Monday, May 4, 2009
May training BILL
This has been quite a crazy week. I did most of what the coach-me-prescribed for last week. It was fantastic doing the bridging intervals with another rider-Steve. We took turns starting the reps and chased harder than ever before. IT was the best set-up for the BIs that I've done. There is no doubt that Steve is a really strong rider.
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Racing for respect. After I totally got fooled by great racing in PA, I needed to try to make a mark in racing again for ME. I want to show myself that I am capable of racing at the highest level of tactics, ability, and competitive understanding. That happened at the Fort Lee crit. There were quite a few really good riders that showed up for this event.
ReplyDeleteAfter several really boring laps that were just checking each other, I saw a move go. Trembley and a Nature's Path were gone. A Haymarket rider started to go across and could not go. I jumped across(thanks BIs) in a half a lap and we were a three man. Trembley was really pulling hard and the Nature's Path was in trouble a few times. We traded a few and he was falling off(8 teammates in the main field). I tried to get him to just sit in, but it was all too late.
We got caught and no sooner than I got back in, a young guy went down in front of me and four of us we toastee. Just bruises for me-ego the most.
I TTed and played "helper" the rest of the ride. It ended up being great training, with some excitement thrown in for good measure. Certainly I mistimed the real wining break, as Jared was missing from the group. He teamed up with Trembley to reform the break and win the day.
I can't wait to risk everything again the next time too, even in the wrong move! It's racing!
Bill - I have fotos of you pre-wreck, in the break. If the third Natures Vally guy had a better team, they would have let Jared cross over and worked for thier rider to get fourth. They chased when a rider (I think Jared) went after you guys. Check my blog for fotos. Also on my Facebook. By the way, Jack Sucks as a race photographer. He got about thirteen pictures of my butt as I entered turn two in various stages of hurt. Not one pict of me in the group looking strong. Not even when I was pulling stragglers together.
ReplyDeleteI might have missed the race photos of the break. I'm sure I knew how they looked. In my head I see pain, that grin, and a beer belly looking up at me. Thanks for cheering me on. Did you think I missed that break when it went?
ReplyDeleteToo bad that kid caused you to go down, boss. First the riders refused to pull in the casey crit and now this. I have no doubt that you'll be up there with the podium girls later on this summer though . . . .
ReplyDeleteToday I did the 3x10 min LT indoors, as we had a faculty meeting after school. I have been a bit wobbly on the left side today. My muscular recovery was great, but today I REALLY felt the bruising all over the kingdom. The only place that I felt on the bike was in the left calf where I caught the pedal. Ohhh restless sleep.
ReplyDeleteThe LTs went quite well regardless. I got into the grove each time and was able to keep the power numbers high center of the zone~ easily. For some reason, I think my LT has gone up even more, as there were times that I questioned what I was seeing for numbers. Any rate, I watched Bryan Vaughn's Battenkill race video and some of Walkersville. It really helped pass the time and I quite think that Vaughn is a tactically savvy athlete. He doesn't push too hard when he has to move, but looks for opportunities for moving up or off. I love that he constantly looks to his numbers when in TT mode.
It seems that a bunch of us ended up getting a dnf for the race on Sunday, even though I did not get pulled. Who cares about that when I got so much learning in! The t-shirt was a bonus.
Yay for the t-shirt! I have to say that it was a lot easier to pay $25 for a race when you at least get to go home with a shirt and $6 worth of gel & bars!
ReplyDeleteIt seems that I did more to the bike in the crash than originally thought. Right shifter is fubar. I left school on Wed to do the bookends and quickly noticed that I could not downshift. I rode down Laf Blvd in the 53x23 doing 150rpms and only doing 16mph. I still wanted to get the workout in and choose to hit the longest hill where I can modulate between the 53 and 39.
ReplyDeleteI hooked up with Twister and he did them with me. On the steep park hill, I jumped, settled into the LT, and sprinted at the top. The reps were about 30 sec short, but we close enough. I'll be ready to add one more set soon!
I had quite the eventful day today(Sat). First, I went to do the Susan Komen 5k Run in Richmond. It's breathtaking to see all the supporters coming together for an amazing cause, breast cancer.
ReplyDeleteI therefore, had to sneak my hill sprint sets later in the day. Again My broken shifter(and not enough time to fix the problem) needed some work. I let out the cable until I had the chain set on the 15 cog, locked, cocked, and ready to rock. I spun for a short time and decided I would do the sprints on the Washington Ave. hill. It was really difficult to get those two gears up to speed.
The first set was simple, yet taxing. On the second set, I began to get the shakes. It was at this point that a bunch of my current students ran from the tennis tourney at Kenmore Park over to me to witness the full fire-power of their rapidly deteriorating teacher. Now it was not about training and more about saving face in front of 9 and 10 year old scrutinizing kids. They did cheer and run up the hill with me, which was nice. They and I got a great workout! I was on the bonk coming into the house, I must admit.
Bill, I have an extra set of 10 spd Ultegra shifters. I got overly agressive on Ebay ( iwon, I won). $175 and they're yours.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great finish yesterday! read the comments below for Jared. The last one is hilarious.
ReplyDeletehttp://jarednieters.blogspot.com/2009/05/fort-ritchie-finish.html
That's some funny sh** (I know your 4th graders are reading this)Bill. Although that 49cm comment hit a little close to home. I mean, is it really a crime to have your bike mistaken for a girl's? Not that my 7 has, all that often.
ReplyDeleteThe LT is the place to be. I met Jinks yesterday to do the long lTs on the TT bikes. It was fun discussing how dumb Boonen is.
ReplyDeleteMy reps were quite respectable with the first one(as usual) really stinking, but in the zone. The other reps were good and interestingly easy. I can feel the hip-flexor in that TT position. Perhaps I've not been in that position enough lately. My speeds were OK, but the cadences were nice and low.
I'm looking forward to the hill sprint workout later in the week. That will build top-end speed for sure.
Good luck today, hope its not raining!
ReplyDeleteI had a fun ride with another group. There were a few new and many old friends. The ride was fun, but I was caught talking off the back with some new friends when I saw the rest of the guys a few hundred meters. I caught up to the group of Five/Six(Greg, Ed, Twister, Jose, Ben, and ?)
ReplyDeleteThe pulls were all within the LT and consistent. It was good fun all around.
BikeJam Kelly Cup: I knew that I could ride at this level, for I finished top 10 in last years edition. We sorta got quite lost getting there and were as far from warmed up as you can get and still be at this latitude. I knew the start would make or break my race and tried to tunnel into the mix toward the front. The entire 9 man KBS team got the call up and I was not in the place I wanted.
ReplyDeleteThe first lap was dicey, with a few falls splitting the single line up quite a bit. KBS was taking the front and drifting guys off and countering moves which kept the rest of us in single-file. Two rider slid out a few places ahead of me and I saw another split there. I jumped over splits a few dozen times to make it to the front. It didn't happen and I was in the third group(out of ???) There were about 8-10 guys in my group and only about four really wanted to work. Some of the pulls were massive and I saw great speeds. This frustration and fury never burned itself out and we we coming up to the second group on the road.
Here's where it got screwed up. They decided to pull the third group with a "Last Lap" call out. Jinksy went to the front to lead me out(I was 4th wheel, which was perfect for a last second into the wind jump). I sprinted right into the second group on the road and some guys stopped and some kept going. Craziness ensued and I thought the race was over. The other riders finished and god help them trying to score this out.
Dead-leg start, ample VO2Max, Much LT, but three laps with Jinks and Jeff was the best part.
So, Of the billion or so riders in my race, the officials only scored 18. Since I won the pack sprint I would have to assume 19th place??? No one will ever know except for my wife and me due to her video of the race and how it all came apart. This would not have happened two races in a row if I would just won the stupid thing! It seems to be the best way to get a result.
ReplyDeleteBryan Park Racing: Psychology 252.
ReplyDelete11 months to the day of the crash, I was back on the same course with the same people, doing the same direction. It was by far the largest field of riders I have ever seen. Battley, Richmond Pro, 14 Nature's Path, Dan, etc.etc. The missles did not start firing at first. THEY waited for the first turn and then punched it. My goal for this race was to keep my bones intact, try to follow or make moves, and get over the anxiety. Mission accomplished all around. I went off the front alone or with others about a dozen times, which bodes well for the recovery systems. NOTHING even came close to staying away for more than a few moments. A couple times I was in a move that had all the key players and I thought, this is it! Alas, One guy would be left out and would somehow tow the field close enough.
I put in some hard efforts around 15 laps to go to see if things were weakening(I really could not tell from inside the pack). I hurt myself and went back to the dinning car-could have been a mistake. There, about 25 riders back, I had my 2nd run in of the year with a CARRY(me)Town rider. This guy tried to shoot the inside of the downhill corner and I had the wheel of the rider in front of me. He tried to come up to push me off the wheel, but I had position and he still was trying to force me. I said "Are you actually trying to fight me for 25th wheel?" He said something and I took that chance to jump up to the front and off to another break. Yes, it was fueled by stupidity.
In the end, The most odd finish came as nobody went and we were packed into a sardine can with half a lap to ge. As if shot out of a gun Keck and the boys jumped and I worked through traffic to be on of the group of sprinters. The guy in front of me bobbled a bit and I thought "Do I need this too?" I sat up and coasted in the last 100 meters without pedaling for about 10th. Great Fun!
Nice to see Jack and Ben upsetting the balance in the B race!
Want to see how Battley Harley does it? Check out this great interview of Charles Hutchinson aka Chuck Hutch. Interesting dude.
ReplyDeletehttp://unholyrouleur-jim.blogspot.com/2009/05/20-questions-with-chuck-hutch.html
ReplyDeleteDo I drive the hour to the race only to have it cancelled? That's happened too many times in the past. At the last minute, I opted for a 100% sureshot in the park. It was chilly and misty, but saw Steve and was ready to work. I was race-ready and did not have my PowerTap, so I used Steve. I figured his LT speeds were fairly similar to mine, so I kept a serious 100 meter gap and it felt close. The first one was a bit of a struggle as I had not completely warmed up. The final 3 x 8min were great. The speeds increased all the way through. It's nice to work the LT and I'm looking forward to my VO2max efforts in the rain this afternoon. Back to back to back workouts are great, especially since I'm working different groups each day. This is all about fine-tuning.
ReplyDeleteThat's a race! I did the Bryan Park race today with a 75 rider field that was star-studded. The 1.8 mile loop was tackled 26 times for more than 40 miles of good, old-fashioned bumpy critin'. The race started about as slowly as possible and guys were low-swinging for the spots that mattered when the hitting began. I thought that the last third was best(not by choice, but by dumb luck and a dropped gel). I did not feel like the bad start was putting me into to much difficulty, so I took the time to figure how the pack was morphing each lap. I saw three possible spots to move up without adding danger to an already sketchy place.
ReplyDeleteFor the first half of the race, I was completely a passenger on a rollercoaster. I began to get POed about that role(good for others/not me). I took my three spots and got up to the front in two laps(probably too quick from where I was). While there, I could see the break of 5 drop to three as two guys up there crashed hard! I did a little to get up and across, but it was(admitingly) half-hearted and exhusting. I assumed my position as the red lantern.
It was at this moment that I noticed that Jinks was absent. He had been my motivation and bulls-eye the first half of the race. I might also point out that he was surfing up there a good 20 spots ahead of one Johnny "The Cat" Sundt. Great job Jinksy. With two to go, I was sitting 5 from the back and not getting anywhere on that crowded course. I really needed some calories right then and felt light-headed from that dropped gel in the 1st frakin lap.
I took some calculated riskes in my three movement spots and watched for exiting riders through the field and found my way up,inside the top 30 for the bumpy sprint. I wish my position for the mele at the end was better, for I had to break twice in the sprint. I finished in the top 15 and felt pretty good given the field size on that fractional course.
The lessons were many in the race too. Six major things to watch or do better.