End of the season

Well the cycling season has ended for me. I actually did two more races than planned with the OBRA Road Race and Crit championships. All in all it was successful, but could have been better.

The good:

Dropping my weight back down into the 180’s (though I didn’t stay there long enough). This is a trend that I need to stop…and I’ve been on my way back up since the start of July and am already over 200 pounds again. Though I’m keeping an eye on it already and am working on slowly dropping back down to 190 so I don’t have to “Diet” myself down during the race season.

Winning the first “As The Raven Flies” TT series with a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finish at the race. This was the first year for the series and I hope it’s brought back. The course was a lot of fun, but very difficult for a TT and I hope it will build in participation over the next few years.

Taking 2nd in the newly located “Piece of Cake” road race. This was my first time racing in the Piece of Cake, which as it turns out is my type of race…flat with lots of cross and head winds. It was my first attempt at a break away during a road race and for the most part it paid off well.

Winning the CAT 3 OBRA TTT Championships again with an awesome team. This is the 3rd year in a row our team has won this race, each year with a different combination of riders. I’ve been part of two of them and look forward to the race again next season…whether it’s in the CAT 3’s again or in the Masters 160+ division.

Lots of great rides with the team. Almost every weekend I was participating in the weekly team rides. We completed two centuries this year with my longest ride ever being 114.02 miles back in early June. I would have liked to have seen a bit more of a “Race” attitude during many of the rides for more intensity, but at the same time, it was fun to ride with so many great riders.

The bad:

Letting my weight get beyond 220 pounds in the off season and having to yet again, work my butt off to get back down to a weight low enough to be competitive. As already mentioned, I need to get this under control now, before I’m 220+ pounds again this off season.

Not getting in enough “High” intensity work during the season. I never felt like I had a great top end at any point during the season. Part of this was due to a change in team rides from years past. This year they were more “Group ride” oriented than “Hammer/Nail” oriented. I missed the see how hard you can make a ride…rides of years past. To me, that’s an integral part of training and it was missed this season. In the past I've used the group rides to push myself against others and build that top end on the rides, without those super hard rides, I suffered a little.

Not racing enough. I only raced in 13 races this season, passing up on several early season road races due to my weight. I only competed in one crit and 4 road races during the season which was my lowest total over the past two seasons. I really want to come into next season at a weight that I can climb at which will allow me to be more competitive early in the season. I may also race a few more crits next season, at least the smaller ones, just for more experience, which I think the lack of hurt me at the OBRA Crit Championships.

What’s next:

The off season training has begun already. The days are getting short enough that riding after work outside isn’t plausible since the best I can do is a “Pressed for time” 2 hour ride now. Also, the rain seems to have moved back in sooner than past seasons…So I’m already back on my trainer. I’m hoping to get a better base built up over the next 4 months by pushing myself harder on the trainer than last season. This will allow me to hit the intervals harder and be faster for early season races. I’m also hoping to get some harder group rides going next season with the basic idea being that our group rides being harder than the races we compete in. This will help a lot with the “Top End” form we need when it comes to races, something I feel was missing this season, at least by myself and will get more members of the team ready for the intense efforts needed to stay in and place well in races.

Race more next season. My original plan was to race more MTB races this year, but I was unable to afford a new MTB so that put a major hold on that idea. I may try and race more MTB races next season…but unless I can pickup a new MTB, that won’t be in the plans. However, I do plan on racing more single day races as well as a few more Crits next year, while competing in the same TT’s that I did this year (Jack Frost, As the Raven Flies, Estacada, OBRA TTT and OBRA TT). I don’t think I’ll do any stage races next season though, unless I can get some extra cash flow over the next few months.

This is something I’d like to do…but I’m not sure how many others on my team want to do it. I’m hoping to get a very strong 40+ Road Race team together next season since we have at least 6 very strong Masters level racers. I’d like to work as a team to get as many people on the podium as possible next season. The Masters races are generally dominated by the Team Echelon guys…but I feel if we come into the race season in shape…we can give them a run for their money at any venue.

I want to work on my TT position. I’ve been working on it for a while and feel it’s still off by a little ways. I think I’m getting closer, but knowing my power numbers and seeing my times on the bike…they don’t match up. This means I have position work to do because I’m losing too much power in my current position compared to what I can put out on my road bike. I need to find that balance between power and aerodynamics which I have yet been able to do.

All in all…not really a season I can complain about. Actually having a job this year didn’t make any difference in my training and my work schedule allows training time during the season, which shouldn’t change next year. I’m looking forward to getting stronger during the off season and even some wet weather group rides with the team on my single speed…as crazy as that may sound :D

2010 OBRA Crit Championships

On a whim this year I decided to race in the OBRA Crit Championships. I'm not sure why I decided to race this year because I haven't raced in a crit in over a year...but I just felt like racing it this year.

So off to Albany I went to compete in the Masters 40-49 category.

The course was a nice 6 corner crit with good wide turns and nice road conditions. This allowed good speeds through the turns and a better overall flow during the race.

Going into this race I had no idea what my race shape was since I haven't been doing any VO2 max intervals and all of my riding has been basic hill climbing and some occasional efforts during group rides. Give crits are all about constant accelerations...I just didn't know how I would fare.

Once the race started, I moved to the front with the basic plan of getting into break aways, starting break aways or chasing breaks down that got away.


It didn't take very long before riders started shooting off the front of the pack. Staying up front I jumped in every break I could until I started to feel it and needed a little break.

About 15 minutes into the race I found myself out front by myself with a good 30 meter or so gap on the field. I kept pushing it hard, but couldn't make any ground on the field and they slowly brought me back in.

For the next 5 minutes or so I stayed in the pack and waited for other chances to get into a break. With about 10 laps to go we had a small group of 4 that if we worked together could have had a chance of staying away. At one point we had 30 meters or so on the field, but nobody in the group wanted to rotate or pull through, which led to being pulled back into the field pretty quickly.

From this point I decided to stay in the pack and see if I could place well in the field sprint and just tried to maintain field position.

I moved around a little but stayed near the front, somewhere around the top 10-15 riders trying to hold position.

With a few laps to go things started to pick up. One rider caught a pedal in a turn and almost went down (and would have taken the eventual 3rd place finisher with him). A few laps later (with one or two to go) it started getting really dicey and some bumping started taking place. I was on the inside and got bumped a little but was able to accelerate out of it. Unfortunately at this time a small gap was forming that separated me from the front 10-12 racers and it was a gap we never made up.

Coming around the final corner the leaders had taken off full sprint while I was still 20 meters or so back, so my race was essentially over, with no real sprint finish. I think I finished somewhere between 12th and 15th.



In the end I felt like I had a good race, but lack of doing any crits or similar races hurt when it came to the final lap. I knew better than to let the gap develop, but not being in that situation for over a year it didn't dawn on me at the time. I felt pretty strong overall and gave a lot of effort going for break away attempts...and had I been there for the final sprint feel I could have placed well, how well I'll never know.

I can't really complain though considering I was worried about getting pulled/dropped from the main field...so all is good.

This was my last road race of the season, so now it's time to wind down the miles a little and start building a base up again for next race season which is approximately 6 months away. One area I need to improve on is dropping weight again...a constant battle for me. I'm currently sitting around 200 pounds or so and last winter jumped up to 220, working my way down to 187 by the "Meat" of my racing schedule. I'd like to come into the season around 190 pounds next year so I'm competitive in the early season races....so I have a lot of work to do when it comes to monitoring my weight and building my base.

Overall...a good year, but I know I have some areas to improve on. I may even do a few extra crits next year for good measure so I can get another shot at the OBRA Crit Championships :)

OBRA RR Championships

So this year I decided to race in the OBRA Road Race Championships. I've avoided this race for the last two years because they were oriented more toward climbers, which is something I'm not great at. This year however, aside from the beginning climb the course suited my abilities fairly well....the big issue was getting over the first climb with the lead group, or close enough that I could latch back on.




The elevation profile shown below gives you an idea of the course. It was supposed to go the other way, but due to some fresh road resurfacing they change the direction with the profile showing the correct view (I turned the photo around)

The race started out well enough with the pack riding together to the end of the neutral zone. From there the pace picked up and I was hoping a few big guys would jump to the front and the pack would allow us to get 30 seconds or so on them before the climb started giving us a chance to stay with them.

As expected a few guys jumped and I jumped with them. After a minute of trying to get away the field wasn't having anything to do with it and the pulled us back in before the first climb started.

The first climb turned out to be a game changer for almost every class that raced this past weekend. It was a 1.5 mile climb that averaged around 10% for the climb. Anything over about 5% I struggle on, but I knew that it was a game changer so I actually covered up my wattage on my powertap so I couldn't see how hard I was working. I stayed with the pack as long as possible and took myself to the edge of blowing up, then backed it off just a bit. I fell off the pace about midway up the climb, but then started passing others that had blown up trying to stay with the leaders. Looking back on my powertap numbers, I set a new 4 minute power record of 445 watts and took just over 8 minutes to make it over the top of the climb.

Once over the top, I felt pretty good all things considered and was able to push it hard on the downhill. As I went down the hill I started picking up riders as I passed them, thus forming a chase group. By the time we hit the bottom of the downhill we had around 9 riders that were working together hard in a rotating pace line.

We could see the chase car just up the road and we were slowly pulling them back in. After 10 minutes of chasing we had pulled them to within around 35 seconds or so, but by this time our chase group was both tiring and dropping riders. The longer we went, the more riders dropped off until we hit the turn into the side wind with 5 riders.

We were still pushing it hard, but the lead car was slowing starting to pull away. Mid way through the back side of the course we had lost our 5th man and were down to 4 riders. We still had the chase car in sight and by the time we started the 2nd climb we were no farther back than about 50 seconds. However, the other riders I was with were getting tired so I started taking longer pulls up front.

By this time the chase for the front group was over and they pulled away from us.

Through the feed zone I was able to pick up some bottled water from my wife, that was very welcomed at the time. Downing the bottle it was time for the downhill. I lead our chase pack all the way down bombing the course to the flat middle section where we started rotating again until the next downhill where I led the whole way again.

At the bottom of the hill we had just over 10 miles to the finish line. It was a gradual 2.1% average climb, so nothing hard. We started out with a good steady pace until we saw a 1k to go sign (that happened to be 5 miles or so from the finish). At that point we started playing "Cat/Mouse" games and slowed way down. We continued our slow pace for another 3 miles or so picking up one of the dropped riders in front of us and having two riders catch us from behind...so now we were back up to 7 riders.

The two that caught us picked the pace of the pack up and were pushing harder than the rest of us, so we did some small rotations but much of the pack had lost the will to pull and I think were trying to rest for a final group sprint.

The real 1k to go sign finally came into view when one of the guys jumped. Everybody else went with him and we started jockeying for position for a final sprint...just for the fun of it. Knowing I was a sprinter, most wanted me to be the first to go so they could draft off me and try and pull around. I waited for a while until another guy jumped...then went into a full sprint. I put about 4 bike lengths on him before looking back to see where he was and letting up a little on my sprint crossing the line 1st in my chase pack....but 13th overall.

For the most part I'm happy with my performance. I couldn't have done anything differently to have placed higher since I couldn't hang with the better climbers on the hill. I pushed as hard as possible on the flats with the cross wind and the downhill, but couldn't make up enough ground to catch the lead groups. So overall...a good race.

If I could have been 15 pounds lighter...I might have stood a chance :P I was a good 10 pounds over my more ideal race weight (as seen by not so thin middle section in the pic below)...so theoretically I could have been lighter, but I was in good condition so I can't really complain.

July numbers

July was a good month for getting in lots of miles. I didn't have any races and for the most part my race season was over. The weather has been awesome with no rain during the month so I've been able to get out whenever I wanted.

I've mostly been riding 3 hours on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with either a day off or a short recovery ride on Friday...then group rides on Saturdays and medium paced rides on Sundays. I averaged around 15 hours a week on the bike and 270 miles or so.


Here are my numbers for July:

Total hours riding: 63 hours 45 minutes and 37 seconds
Total miles ridden: 1174.49 miles
Total TSS: 3717
Longest Ride: 102.02 miles

Power Numbers: Not great this month due to no racing

1 minute power: 570 watts
5 minute power: 409 watts
20 minute power: 361 watts
1 hour power: 315 watts

Next Race: OBRA State Championship Road Race.

I fully expect to get my butt kicked at this race with a 1800 foot climb about 10 miles into the race with one section that's about a mile long and averages 7%-8% for that section. I'm in OK shape, but not really race shape right now and am about 10-12 pounds heaver than my lightest point this year....so unless I'm near the front at the top of the climb (Doubtful) it's going to be for fun since those I could help will be in front of me and I'll be chasing them instead of helping them.

Such is life...should be fun anyway :)

June Numbers

June was a good month for me on the bike. I completed my final "A" race of the season, had my longest ride of the year, had more miles this month than any other month this year and since summer finally decided to show up I was able to get out and ride almost every day, which means I was able to get away from my trainer.

I'm currently putting in 15-17 hours a week with the nice weather. Basically 10 - 10.5 hours during the week and another 6 - 7 hours on the weekend with group rides and recovery rides.

Here are my numbers for June:

Total hours riding: 59:46:42
Total miles ridden: 1141.92 miles
Total TSS: 3297
Longest Ride: 114.02 miles (My longest ride ever)

Power Numbers:

1 minute power: 534 watts
5 minute power: 423 watts
20 minute power: 340 watts
1 hour power: Unknown, but likely around 330 - 340 watts during the State ITT Championships

Races:

State Championship Individual Time Trial: 3rd place in the Masters 40-44 age group

Next race: The OBRA Road Race Championships (maybe, depending on how I feel at the time)

OBRA ITT Championships

Yesterday was the OBRA (Oregon Bicycle Racing Association) Individual Time Trial Championships.

This was my second "A" race of the season aside from the TTT championships which took place 3 weeks ago. Originally the ITT championships were slated for the last week of July but due to some scheduling issues were moved up to the 2nd week of June. Overall, this was a good move because it's when many people are still in peak condition from the road race season...however, having it so close to the TTT I had to decide which one to peak for the most. Since the TTT is a team event and it was my best chance at winning a championship I chose that one.

Regardless of peaking, I still felt pretty good for this race. I hadn't been able to ride outside much over the last three weeks because of all the rain here in Oregon. We had surpassed our monthly average in the first three days of the month so I got to continue my relationship with my indoor trainer for most of June.

Looking at the start list I knew I wasn't going to be able to win my division since two of the fastest TT guys in the state were in my division, however 3rd place was a very distinct possibility. Last year Karsten Hagen beat me by 2 minutes 34 seconds and Paul Boucier beat me by 2 minutes and 48 seconds. This year Paul was the 2nd rider off, I was the 4th to last rider and Karsten was one minute behind me (two riders).

With the start list in mind, my goal was to hold off Karsten Hagen off as long as possible. I really wanted to ride under 55 minutes this year, but the weather wasn't conducive to super fast times because of a strong headwind on the return trip. Other than the wind the weather was great with temps around 70 degrees at start time.

Once underway I felt pretty good. I was able to keep my HR in the mid 160 range all the way out to the turn around point, which is better than I've done all season. My average speed was also right around 29 mph at the turn around which meant the return trip was going to be hard. One bright spot is Karsten hadn't passed me yet, so I was doing well up to this point.

After the turn around I struggled a little getting back into a rhythm with the headwind. One of the guys I passed on the way out passed me back shortly after the turn around. However, this was a good thing as it gave me somebody to pace off of. He originally put about 10 meters on me, but I was able to match pace with him over the next mile or so, then we hit a wooded section with less wind and I closed the gap and eventually passed him again for good.

Back in a descent rhythm I was still going well. Around mile 18.5 Karsten finally passed me, which put him 1 minute up on me at this time. Again, this wasn't all bad because it gave me somebody to pace off of again. I was able to keep him within 30 meters or so for about 3 miles before he finally pulled away enough that I couldn't pace off of him any longer.

Coming into the final stretch I still felt OK and pushed it hard over the last mile heading into the finishing stretch around 27mph - 28mph, crossing the line with a time of 56:02. It was a minute slower than I wanted to run this season, but given the wind it wasn't bad.

The one bright spot was that I could compare my times against Paul and Karsten to see if I had improved over last year. Our time differences were: Karsten had 1:32 on me and Paul had 2:30 so I had made up some time over them from last year. Overall, everybody's times were a little slower than last year and it looks like on average they were about a minute slower overall.

My time of 56:02 was fast enough for 3rd in my division (40-44) which was also the 2nd fastest group on the day...so I felt good knowing I gave it my best shot, performed better than last year and still came away with a medal. It's my first bronze medal, but now I have a matching set :D

For the most part my racing season is complete. I'm planning on doing a lot of base miles over the next two months, trying to get in 16-19 hours a week on the bike and just enjoy the ride for a while. I'm not going to specifically train for anything, but use hills for intervals and try and drop a few pounds. My next race will likely be the OBRA Road Race Championships where I'll race with the Masters. Then I'm thinking the Eugene Celebration road race to put a cap on the season.

For now though...it's all about miles and enjoying the ride on the new frame :-)

May numbers...

May was a good month overall. It was my largest training month so far this year including most miles ridden, most hours on the bike, TSS and Longest Ride of the year. Most of this was due to a long month, low number of races and some good riding near the end of the month including a couple of long group rides during the month.

Total hours riding: 53:10:10
Total miles ridden: 1064.32
Total TSS: 3305
Longest Ride: 72.96 miles

Total weight lost: 0 pounds (Leveled off over the last month due to "A" races the last week of May and the 2nd week of June).

Power Numbers:

1 minute power: 540 watts
5 minute power: 431 watts
20 minute power: 385 watts
1 hour power: Unknown, but likely around 330 - 340 watts during the State TTT Championships

Races:

State Championship Team Time Trial: 1st place, mens CAT 3....State Champions again :)

Next race up: The Individual State Championship ITT (June 13th)