back and later got pulled at the 20 minute mark in the 30 minute crit.
This was the first time I've ever been pulled from a crit and in reality the pace wasn't that bad and nothing I shouldn't have been able to handle, but with not acceleration left in my legs I couldn't do anything to stay alive.
After the race I showered and met up with some teammates to watch the pro's race...which was pretty cool. A breakaway of 4 got away early and stayed off for a long time, almost lapping the field...at which time the leaders of the main peloton picked the pace up and started pulling 5 seconds a lap back on the breakaway...catching them with 1.5 laps to go. Crazy how fast those guys can go when they want to.
Back at the hotel, all I could do is sit in amazement at how poorly my day on the bike had gone. I guess ever body has one...today was it for me.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Cascade Classic Day 1
This is the first time I've raced in the Cascade Classic (taking place in Bend, OR) so I wasn't completely sure what to expect with the courses. The only thing I had to go on was the profile maps posted in the manuals they handed out and posted on their web site...and those basically told me it would be a hard race.
Todays race didn't exactly play into my "Strength's" if you will...the meat of the course was great for me, however the finish was a 10 mile or so climb with approximately 2000 feet of climbing. The initial stages of the climb were pretty shallow, but it progressively got steeper as you went along.
The beginning of the race started with a nice 600 foot climb right out of the gate that covered 3 miles or so before going into a long 1600 foot descent. One guy...who as far as I can tell stayed out front on a break the entire stage...took off on this hill and was later joined by two others that bridged the gap. The rest of us were pushed pretty hard by the lead riders as we averaged 15.5 mph or so up the climb and I sustained 374 watts for just under 10 minutes on the climb.
After the long descent things smoothed out and leveled off for a while until we came up to the first feed zone. They had neutral bottles they were handing out to riders, but they had the neutral bottles after the section where team helpers were handing out bottles to their team members...which made for some interesting feed zones. It was almost a fight to get into position and get a bottle before you exited the feed zone. I do thank all the volunteers for helping out with this since I'd still be lost somewhere in the outskirts of Bend suffering from heat stroke without them.
The next 25 miles were a series of rollers through the middle of nowhere, Oregon. The pace would pick up...then suddenly slow down with everybody yelling "Slowing" while hitting the brakes pretty hard.
The second feed zone was a crazy affair...but they did have more people there handing out bottles so it was a bit easier to get on (kind of)...however, as usual the leaders got their bottles then hit a hard tempo as the pack strung out. I found myself way back after the second feed zone and came up on one of my teammates (the only one with a real shot of finishing well on this stage) and he was way back with me and there was separation from the main pack. So I went by him to help pull him back to the main pack. Along the way I picked up another teammate of mine who was trying to help but had spent a lot of time up front pace setting so his legs were a bit tired at this point.
The last 21 miles of the race were a series of hard accelerations and slow downs...up to the point I got popped off the back on a steep section. The guys up front shot off like rockets and completely shattered the group into bits and pieces. From here my race was basically over...and I knew it was coming before it actually came, it was just a matter of where and when...so I rode tempo up the climb to the finish. Along the way I passed a good 10 - 15 riders along the way including two of my teammates that were shot out the back later up the hill.
All in all, not a bad day considering my legs felt like mud for the first 15-20 miles. I finished the 71 miles in just a bit over 3 hours and 15 minutes and feel pretty good all things considered.
Tomorrow is the Individual Time Trial in the morning and a 30 minute crit in the afternoon. These two stages play more into my strengths and I'm hoping go well.
Todays race didn't exactly play into my "Strength's" if you will...the meat of the course was great for me, however the finish was a 10 mile or so climb with approximately 2000 feet of climbing. The initial stages of the climb were pretty shallow, but it progressively got steeper as you went along.
The beginning of the race started with a nice 600 foot climb right out of the gate that covered 3 miles or so before going into a long 1600 foot descent. One guy...who as far as I can tell stayed out front on a break the entire stage...took off on this hill and was later joined by two others that bridged the gap. The rest of us were pushed pretty hard by the lead riders as we averaged 15.5 mph or so up the climb and I sustained 374 watts for just under 10 minutes on the climb.
After the long descent things smoothed out and leveled off for a while until we came up to the first feed zone. They had neutral bottles they were handing out to riders, but they had the neutral bottles after the section where team helpers were handing out bottles to their team members...which made for some interesting feed zones. It was almost a fight to get into position and get a bottle before you exited the feed zone. I do thank all the volunteers for helping out with this since I'd still be lost somewhere in the outskirts of Bend suffering from heat stroke without them.
The next 25 miles were a series of rollers through the middle of nowhere, Oregon. The pace would pick up...then suddenly slow down with everybody yelling "Slowing" while hitting the brakes pretty hard.
The second feed zone was a crazy affair...but they did have more people there handing out bottles so it was a bit easier to get on (kind of)...however, as usual the leaders got their bottles then hit a hard tempo as the pack strung out. I found myself way back after the second feed zone and came up on one of my teammates (the only one with a real shot of finishing well on this stage) and he was way back with me and there was separation from the main pack. So I went by him to help pull him back to the main pack. Along the way I picked up another teammate of mine who was trying to help but had spent a lot of time up front pace setting so his legs were a bit tired at this point.
The last 21 miles of the race were a series of hard accelerations and slow downs...up to the point I got popped off the back on a steep section. The guys up front shot off like rockets and completely shattered the group into bits and pieces. From here my race was basically over...and I knew it was coming before it actually came, it was just a matter of where and when...so I rode tempo up the climb to the finish. Along the way I passed a good 10 - 15 riders along the way including two of my teammates that were shot out the back later up the hill.
All in all, not a bad day considering my legs felt like mud for the first 15-20 miles. I finished the 71 miles in just a bit over 3 hours and 15 minutes and feel pretty good all things considered.
Tomorrow is the Individual Time Trial in the morning and a 30 minute crit in the afternoon. These two stages play more into my strengths and I'm hoping go well.
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