Tour de Coalville

First we must settle the name issue. I know it was called Tour de Park City. You have to actually *go* to the place the ride is named from to earn its name. Sorry organizers.

Why did I race?

This was a "B" race for me: if it turned out, great; otherwise use it as a good training day. I can say it was both. It turned out to be a great race but of course I had hopes to earn better results. I am getting quite used to top ten results. I like top ten results. Most importantly, this is all part of the setup for my last "A" race of the season: LOTOJA.

Fitness

Once again I couldn't quite stick with the fast guys. What's nice this time is I have an excuse. Even a good one. Really. "It's by design".

Looking at my heart rate numbers and knowing I didn't stick with the fast guys usually kills me and makes me doubt this whole racing thing, but this time I am fine with it because I am at a relatively low fitness time in my training schedule. Joe Friel has a nice case study blog post on this. I believe Joe Friel. I know Rogers won't get it. Most people won't get it. Maybe someday they will. Or maybe I'm kidding myself and this is just another excuse.

Numbers don't lie. As you can see in the graph (or Garmin Connect) my heart rate never got to zone 5. Apparently I didn't work very hard at all. I felt like I worked pretty hard. My legs were quite unhappy. Maybe I shouldn't have raced at Snowbasin the previous Wednesday. Both events were a good portion of my Build training phase. I'm good with it.

Overall

15th out of 40ish racers. Nothing to be excited about.

Unless I step back and consider the whole race. The team did a great job with this race again. We set an early tempo then Adam went on a crazy 50 mile solo breakaway. Ryan and I did a good job letting Adam get away. As a matter of fact we still believe the pack completely forgot Adam existed. Could have been awesome. Ryan and I did great communicating and reminding each other of our tactics. We actually toyed with the group. Always fun.

Individually I can accept my results. I *should* have stuck with the lead group. I *should* have covered the attack on the climb. I got to within a 50ish feet of them near the top where #444 was able to bridge but I didn't. I *should* have. I actually did a nice job mentally pushing myself up the climb. I improved my mental toughness during this race and that is worth the price of admission for me. There is no way to replicate this race-level effort outside of a race. Those adversaries pushed me well and I was able to keep them close. I'm getting closer to staying right there with them.

I descended well, but I just can't compete with a pack of 12+ guys nor guys heavier than me. Featherweight curse. If only the race ended at the top of the climb.

So I got gapped at the top of the climb. I got caught by two Masters 35+ racers on the descent. Then the three of us got caught by a large group of Category 4 racers. Then pretty much tempo to the finish with a few failed attack attempts. I tried a final attack at mile 145 but just didn't have what it took to gap the group. I responded pretty well to the final sprint which I believe earned me 4th place out of the second group, probably thanx to a weird finish with a bunch of unexpected turns.

Two years

The first time I raced this event was a completely different story. This year I performed as a racer. Feels good.

1 season goal shattered

When I started my training season I set goals to achieve. I reached and surpassed my desire to earn 5 top 10 finishes. As a matter of fact only two of the twelve races I entered this year are outside the top ten.

Last year's results: Out of 12 races I reached 3 top 10s, excluding team events. This is going in the right direction. Structured training appears to work.

Low expectations yield good results

Results wise my best two races of the year have been "training races". In April I raced Tax Day Circuit race in Idaho and earned a third place. Today I also earned a third place at the Utah state mountain biking championship at Solitude.

The races I have planned and trained for have left me with 8th and 6th place results. What's wrong with this picture?

High Uintas results

Stage 1 - road race

As I previously mentioned I was physically ready for this race. I was on. For 24.5 miles apparently. I still cannot believe how strong some of those racers are. I felt excellent for the first 20 miles, to the point that went to the back of the pack to warn my team member that I planned on dishing out some pain at mile 25. Then the pain came without any of my help. Then "the pain" did what they planned on doing which is to weed out the weak, myself included. At mile 24 there is a serious increase in pitch, which I handled but redlined me, then came a flatter section that I needed to recover in. Unfortunately the group decided to recover for approximately 1.5 seconds then proceeded to punish the flat section. That was it for me. I seriously felt a switch shut my body off. My legs, lungs, heart just turned off and the 10ish people behind me went around me and left. Until that point I was feeling quite comfortable in the top 5-10 of the group. Pop.


My body made me recover so I took a 1/2 mile or so to get myself out of zone 5 and started pacing myself for recovery. After a little while things started working again so I stepped up the pace. I passed the 28 mile feed zone pretty annoyed but feeling ok, then crested the KOM, then started a great descent.

I don't remember if I passed number 305 or if he caught up to me on the descent, but I know I caught up to 311 and another non-cat 4 person. The four of us descended together although the rest of the group just wasnt' up to par, just weren't as crazy as I am downhill.

Then came the flats and the winds. I am *not* the guy to ride with in the wind, yet only 305 was equal or better than me in the flats. The other two were nearly useless. At mile 60 number 305 decided he had enough of our pace and attacked. Nice attack I must say. He waited until I was pulling the group, waited for a significant incline, and sprinted up it. I tried to follow, knowing the other two were too weak, and couldn't since I had been up front doing work. Number 305 had a 15 mile TT to finish. I wasn't worried actually, if he could hold 15 miles in that wind by himself he deserved it.

Now we're down to two of us: me and number 311. The fourth member got popped when 305 attacked, never saw him again. 311 tries to help but can't do much, and by the time mile 69 comes along I start feeling like we need to reel in 305. We're running out of time. 311 does a good job stepping up, and I step up the pace, and we catch 305 with 1-2 miles to go. Then he sucks our wheel, recovers, and outsprints me like I'm standing still. Note to self: learn to sprint. 311 had told me he wasn't going to contest the sprint since I towed him for 40ish miles. That is sportsmanship.

Stage 2 - time trial

As noted earlier I am not the guy for the flats or the winds therefore individual time trials are not so good for me. I am improving though and was able to pull out a 24.1 mph average. 10th place out of 16. My hope was to mitigate my losses and I only slipped one position on the GC after the time trial, which, if I was to lose to someone it may as well be my team mate Ryan. Good enough.

I am told that a TT bike can improve my speed by 3 mph, so I just need to spend money and I will automatically beat everyone. Sweeeeeet.

Stage 3 - criterium

The criterium was fun but tough. I actually enjoy that course quite a bit.

I was marking 311 the whole time since he had to gain a few seconds on me to take away my 6th place in the GC. He went away from the pack a few laps from the end so I just had to stay ahead of him. I wasn't going to contest for 5th place since that position was occupied by a team mate.

I stuck with the lead group until the final lap then just decided to shut it off when I noticed 311 was nowhere near. I saw Liam on the side of the road pedaling slowly and akwardly. He had attacked at 2 laps to go, was gone, and had a chain problem. He had the race. That really sucks.

Overall

I earned a 6th place overall. I don't know if it is counted as 6th out of 45+ since that many did the road race or 6th out of 16 since that many started the third event, but either way it's decent. Top 5 would have been better but Ryan deserves it due to his superior TT skills.

A good race developed between 4th and 7th places, and we created some friendships out of the deal. Decent weekend of racing. Yes, it was THAT hard on me.

Ready for the Second most important race of the season

The most important being LOTOJA in September.

High Uintas Classic is my second A race of the season. I feel ready because I am more fit than I have ever been, I have been doing decent in other races, I strictly followed a training regimen (as if I can do it any other way), and I have a crapload of training time and miles in. 3851 riding miles and 312 exercise hours since November when I started this training plan.

Tonight I rode my favorite Layton Ridge route with my bike in race condition. My Williams 19s surprised me again as they roll extremely well downhill due to their ceramic bearings. The wheels are quick and nimble as well, ready to pounce uphill or during a sprint. My bike is one pound lighter with those wheels and I am starting to think it rolls better downhill than with my Williams 38s (because of the PowerTap non-ceramic bearings); trust me it makes a difference.

I rode without my usual Camelbak, without spare tube or CO2, with only one water bottle, totally race-like. It was liberating actually. It's going to be good.

The weather is even going to cooperate. Unbelievable.

2 millimeters

A bolt broke off on my bike's seat post last week, causing the seat to slide down and causing me to ride my bike like a low rider. I temporarily repaired the seat post and adjusted it to what I thought was 69.5 centimeters - the height I was fitted at.

I immediately felt like the bike was a bit high but I thought it was just in my head. I re-measured the height and it looked good.

The very next ride my right knee starts feeling weird in a knee-injury-relapse kind of way. I rode for 3 hours Saturday and it started feeling weird also. After 2 of those 3 hours I decide to stop, lower my seat 2 millimeters, and see if it improves. Pain gone. Problem solved. 2 millimeters. I am *that* picky.

Bear Lake 2010

This is my third year racing the Bear Lake classic and most definitely my best yet.

Saturday's road race was enjoyable for me because I was part of the action and trying to cause trouble up front. This year I was strong enough to mess with the Cat 4 group by attacking a few times and stretching the group to make them catch us. In contrast last year was spent hanging in the pack pretty much bored, and the first year I got dropped in the rollers partially due to a front wheel problems.

This year our team was in the action most of the day. Liam took off on an early breakaway, I took off in the early and late rollers, and we drove the pack during the last couple miles. Great workout.

Unfortunately the results are no good: a 20th place finish. Same finish time as the winner, part of the 45 racers that finished together. I don't know what can be done to split this group at Bear Lake. I don't know it can be done in Cat 4.

Sunday was the team time trial where Adam, Brent, Jerry, Ryan, and I earned a second place for the Cat 4-5 group by finishing 50 miles in 1:57. It was a tough pace, I felt strong during the event, and ended up being the third wheel at the finish after Jerry and Brent dropped off. I couldn't keep Adam's wheel in the last mile so I had a one mile individual time trial.

My endurance has arrived. Legs felt good after the weekend. My training is paying off, now let's get some results.