my weekly race log

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.

Great - well done.

I long for girlish screams of delight when I win something. I might have to, you know, actually win something first. Nice work Shasta!

nice!

Thanks dudes.

A few other observations btw NorCal vs. SoCal: Race entry fees were CHEAP! Like $10 cheaper for 1st race. If you want to add another race it was only $7. I think I paid $14 to "double down" at my last race in the bay area.
That said, they add a surcharge to unattached racers (unofficially). I kinda like this, it encourages team riding and maybe makes the race safer? Helps build the cycling community?
No podium call-outs except for the P/1 race? (Rahsaan Bahati got 2nd) Throw us mid level ams a bone!
Pay outs/prizes were slightly above average, very welcomed to cover the gasoline expenditures (ouch, saw $4.89 for 87octane on the drive down).

Mrs. Shasta observed that it was nice to not be marked, I get very little leeway up here in as my signature move/1-trick ponyisms are not given much leeway.

Did the race on the Dunton test track again. Nothing much to report: it was windy this time, which discouraged breaks and there was a big bunch sprint in which I once again finished approximately 20th. I went for a prime again, but once again launched my sprint too soon and got swamped. On the final lap the pace went up and I fought my way up to third place on the climb, then deliberately stayed on wheels and didn't come through - in fact, let myself go back to about 6th knowing from past experience that if you get forced to the front it's game over. I'd memorized the numbers of those who were the strongest riders from previous races, and none of them were in front of me, so I was looking over my shoulder for the move from the big guns. Sure enough, the top sprinter was just behind me and to the right as we approached the final bend, but that was a stupid place to be as we were turning right and he got boxed in at the bottom of the banking. I heard a shout from behind me, someone to his team mates "we're boxed in lads, let's get the fuck out" and then it turned into mayhem. I got cut right up by someone coming from left to right and had to ease right off, then got going again but a crash seemed very much on the cards so I didn't push too hard (the difference between finishing 17th or 22nd isn't really worth risking a broken bone or frame over).

I used an app on my iphone to record the ride. One lap of the circuit is just over 1.72 miles and we did 14 laps (about 24 miles). Here's my average speed for each lap:
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r299/crunchydog_2006/dunton2junegraph.jpg
I think lap 7 is when I was going for the prime. You can see how it got cagey towards the end and then all went crazy in the last lap.

That doesn't tell the full story as each lap had a fast section that was partly downhill and with a tailwind and tougher drag into a headwind, so one any one lap the speed could fluctuate between 16 and 36mph:

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r299/crunchydog_2006/dunton2junegraph2.jpg

Raced the C's (slowest) group at the velodrome last night. Won the (10 lap) scratch race, shed off the back in the point-a-lap and points races :(. Embarassed by a bunch of juniors and fellow fat mantises. Still a lot of fitness to get back post crash.

win's a win though, so good!

scratch race = intensity and balls. good job.

raced a 40k 10 years to the day after the last one, nearly the same course. only 5.5 minutes slower, despite much more aero gear. >:( i knew it would be grim, but not _that_ bad.

frankly, when i turned onto the final 7 mi crosswind leg, i gave up really, i just rode without trying to pin it. watched two different pairs of clowns draft each other for a couple of miles each after passing me.

actually nearly 6 mins slower!

Tuesday night racing at the track again, raced in the C's division again. Won the burnout paceline, got boxed in by a bunch of juniors and finished far back in the scratch race, was doing real well in the miss-n-out until I rubbed hands with a different junior and decided to pull out, finishing fifth, skipped the points race at the end. Felt much faster than last week but still nowhere near where I was pre-injury. Still a lot of work to do.

Ugh, this San Pedro gran prix crit I'm about to do has 100+ ft of climbing per 1mile lap and 180degree hairpins on either end of the course. This is gonna hurt.

I lasted 25 miles in the bunch this morning (total race distance was about 55 miles), plus about three fruitless miles of keeping them within 200 metres but not being able to chase back on. Average speed 24mph, which disguises HUGE variations on each circuit (about 9.5 miles long): there was a stiff wind from the west which nobody wanted to be at the front for when we were heading west (and mostly uphill), so on these stretches it would slow down to 14mph at times, but then there was a long tailwind/crosswind up and down section where the pace was well over 30mph (my max was 37.4). I found myself suffering repeatedly on this section and went off the back four or five times (but only by about 10-20 metres), but dug in and chased back on until eventually I just couldn't do it any more.

I'm not especially displeased at that. It was good training and experience and I wasn't expecting to do well today: I hadn't raced for 2.5 weeks and had scarcely even ridden during that time (due to excessive work commitments) - just 38 miles last week and 31 this week until today - so I wasn't really in tiptop condition. I don't think there are any proper road races I can enter now until late August / early September.

Not the most thrilling footage, to be honest, but a brief clip of the bunch coming through a lap after dropping me. There was one guy out on his own 40 seconds clear of them. I didn't hang around to find out if he won.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTDdo-nVGVs&feature=channel_video_title

Dude in my 5s race was riding a Cervelo R5ca with SRAM red and zipp 404s...and got dropped in lap 2.

I was supposed to do two races this weekend... and did none.

Ah, ambition...

i ~watched~ a race this weekend, does that count

Won a snuggie prime (and 3rd overall) in the points race at the track tonight. Stoked!

Saxo Bank-SunGard

Alberto Contador
Jesus Hernandez
Dani Navarro
Benjamin Noval
Richie Porte
Chris Anker Sørensen
Nicki Sørensen
Matteo Tosatto
Brian Vandborg

whoops, wrong thread

Race two hour drive away today at 2:05pm. At 11am, I packed up my race bag, grabbed my bike, got in my car, got gas, rolled south on 101 about 10 miles when suddenly I noticed some increasing vibration coming from the back end of the car. Fuck. Took me 45mins to change the tire (to a spare that had a 50mph/50 mile range max) so that's that. FUCK!

Back out on the Velodrome for Tuesday Night Racing a few days ago. Finished 2nd in the 8 lap scratch, got one point in the 10 lap point-a-lap, sat in and rested in the unknown distance (turned out to be 11 laps) to rest up for the points race where I did not do as well as I'd hoped. Took the first (out of 3) sprints but wasn't able to hang on to contest the last one (I'd planned on letting the second one go) and ended up 5th (out of 14 racers) overall. This was in the 'C' class. The heartening thing is that this was after hardly riding for two weeks (car hit me 2 weeks ago, had nasty flu/congestion I was still getting over) and a bunch of guys I would regularly beat in training raced the 'B's and ended up finishing well. This gives me hope that I"ll be able to move up and hang once I get more hours in the saddle and my nose opens up. Track racing is really so much fun though. Such a tight-knit group of racers that all compete hard but really care for each other, and also a pretty dedicated crew of spectators that come out every week and drink and heckle. Just overall a great scene.