5 mile pass

My first A race of the season, my third mountain bike race of the season, and my fifth race of the season. The plan was to win. That's why I trained since November.

I am tired of saying that plan didn't work out again. I played catch up from the start line, never catching anyone. Again.

I am consistently in the top five finishers yet have been unable to get the win. I consistently fail to hang with the fastest group at the start.

This race was interesting in its time trial feel. Although there were plenty of climbs and technical areas there was nowhere to rest behind someone and take a rest. It is so easy to pass that its full gas the whole race.

There were definitely a few spots that I performed faster than others, partly due to my leaving my brain at the start line, and partly due to pre-riding. I distinctly remember one blind fast left turn where I zoomed by someone on the second lap, the awesome bobsled section where people actually got out of my way (yeah, on race day), and even walking up that ridiculous 34% grade, choosing to walk on the right side where everyone else chose left.

I haven't looked at my numbers yet but I don't feel I could have gone harder overall. I keep analysing and hoping I can find that key to be on the top step.

I got passed by 3rd place for the last time at the beginning of the second lap just as I started eating shot blocks. That seems to be a pattern. Maybe I should learn to spit it out, cover the attack, and try again later.

I kept that guy within 1/4 mile but couldn't reel him in. With two miles to go I saw him walking up a climb and thought I would catch him, but he looked back, saw me, and started running up the hill, jumped on his bike, and the next time I saw him he was feet from the finish. THAT is what I need. Somehow to muster some strength on demand.

I recently read a headline wondering if the Shleck brothers lack that killer instinct. I don't want to be that guy but I feel that way. Bah.

I climbed well. I stuck with everyone I climbed with and passed a few. I feel I descended well, again catching and passing. I finished relatively strong, given that I definitely felt weaker on my second lap. Did I have anything left? Sure didn't feel like it. Overall a good performance. I feel strong. The next 3 weeks should be interesting.

Cholla v.2.0

This course is fast. I said it a bunch of times: this course is made for a "rouleur"; a person that can put down some power on the flats forever. I was intimitated by that little fact because I seldom see myself as that type of a racer so I turned it into a personal challenge.

2 years ago I enjoyed this race as a learning experience. This year it's part of my hunt for the Intermountain cup series points.

The warmup

I am feeling good about my warmup technique. 1 hour at zone 2 with 2 really hard efforts thrown in to shake up the legs. Nothing revolutionary; it's pretty well documented. It worked well for Red Rock Rampage and Cholla so far.

This time the added bonus of meeting Oil can racer and getting racing tips from him helped me relax and have someone to stay in zone 2 with. Cool guy.

The start

The race started nearly 30 minutes late. My perfect warmup was in jeopardy. I was getting cold.

Lining up has been frustrating to me so far. I try to place myself near the front but others seem to find ways to make their way futher forward by encroaching on other groups or probably just being more aggressive and bumping elbows in the start area. This time a nice guy (turns out to be Michael Funk from Krank Munkeyz) told me he didn't want to be up front and let me in front of him, which put me on the front line.

Maybe I was kind of annoyed at the whole starting line up situation. I took off full speed and noticed one of the big guys from Racers Cycle next to me going just a little faster. This guy is always in the start corral saying how he's never in contention and he always gets dropped. And he's racing for the hole shot? Not today my friend. By the first turn it was all mine. I owned that start. Mine.

The race

Since I got the hole shot, which during the effort I decided I wanted so I wouldn't lose touch of the frong guys by getting stuck behind slow guys, I stayed up front until someone passed me. I rode hard but within my limits. As a matter of fact my heart rate was right at threshold until the slickrock climb. Perfect.

When I made the first 90 degree right turn I looked back to see the impact I was making. I expected a big bunch right behind me but found that I stretched out and even split the group within the first mile; there are really only a dozen racers close to me. That may have given me a shot of adrenaline so I kept going at my pace. Someone's bound to pass me soon.

It was about 3 miles before someone passed me. If I remember right I took two more climbs and a few more descents before someone finally went by on the rocky river bed. After the second climb I looked back and found there were only 3 of us.

Mini retrospective

The good, the bad, and the ugly of this starting strategy:

• Good: My pace. I was dictating the pace and staying within my abilities. I wasn't trying to hold on to someone else's pace which can be a psychological game.


• Really good: I got the impression I demoralized some of the group early. Like they have done to me in the past. Maybe that's not true but at least I felt I was stronger than most and used it to my advantage rather than wait and see. Nice display of aggressive racing.


• Bad: I worked. Did I work harder than if I were trying to keep up with the fastest guy from the start? Probably not. If the fastest guy got the hole shot the pace would have been harder. Maybe.


• Really bad: I didn't handle accelerations when I got passed.

The rest of the race

Interestingly I got passed and managed to not keep up again. I can't remember enough details but I am thinking the attackers purposefully wait for their moment to pass in traffic where they can get through but I can't. It's like they wait for the very last moment, pounce, and leave me waiting behind a slower person. By the time I get through, I have a bunch of room to make up and I haven't been able to yet.

I totally ate up the flat sections. I stayed low and reeled in and passed some people. Rather than get passed I did the passing. THAT was a good thing. As I said at the beginning I challenged myself to get rid of this stigma that I'm not good at TTs. I'm getting there. And it felt awesome. Damn hard, but awesome.

As always the bottle handoff was perfect. I was feeling good before the second lap, had a drink, tossed the bottle, got the second all while doing about 14mph, and moved through the technical section at the start. I had some food on the flat straight stretch before the slickrock.

On the wider rocky ascent after the slickrock came a pass from a UMB racer (Dave Benson is the name). He was on a mission. I kept up for a few feet and blew up. It was a sad, sad moment where it appears my heart rate reached 198 bpm and I had to say goodbye. I really thought I could keep him within reach and recovered for awhile before trying to get back to him. He wasn't too far for most of the single track but once I reached the rocky riverbed I lost sight of him. I hunted for him for the rest of the race but he was gone.

Last lap, fast flat section, I see a group of 5-7 riders. UMB guy must be in that group. I must catch that group. I caught those guys just before the single track section that climbs back to the finish which is a nice strong effort, but didn't see UMB guy. I may have startled 4th place guy without knowing though. I was looking for a UMB jersey and didn't know I got close to the Red Rock guy (Steve Larson) that passed me early in the race with the eventual winner. I later found out I missed 4th place by 16 seconds.

Stats

Lap 1: 35:50
Lap 2: 39:24 ish
0:16 slower than 4th place
2:52 slower than the winner

5 days in warmth

Took off from home Friday evening @ 30 degrees. Stopped in st George for the night. Woke up to 40 ish degree. Fixed alternator and moved on to bootleg canyon.

First ride of the weekend was in awesome 64 ish degrees up girl scout, caldera, boy scout, and down armaggedon. Um, armaggedon bad. Really bad. Bring downhill bike and balls. Made it back as sun was setting. all pieces attached. Great first mountain bike ride of the season.

Next day was mother to imba to an unknown trail to caldera backwards to west end back to mother. Fun ride. Then a nice afternoon stroll on the road bikes.

7:00 next morning we are kicked out of the parking lot by a film crew. Off to blue diamond. We rode a section of the cottonwood trail there then moved on to red rock to ride the scenic 13 mile loop which was lovely as always.

Bye bye Vegas, up to Arizona's virgin river recreation area where we stayed the night and got a good little hike in with the pup. No sign of decent biking around there so we head for gooseberry mesa.

It's now barely 45 degrees and 17 mph winds. Time to HTFU. Rode 20 miles to and around windmill, bowls and ledges, north rim, yellow, and south rim. actually was great to be sheltered by trees and bluffs. Legs are dead.

Evening comes and temperature drops. We head back to st George and gain at least 10 degrees. We stay at the red rock rampage race site and I try to remember the course in the morning.

Whew. That's a bunch of rides. We leave the trailer in st George since we're coming back in 3 weeks and I get a break from driving on the way back.

Back to work tomorrow.

2010 season summary

484 training and racing hours

My training plan started as a 500 hour year. After filling in my plan with my expected races and season length it added up to 481 expected hours. Although I surpassed the planned hours there were some times where I added non-training hours such as riding my bike to work and taking the dog for a walk. I estimate less that 5% of the 484 were non-training hours, leaving 460 actual training and racing hours. That is plenty. That is nearly 1/4th of a full time job.

Having a training plan is definitely beneficial for me as it motivates me to have a purpose to my bike rides, with the ultimate goal of improving my times and positions at important races.

4921 road miles

That's a lot of miles. Good thing I have a great bike.

1153 mountain bike miles

I find that number hard to believe. If I average 15 miles per mountain bike outing it means I got out on over 75 rides. As much as I would like that to be true, the number is likely inaccurate due to some road rides being added to it by mistake. I'm guessing the most I rode on the dirt is 500 miles, approximately 33 rides averaging 15 miles in length. That adds 653 miles to my road miles: 5574 road miles.

25 races

First race was April 10th, last race October 9th. A bunch of weekly races, weekend races, and stage races later: I am happy to be done. This was more than double the races I attended last year.

17 top tens

More than half my results were top ten. I had a season goal to achieve five and reached seventeen. I can live with that.

1 DNF

My only DNF is a crash at the Tour of Utah amateur criterium. I never quit a race nor had any mechanical misfortune which is great. I was fortunate that the crash did not impact my season; I walked away with minor bruises instead of broken bones.

Achieved season goals

Part of a training plan is to generate some measurable goals for the season. All three goals were achieved and the goals easiest to measure were clearly shattered. The mountain biking goal was achieved at 24 hours of Moab but is more of a binary result: Did it. Check.

1 out of 3 training objectives

Another portion of the training plan is to set up objectives to help reach the season goals. I threw some objectives together to improve my power output so I can improve my race results. I didn't reach my power improvement numbers. I achieved one out of three objectives: To train at least 4 days per week. Turns out that was very easy to achieve.

Suggestions for improvement

• Improve regular testing. VO2 max and power tests should be completed at least twice per year. If my most recent test is accurate it shows my heart rate zones have changed dramatically. I should also perform self-tests after each training cycle.
• Only log true training hours. Maybe. It ends up meaning more training since "family" and commuting time is excluded. Should result in better fitness.

What's in a few numbers anyways?

At the beginning of last season I got tested for my VO2 max and power. I was given a few numbers to use for training such as functional threshold power, power zones, heart rate zones, and max heart rate. Pretty cool stuff to use, and good information at the beginning of a relatively serious training period of my life.

This morning - technically two seasons later - I got tested again by a completely different group to see what my VO2 max was. This was a much quicker test and it actually felt easier probably because I now knew what to expect.

The results were pretty nice although I am uncertain of the credibility of the tests. I just didn't get the feeling this test was very important to the people administering the tests.

I do feel good that every number increased 15 to 20% except my heart rate, where my threshold dropped from 185 to 180 ish. It's a sign of two things: getting old and my body adapting to training. I like the training part.

Next: Get tested by TOSH / Max Testa's group at the beginning of next season. I need to experience what test administered by a world class cycling specialty shop feels like.

LOTOJA v2.0

My first attempt at LOTOJA went well, reaching a great time of 9:59:45 despite working to catch the group much of the morning after a team mate flatted early.

This year I had a season goal of 9:40, a 20 minute improvement on my first year, which I felt was attainable but difficult to reach. I posted this goal in our "gym" so I can be reminded twice a week when we strength trained. I trained quite a bit more and more intelligently this year therefore I was feeling pretty confident about my chances. I wanted to win this race as I do for all my A races.

Thanx to the Spider Bait team for setting a high pace, thanx to favorable winds, and thanx to a nice yet cold day, I obliterated my season goal. I finished 206 miles in 9:05:28. Nine hours and five minutes. Crazy.

What's really crazy is that time only yielded me 5th place. Five of us worked together extremely well from the KOM all the way to the finish, and I didn't favor my chances sprinting so I attacked at 2k to go. It was all I had to get 1st place and wasn't successful so 5th place is what I end up with. I still don't have a win. But it feels pretty good to have 6th overall out of a thousand or more entries. We beat the Cat 1s! One person beat the group of five I was in. One. I am now within 3 minutes 44 seconds of the LOTOJA course record. THAT is pretty awesome.

Garmin data

Timing data

Powering up for the finish!

(I have a bunch of catching up to do with this blog...won't be tonight though)

I recently restarted using my PowerTap after it being out of commission since June due to some less than awesome Williams wheel problems. I started training with power and reviewing my output again hoping that I had improved in the last few months. And finally tonight I download my data and find this most awesome graph from a training ride up Trapper's loop two days ago:



That graph shows I beat my personal best 10, 30, and 60 minute power outputs! In one workout! Now we're talking! Maybe this structured training thing works.