my weekly race log

I skipped that race (9 days ago) in the end: I still wasn't well enough to ride, never mind race. So, I was back in action today, for another circuit race at Hog Hill. I wore shorts for the first time this season, but it was actually still a bit cold and very, very windy. The race was for 1 hour plus 3 laps, so a bit longer than the other road races I've done this season.

I managed to stay in the bunch for 4 or 5 laps then got gapped. I fought hard to get back to the wheel of the rider in front, but by the time I'd caught him he'd been dropped too. I thought we could work together to get back on, but he was spent and just disappeared behind. Then I spent about five minutes riding as hard as I could trying to get back on, but all I could do was hold the gap at about 6 or 7 seconds. Really frustrating: I kept hoping they'd ease up at a bend, but it just didn't happen, and the sections in a headwind felt like I was riding into a hurricane. Eventually the gap started to widen and the game was up.

I'd been racing less than 20 minutes by this stage (so only about a quarter of the race) so that was a bit dispiriting. I knew there were six riders behind me, the closest about 30 seconds back, so I just freewheeled for a while and waited for him as I really didn't fancy riding the rest of the race on my own. We worked together and then eventually we picked up a third rider. We got lapped, but to be honest it was just a training ride (for us) by that stage. I was almost completely gone towards the end and got dropped by my two companions on the final lap before chasing them down at the foot of the final hill. I tried an attack with about 150m (up a 1-in-8 hill) but went too soon and got caught and passed. Meh.

A couple of photos:
Me sitting in that much sought after spot near the back of the bunch early on -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/londoncyclesport/4496470212/sizes/o/
And then suffering up the climb fifteen minutes later an agonising 6 seconds behind the bunch -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/londoncyclesport/4495833351/sizes/o/

tour of the battenkill, so horrible:

http://i42.tinypic.com/2lxxvzl.png

jesus christ. cutty how'd you go?

56/100

my handlebars kept slipping all race so i couldn't really relax--on the dirt and gravel sections everytime i hit a hole it was scary as shit. wasn't climbing as well as i did on this course last year. 82 miles, 8 dirt sections, whew...

not sure if this will work:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/29638435

that one crit i was in a while back, one of the brifters came loose - does NOT inspire a great deal of confidence

so i feel u on this one

cutty ur post inspired a garmin purchase today. if only it could give me fitness cure my deep seated fear of winning.

My road race ~debut~ report:

25mph gusts, torrential rain (1.5 inches alone during the 2+ hours when I was out on the course).

I was beyond soaked... like, no shit, rain was so sideways in the crosswind I had a raindrop score a direct hit to my EARDRUM. *splat* That was an odd first time sensation.

But really, so much fun. All morning long, the fields were completely shattered (including my heat from the first 1/4 mile, the moto judge was laughing and told us "well, you've already got 100 yards on them").

But because of the utter shattering of fields and people wearing (multiple!) jackets over their numbers (except at the finish where numbers had to be displayed) it was hard to tell placement. I heard I got 5th (from my teammate who finished 3rd), then I heard 10th, then I heard 6th (from my teammate who finished we think 3 places behind me)... but I have no idea, it was crazy just to finish without crashing. Results should be official tomorrow.

My heat was 100 riders, 45 mile (2 laps x 22.5), mostly rollers with a few 5 minute uphill efforts, very cruel uphill start/finish on some poorly maintained country roads.

100 REGISTERED riders, I think the starter said there were 75 bodies present at the start.

just found this on google blog search, pretty entertaining:
http://ctscycling.blogspot.com/2010/04/spring-hill-two-rock-road-race-report.html

HARDMAN SHASTA!!

what is the strategy on dirt racing? do you take a couple psi out of the front/back? dudes clip one leg out on the dirt descents?

wow nice ride shasta. knew u would tho.

awww thx dawg. actually thought of U as i solo'd in the last 18 miles ("damn i could use some TT bars right abt now" he wondered aloud to himself in the gale force thunderstorm and howling winds...)

do you know your result yet?!

No results have been submitted for this event.
Please check with the event organizer to see if results are available.

what is the strategy on dirt racing? do you take a couple psi out of the front/back? dudes clip one leg out on the dirt descents?

― ✌.✰|ʘ‿ʘ|✰.✌ (Steve Shasta), Monday, April 12, 2010 3:25 PM (Yesterday)/

low tire pressure helps, i was rolling on hutchinson intensive tubeless tires at 90/100 psi

besically you just try to relax and watch for holes--the dirt is packed pretty hard. hard to breathe after the race because you inhale so much dirt dust.

my thing was to stay all the way to the front esp esp at surface transitions. in a way everyone trying to get to the front just makes it sketchier tho.

i took 1:20 off my tt this week. that meant the 60 y/o tt god who starts 1:20 behind me didn't pass me this time.

ok, he still totally caught me, but like a minute later. u_u

haha... is this guy an early retiree with all the time/$$$ on his hands to get as aero as possible?

nice work, so it's same course over a multiweek series? with same start order?

he races masters for my old team, and he's pretty damn fast. when he goes by...he is sorta small, very low, flat and fluid. leipheimeresque. he woulda placed 5th in the small 14 racer p-1-2 field.

thanks. welp, i figured that w/out any intervals or intensity training id be like, maybe a midpack 4? this week i rode like a top 20% 4, so...victory, bitches!

(lolz i finished 2nd to last in my 35+ cat 3 last week. i blew up like space shuttle challenger. in my aero as fuck aerohelmet, mind you.)

lets make animated movie about the tt scene, it is perfect for that type of takedown.

it doesn't make sense to have categories in TT does it? i understand for crits/road/track where you interact with other racers but does category just regulate distance of TT? school me.

we r all specail, we r all winners

fat masters want as many age groups and cats as possible. then they wanna move down one and win.

jake and the fat mantis official results:

time: 02:13
distance: 45.7 miles
avg speed: 20.5mph (max 42.9mph)
elevation gain: 3,104 feet
power: 263W (max 505W)
place: 7th out of 75 starters (only 43 finishers!)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2775/4521216074_3fe6d80ff4.jpg

great job mushroom head

excellent result. was that your first ever road race?

yes! the hell of the north (bay)

Back in action again today. This was my sixth road race (or 'circuit race', I suppose) this year and the for the first time the weather was unambiguously good: no puddles, no ice, no hailstones, no driving rain, no gale force winds, just lovely spring sunshine (filtered through volcanic ash, naturally). Also, this race was just 45 minutes long (compared to my last one which was an hour plus three laps, so about 50% longer). I was happy about both of these things.

The field was the biggest I've been in this year (either 47 or 48 riders). I managed to stick with the bunch almost the entire way this time, which was good. The lack of wind meant the pace was pretty high and Hog Hill is a very technical course (lots of ups and downs and very tight bends) which made for some hairy moments. For example, there's a right hand bend shortly after a descent which you normally hit at about 26mph, today we were going 33mph into it and I saw someone overshoot it and do a bit of involuntary cyclocross. Also there were some nervous riders drifting all over the place and several people whose chains came off, causing a lot of sudden braking.

I don't have the official results yet, but I would guess I was about 30th. There must have been about 30 of us still in the bunch nearing the end and nobody out ahead of us (there were two or three attempts at breakaways, but nothing lasted long). With three laps to go I didn't feel I had any kind of sprint left in my legs and I was in my usual position hanging onto the back of the bunch, so I thought I would try to force my way to the front and try a do-or-die effort on the climb. I didn't expect it to work, but I thought it would be better to try something and fail than to hang on for an unspectacular back-of-the-bunch finish. However, forcing my way up the bunch proved too tricky - I got about two thirds of the way but then got blocked. Shortly after that, on the climb, there was a crash in front of me. I managed to avoid the rider who hit the deck, but I lost contact. I spent the penultimate lap chasing hard about 20 metres off the back, but got slaughtered on the final lap and must have been about a minute behind the winner in the end. I caught and overtook three riders on the final climb, but I think they were probably already lapped.

Distance: 17.5 miles, Average Speed: 22.6mph (so the winner probably did 23mph)

last week- race lightning/hailed out
this week- filing response briefs instead

missing races, costing me $$$$ fuk

lolz @ lawyers

I was supposed to be doing a 25-mile time trial today, but there had been so much rain over the past 24 hours that part of the course was flooded and the event was nearly cancelled. The organisers managed to change it to a 10-mile time trial instead. The course is a slow one (I rode it twice last year and my fastest time was 28.17, nearly four minutes slower than my PB of 24.24 on a faster course) even at the best of times, and today was far from the best of times: cold (temperature down from over 20C/70F a few days ago to below 10C/50F), windy and very wet. Consequently loads of people didn't even turn up.

I was no.28 and rode over to the start and saw no.17 seemingly waiting to go so I figured I had at least 11 minutes to continue warming up. I went and warmed up for another 7 minutes (it was too cold to be standing around waiting by the start) and then turned up at the start only to find I'd missed my start by 30 seconds. It turns out that no.17 had had a puncture and didn't actually take part, so I'd picked the wrong person to base my start time on. Fortunately as so many people had dropped out I only had to wait 3 minutes until I was allowed to take the place of a non-starter.

There was a strong headwind for the outbound section and it was as much as I could do to keep my average speed at 20mph. I caught and passed my two-minute man before the turn and never saw another rider ahead or behind after that. The return was faster and I managed to finish in 27.54, a new best for that course. However, I won't officially be given that time as I'll be penalised for missing my start.

getting routed:

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

YAY!

FATTANTE

no shoe covers?

do not own. i have those little pi toe warmer covers though, they might help me do aero. i also need to get my elbows in a couple inches, but my shoulders don't like narrow.

ok so i was back to second last this week and im a little puzzled on that. i like to hope that the 30mph wind maybe was not quite so bad for the early starters?

killer pic of pain cave performance!

killer pic of complete melanin depletion. long winter, cold spring

http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/ttchart.jpg

$1.67 per second!

ok so i kinda love that chart

i am stupid, can someone explain yaw to me? is it the angle of wind toward the rider?

i think it's the force trying to rotate you/bike around the z axis

shasta that's what i understand it as

like that zipp disc that generates negative drag or whatever when the wind hits it at a certain angle

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