That was harder then it should have been….. or am I just weak?
After being sick since Wednesday, and feeling ok on a short Saturday ride I decided to race Vance Creek. I figured even if my fitness might be down slightly, at least my legs would be rested. Maybe it was the nice weather, maybe it was the fact that most people did not race Saturday. I don’t know…but it looked like everybody decided to show up on Sunday. Nathan was out of town, Flavio and Jason decided to skip this one, and we still had seven riders in the 1-2 pack…and it looked like most other teams did to. There was even a few pro’s showing up, Doug O, Even Elken, Ian M, Richter and a miraculously healed Tyler Farrar (after a miss diagnosed broken knee cap a few weeks ago in Belgium). It started out ok…started.
The first two laps were fine, sure some splits happened on the climb… on lap two the pack split in half, and I had to dig pretty deep to make it to the front, after taking it a bit too easy during the climb, drifting too far back. A small break of three got of at some point, but I wasn’t worried yet. The wind was picking up, not good. As we entered the farm roads for the third time, a placed my self near the front. 50m before the hard right into the cross wind section, Tyler and Elken come flying around my left, straight to the front and hit the corner at full speed and continue to drill it, the entire pack is single file, hanging on for dear life. I’m on Herriot’s wheel, but a gap opens up in front of him, when he finally pulls of, I go by and try to close it down as much as I can, I look back and there are gaps everywhere.. a few pulls later and I have nothing left, the group is still 50 yards ahead of us… I swing of and now there is more help, 15-20 guys go by and I dig deep to jump on the back. Robert does a monster pull at the front, which got us closer but killed him, and I never see him again. Finally by the parking lot we catch back on. The pack is now probably ½ size, and there are only 3 garage guys left. I move up on the right but apparently not far enough. As we take the right turn back onto the main road, we get hit by the cross wind again. I’m mid pack, but it’s still too far in the rear as the front drills it, and we are all hugging the centerline, hanging on for dear life. Pete is two riders ahead of me, and finally he can’t hold it, and leaves a gap, the Rubicon riders directly head can’t and neither can I.. just like that 17riders get of.. Campbell tries to bridge, but doesn’t make it. It was all about positioning, well not all… but being even just 5 riders further up at the corner could have made a world of difference. Pete and Kevin do a lot of chasing, but a lot of guys are just sitting on… The race is basically over at this point. Two laps later as I surge to go up the steep section before the finish line, I brake a spoke and my rear wheel seizes up…..just what I need, not that it wasn’t hard enough already. This was the same wheel that broke in Walla Walla, and just got fixed, sweet…….. I get a new wheel from the car and chase for a few miles before I pull out at the parking lot… 1 1/2 short. Yeah , no point in going another 15 miles for 35th and dig myself a deeper whole to get well from..
I don’t even know how it all ended….
Sometimes it good to get reminded how hard racing can be, how hard you have to dig to stay on, how much pain you have to be willing to push though… it actually feels pretty good….(now and a then)
And I didn’t even get my DQ on the way home.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007
Walla Walla
Going into this weekends racing we had some great hopes for our main GC rider Nathan, who has been riding really strong lately. Personally I was hoping for some good results also, but I’m nowhere near good enough in TT’s to be a GC contender.
The new stage on Friday afternoon would definitely shake things up, and at least wear people down.
The new stage was all up or down. Initially I felt pretty bad but was just starting to feel better on the decent form the feed hill, when I spoke on my rear wheel suddenly decided to give out. The wheel change was a bit slow, but with some luck I should be able to catch on…10sec later I have to stop as the chain has somehow come of the rear derailleur pulleys.. damm… Once back I’m chasing in full TT mode, after a mile or so I take a right turn up the KOM hill… I can see the follow cars in the distance… I’m pushing nearly 400W up the entire climb…but as I crest the top, nothing…not even blown riders, nothing, no cars, nothing…This is where I start my 2hour solo break (of the back mind you)…I catch and pass a few rider on the next climb, but they are too blown to offer any help. I finish over 18min down, surprisingly 1min ahead of a group of riders I didn’t know existed ,sprinting in behind me…
Nathan ended up wining the stage, taking the sprint from a small group. Although this was great news, it turns out that the 4 fastest TT’ers where in the break also, so this could be hard weekend.
I left my TT bike in the hotel room for the TT, I decided to ride my road bike. There was no use killing my self and still be 18min down, so I used my road bike with power so I could ride within my limits and save myself for the 97mile RR in the afternoon. Hopefully Nathan could bust out a good TT and I would be ready to help him if necessary during the RR.
The RR wasn’t too exciting.. The neutral climb was actually neutral this year….
There were a few attacks, but nothing got of until the tail wind section on the last lap. The break of 6 contained 2 GC riders who were ahead of Nathan, so letting them go wouldn’t loose him anything, it was more up to the other teams if they wanted to defend their positions. We however decided to help chase it down, with HB and Bob’s. Maybe catching the break right at the base of the climb would help Nathan move ahead of the two riders in the break (if they spent too much energy, and he could gap them during the final accent). After pulling though a few miles I nearly blew completely on climb going into Waitsburg..I went back though the pack like a rock, but managed to hang on over the top. My hardest 30minuits of the weekend was that section, just miles before the final climb. I started the last climb a bit too far back, but actually climbed ok, had I started a bit further up, and saved some energy I might have managed a top 10… not that it meant anything for the overall, but it was nice to take something good personally out of the weekend. Nathan held on to his 5th, with now only the criterium left.
Somehow the rain stopped for our race…and after a while the roads actually dried up completely.
This sign was in the last corner of the crit...very appropiate
Two laps in realized that this would be a hard crit, my legs hurt. I had no power at all, and no matter what I did I my heart rate would not go up. Mid race I moved up to about 10th for a lap, and then when back just as fast. Feeling this bad, I decided to slowly move up, and hopefully time it ok, so I could be there for the finish. With a few laps to go, two riders get of the front. I somehow missed the two laps to go, and with one to go I was still a bit too far back… and that was that.. top 20maybe.. I needed another lap or two to give it a good effort.. oh well…...my HR average for the crit was below 160, a sure sign of fatigue..
Anyho, we survived and Nathan took 5th GC and Flavio 11h, and Garage 3ed in team GC….not too bad at all.
Kele won two stages during the weekend, missed the start for the TT, and ended up 4th overall… Nice when someone wins enough money for DQ on the way home………
The new stage on Friday afternoon would definitely shake things up, and at least wear people down.
The new stage was all up or down. Initially I felt pretty bad but was just starting to feel better on the decent form the feed hill, when I spoke on my rear wheel suddenly decided to give out. The wheel change was a bit slow, but with some luck I should be able to catch on…10sec later I have to stop as the chain has somehow come of the rear derailleur pulleys.. damm… Once back I’m chasing in full TT mode, after a mile or so I take a right turn up the KOM hill… I can see the follow cars in the distance… I’m pushing nearly 400W up the entire climb…but as I crest the top, nothing…not even blown riders, nothing, no cars, nothing…This is where I start my 2hour solo break (of the back mind you)…I catch and pass a few rider on the next climb, but they are too blown to offer any help. I finish over 18min down, surprisingly 1min ahead of a group of riders I didn’t know existed ,sprinting in behind me…
Nathan ended up wining the stage, taking the sprint from a small group. Although this was great news, it turns out that the 4 fastest TT’ers where in the break also, so this could be hard weekend.
I left my TT bike in the hotel room for the TT, I decided to ride my road bike. There was no use killing my self and still be 18min down, so I used my road bike with power so I could ride within my limits and save myself for the 97mile RR in the afternoon. Hopefully Nathan could bust out a good TT and I would be ready to help him if necessary during the RR.
The RR wasn’t too exciting.. The neutral climb was actually neutral this year….
There were a few attacks, but nothing got of until the tail wind section on the last lap. The break of 6 contained 2 GC riders who were ahead of Nathan, so letting them go wouldn’t loose him anything, it was more up to the other teams if they wanted to defend their positions. We however decided to help chase it down, with HB and Bob’s. Maybe catching the break right at the base of the climb would help Nathan move ahead of the two riders in the break (if they spent too much energy, and he could gap them during the final accent). After pulling though a few miles I nearly blew completely on climb going into Waitsburg..I went back though the pack like a rock, but managed to hang on over the top. My hardest 30minuits of the weekend was that section, just miles before the final climb. I started the last climb a bit too far back, but actually climbed ok, had I started a bit further up, and saved some energy I might have managed a top 10… not that it meant anything for the overall, but it was nice to take something good personally out of the weekend. Nathan held on to his 5th, with now only the criterium left.
Somehow the rain stopped for our race…and after a while the roads actually dried up completely.
This sign was in the last corner of the crit...very appropiate
Two laps in realized that this would be a hard crit, my legs hurt. I had no power at all, and no matter what I did I my heart rate would not go up. Mid race I moved up to about 10th for a lap, and then when back just as fast. Feeling this bad, I decided to slowly move up, and hopefully time it ok, so I could be there for the finish. With a few laps to go, two riders get of the front. I somehow missed the two laps to go, and with one to go I was still a bit too far back… and that was that.. top 20maybe.. I needed another lap or two to give it a good effort.. oh well…...my HR average for the crit was below 160, a sure sign of fatigue..
Anyho, we survived and Nathan took 5th GC and Flavio 11h, and Garage 3ed in team GC….not too bad at all.
Kele won two stages during the weekend, missed the start for the TT, and ended up 4th overall… Nice when someone wins enough money for DQ on the way home………
Monday, April 16, 2007
TST
This weekend the main race was TST on Saturday, the forecast looked as expected.. 50% chance of rain and temperatures in the mid to high 40’s… not good by any means but sure a lot better then last year.
I don’t like bad weather just as much as anybody else, but it doesn’t stop me.. even if it had been the cold rain and snow like last year, I would have started.. but to all of our surprise, the sun was out (maybe a bit cold) but it tuned out to be one of the best weather TST in years.
The plan was pretty simple… don’t do much before the Anderson, and make sure nothing dangerous got away before that, so Nathan could save all his energy for the last critical 20 miles. The first hill out of Tahuya was hard, harder then it should have been… at the top a small split happened… two groups of about 8-9 riders of the front. Bob’s did a great job chasing them down., and we are together again. So far everything was going as planned, Flavio ,Chris and Robert were up front making sure nothing got of. A few miles before the sprint point Ian T takes of, a little later Brandon A attacks and I’m right up there so I go with him, we are joined by a Canadian. We have a pretty good gap right away, and immediately I realize that this is a mistake, I don’t want to burn any energy right now, not before the hill out of Seabeak anyway. As soon as Brandon announces he will not work, I should have sat up and faced the fact that this was domed endeavor. The Canadian however was pulling hard…and Ian was right there, if we could bridge without spending too much energy, we would have a pretty good represented break, so I decided to pull though, at 80% or so. Being in the break would allow my teammates to work even less, maybe enabling them to get over a few more of the hills and help Nathan towards the end. Now, 80 % in a break is a lot more then 40% in the pack… and I never felt great all day, and this was not helping. Normally maybe Ian would have sat up when he saw us coming, but he was going for the sprint prize and didn’t want any company. The gap was pretty big for a while, but it was too much effort. Right as we exited the loop at Seabeck, about 5 riders bridged and pushed the pace up the hill, not minuets later was the pack upon us…and now I was hurting… this hill, normally not too bad, really hurt,.. sweet.
Anderson came way too soon. At least we didn’t start it as crazy fast as previous years, but maybe that’s why I relaxed a bit too much and didn’t feel the urgency to get to the front, and by the top a small group of nine were of ..Nathan was one of them. The next 15miles all the way to the bottom of Dewatto, they were only 10-20sec ahead of the remaning pack, I thought for sure our group would catch them, but with our team doing no work, and HB happy with the odds up front, there wasn’t much organization at all).
Right before Dewatto, Strangelove bridges across, I don’t think anybody else wanted to spend that kind of energy that close to the final hill. The last ½ mile before the hill we actually slowed to a craw as everybody was saving up for the effort ahead and the lead group’s gap went up again.
As soon as we hit the climb Jamie came back like a rock, 1-2 riders from the front also got dropped… I felt great (relative) and pushed the pace as much as I could over the top. Cambell was right up front, he had sat on the back, since Holly, but it’s impressive how he always races smart enough to make the critical moves. From here on nothing much happened… I tried to attack once or twice in the closing miles, but it didn’t get any where in a hurry. We finally sprinted, and Cambell took it for 7th, and I had a bad sprint and took 5th, 11th overall. 11th isn’t a bad result at TST, but I never felt good, and I did a few mistakes, so I can’t help feel a bit anticlimactic about the whole experience…oh well… can’t always go the way you want, and this is how you learn.
Nathan was 4th, and was strong enough to win… any day now he is going to bust out big.
I don’t like bad weather just as much as anybody else, but it doesn’t stop me.. even if it had been the cold rain and snow like last year, I would have started.. but to all of our surprise, the sun was out (maybe a bit cold) but it tuned out to be one of the best weather TST in years.
The plan was pretty simple… don’t do much before the Anderson, and make sure nothing dangerous got away before that, so Nathan could save all his energy for the last critical 20 miles. The first hill out of Tahuya was hard, harder then it should have been… at the top a small split happened… two groups of about 8-9 riders of the front. Bob’s did a great job chasing them down., and we are together again. So far everything was going as planned, Flavio ,Chris and Robert were up front making sure nothing got of. A few miles before the sprint point Ian T takes of, a little later Brandon A attacks and I’m right up there so I go with him, we are joined by a Canadian. We have a pretty good gap right away, and immediately I realize that this is a mistake, I don’t want to burn any energy right now, not before the hill out of Seabeak anyway. As soon as Brandon announces he will not work, I should have sat up and faced the fact that this was domed endeavor. The Canadian however was pulling hard…and Ian was right there, if we could bridge without spending too much energy, we would have a pretty good represented break, so I decided to pull though, at 80% or so. Being in the break would allow my teammates to work even less, maybe enabling them to get over a few more of the hills and help Nathan towards the end. Now, 80 % in a break is a lot more then 40% in the pack… and I never felt great all day, and this was not helping. Normally maybe Ian would have sat up when he saw us coming, but he was going for the sprint prize and didn’t want any company. The gap was pretty big for a while, but it was too much effort. Right as we exited the loop at Seabeck, about 5 riders bridged and pushed the pace up the hill, not minuets later was the pack upon us…and now I was hurting… this hill, normally not too bad, really hurt,.. sweet.
Anderson came way too soon. At least we didn’t start it as crazy fast as previous years, but maybe that’s why I relaxed a bit too much and didn’t feel the urgency to get to the front, and by the top a small group of nine were of ..Nathan was one of them. The next 15miles all the way to the bottom of Dewatto, they were only 10-20sec ahead of the remaning pack, I thought for sure our group would catch them, but with our team doing no work, and HB happy with the odds up front, there wasn’t much organization at all).
Right before Dewatto, Strangelove bridges across, I don’t think anybody else wanted to spend that kind of energy that close to the final hill. The last ½ mile before the hill we actually slowed to a craw as everybody was saving up for the effort ahead and the lead group’s gap went up again.
As soon as we hit the climb Jamie came back like a rock, 1-2 riders from the front also got dropped… I felt great (relative) and pushed the pace as much as I could over the top. Cambell was right up front, he had sat on the back, since Holly, but it’s impressive how he always races smart enough to make the critical moves. From here on nothing much happened… I tried to attack once or twice in the closing miles, but it didn’t get any where in a hurry. We finally sprinted, and Cambell took it for 7th, and I had a bad sprint and took 5th, 11th overall. 11th isn’t a bad result at TST, but I never felt good, and I did a few mistakes, so I can’t help feel a bit anticlimactic about the whole experience…oh well… can’t always go the way you want, and this is how you learn.
Nathan was 4th, and was strong enough to win… any day now he is going to bust out big.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Weekend
Even though I actually raced once at Boat Street (Master A, which I only do now and then, because I don’t like giving my age away to all the young “kids” in the 1-2’s) I still feel like bit of a wuss for not racing the late race at Boat Street. Ok, so it did start raining during the 3’s, and yes people did crash. But…still I feel a bit annoyed with myself and a bit guilty… I didn’t even stick around to see it…instead I rode the 14miles home in the rain.
I’ve been riding pretty hard all week, so this week I will cut down the volume and keep some high intensity…and maybe, just maybe I’ll be ready for TST. All I can do is prepare the best I can, and hope it all works out. Sometimes races go great when you are feeling bad and some times they go terrible when you are feel like an all-star, so you never know.
During Saturdays ride, I came upon a middle age woman walking her bike along SR900, she had a serious flat with a 1” long screw firmly imbedded into her tire, no spares, pump or tool…+ even if she did it was pretty apparent she wouldn’t have known how to fix a flat. Since I know how much it sucks walking your bike for miles I stopped, patched here tire, fixed her flat and gave her a quick lesson how to…
I had to use a nice long valve tube that I had bought especially for my deep Rolf wheels…oh well …
Turns out that on Sunday with my winings for the race, it included one long valve tube to replace the one I gave up, and one extra for Karma… sweet….
I’ve been riding pretty hard all week, so this week I will cut down the volume and keep some high intensity…and maybe, just maybe I’ll be ready for TST. All I can do is prepare the best I can, and hope it all works out. Sometimes races go great when you are feeling bad and some times they go terrible when you are feel like an all-star, so you never know.
During Saturdays ride, I came upon a middle age woman walking her bike along SR900, she had a serious flat with a 1” long screw firmly imbedded into her tire, no spares, pump or tool…+ even if she did it was pretty apparent she wouldn’t have known how to fix a flat. Since I know how much it sucks walking your bike for miles I stopped, patched here tire, fixed her flat and gave her a quick lesson how to…
I had to use a nice long valve tube that I had bought especially for my deep Rolf wheels…oh well …
Turns out that on Sunday with my winings for the race, it included one long valve tube to replace the one I gave up, and one extra for Karma… sweet….
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Blowing drag
I haven’t updated this for a while… I can blame work for that one…
I’ve been spending all my time trying to calculate the drag caused by Jet impingement on the flaps of the 747-8. It’s been to the point where I nearly start dreaming about it… and I promise you I have plenty more desirable dreams then that.
There has been some racing the last few weeks. First there was Independence valley. Some good news and some bad news.
Bad/Good
Garage missed the break
Garage has an organized chase
Chris gets of the front
Chris misses the turn.
Rain
It’s warm
Nathan and I make the 5 man the spilt
Over the climb
We get caught by 8 riders
My 3man break gets caught
Nathan counters and gets away with 2 others
I crash
I get a new wheel and but I'm mostly ok
My carbon wheel is toast
No good news here………
Nathan gets dropped from his break on the last climb
Chris is in the chase that catches him
More rain
Chris takes 4th in the sprint( and 8th)
Nathan ends up 11th and I 13th
The following day I have to help put on the race in Sequim.. so no more racing… which maybe was good since I had a sore knee from the crash.. but I still wanted to race.
Did I mention I was busy with the “Blowing drag” at work……….damm
Last weekend we had the North shore Circuit race in Bellingham.
Turnout was a bit low… but still plenty of good riders. The highlights are of course Nathan second place and the fact that he got into the main break, and the rest of us could sit back and watch HB try to bring it back. The climbs were short, but chasing and making it over turned out to be a bit hard, as most of the HB riders were gone after 2-3 laps… and after that there was no organized chase at all. By the end the “pack” was down to 12 riders, 4 of them from my team. On the final lap, Lange and I got away on the backside climb, and was quickly joined by Tubbs a few minuets later. I lost the uphill sprint to Lange for 4th…and it still annoys me… Robert took the pack sprint for 7th in his first 1-2 race and Chris 8th…. Not bad for once.
Sunday it was back to helping out a Sequim… were Tom took of solo and stayed away the entire race.
And now back to the Blowing drag………….
I’ve been spending all my time trying to calculate the drag caused by Jet impingement on the flaps of the 747-8. It’s been to the point where I nearly start dreaming about it… and I promise you I have plenty more desirable dreams then that.
There has been some racing the last few weeks. First there was Independence valley. Some good news and some bad news.
Bad/Good
Garage missed the break
Garage has an organized chase
Chris gets of the front
Chris misses the turn.
Rain
It’s warm
Nathan and I make the 5 man the spilt
Over the climb
We get caught by 8 riders
My 3man break gets caught
Nathan counters and gets away with 2 others
I crash
I get a new wheel and but I'm mostly ok
My carbon wheel is toast
No good news here………
Nathan gets dropped from his break on the last climb
Chris is in the chase that catches him
More rain
Chris takes 4th in the sprint( and 8th)
Nathan ends up 11th and I 13th
The following day I have to help put on the race in Sequim.. so no more racing… which maybe was good since I had a sore knee from the crash.. but I still wanted to race.
Did I mention I was busy with the “Blowing drag” at work……….damm
Last weekend we had the North shore Circuit race in Bellingham.
Turnout was a bit low… but still plenty of good riders. The highlights are of course Nathan second place and the fact that he got into the main break, and the rest of us could sit back and watch HB try to bring it back. The climbs were short, but chasing and making it over turned out to be a bit hard, as most of the HB riders were gone after 2-3 laps… and after that there was no organized chase at all. By the end the “pack” was down to 12 riders, 4 of them from my team. On the final lap, Lange and I got away on the backside climb, and was quickly joined by Tubbs a few minuets later. I lost the uphill sprint to Lange for 4th…and it still annoys me… Robert took the pack sprint for 7th in his first 1-2 race and Chris 8th…. Not bad for once.
Sunday it was back to helping out a Sequim… were Tom took of solo and stayed away the entire race.
And now back to the Blowing drag………….
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
