"Track and field, swimming, cross-country skiing and cycling can no longer be saved. Golf? Not clean either. Soccer? Soccer players come to me and say they have to be able to run up and down the touchline without becoming tired, and they have to play every three days. Basketball players take fat burners – amphetamines, ephedrin. Baseball? Haha. Steroids in pre-season, amphetamines during the games. Even archers take downers so that their arm remains steady. Everyone dopes."
http://www.fighthype.com/pages/content11165.html
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Friday, November 30, 2012
2013 Changes to Upgrades for Cyclo-cross and Road licenses
Beginning in 2013, USA Cycling will enact the following changes as it relates to upgrades to road and cyclo-cross licenses.
Cyclo-cross riders must upgrade from Category 4 to Category 3 after either competing in 10 qualifying races or accruing 10 points.
Category 3 riders may upgrade to Category 2 with 10 points. Amassing 15 points or two wins in a field of at least 30 competitors is a mandatory upgrade.
Category 2 riders may upgrade to Category 1 voluntarily with 20 points. Category 2 riders receive a mandatory upgrade after amassing either 25 points or two wins in a field of at least 40 competitors.
There are four ways a rider can upgrade from Category 4 to Category 3. A rider can accumulate 20 points, compete in 25 qualifying races with at least ten top-10 finishes in fields of at least 30 riders, or have 20 pack finishes in fields of at least 50 riders. The fourth way a rider can upgrade would be to amass 30 points in a 12-month period for a mandatory upgrade.
For Category 3 to 2 road upgrades, riders must accrue 30 points instead of 25. 40 points in a 12-month period is still a mandatory upgrade.
For Category 2 to 1 road upgrades, riders may upgrade once they have accrued 35 points. 50 points in a 12 month period is a mandatory upgrade. Note that only 10 points from training series or masters races may be used for upgrading.
Cyclo-cross Upgrades
The cyclo-cross upgrade section was rewritten to more closely match the road. There are two ways to upgrade, voluntary and mandatory. The number of points is now given for each of the mandatory upgrades. Please note that junior women are exempt from a mandatory upgrade to Category 2.Cyclo-cross riders must upgrade from Category 4 to Category 3 after either competing in 10 qualifying races or accruing 10 points.
Category 3 riders may upgrade to Category 2 with 10 points. Amassing 15 points or two wins in a field of at least 30 competitors is a mandatory upgrade.
Category 2 riders may upgrade to Category 1 voluntarily with 20 points. Category 2 riders receive a mandatory upgrade after amassing either 25 points or two wins in a field of at least 40 competitors.
Road Upgrades
The 12-month window for accruing points for road upgrades has been removed for all categories. This rule goes into effect in 2013, so 2012 points will roll forward into 2013. However, this will not be used retroactively to years prior to 2012. Juniors are no longer forced to upgrade to either Category 2 or Category 1, even if they have accrued the mandatory upgrade points. They may upgrade if they choose, but such an upgrade will not be forced.There are four ways a rider can upgrade from Category 4 to Category 3. A rider can accumulate 20 points, compete in 25 qualifying races with at least ten top-10 finishes in fields of at least 30 riders, or have 20 pack finishes in fields of at least 50 riders. The fourth way a rider can upgrade would be to amass 30 points in a 12-month period for a mandatory upgrade.
For Category 3 to 2 road upgrades, riders must accrue 30 points instead of 25. 40 points in a 12-month period is still a mandatory upgrade.
For Category 2 to 1 road upgrades, riders may upgrade once they have accrued 35 points. 50 points in a 12 month period is a mandatory upgrade. Note that only 10 points from training series or masters races may be used for upgrading.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Cross Vegas 2012. USAC 1/2
WOW, What a fun course! Super smooth, wide and fast, Ty's was a great corse if you had bundles of power. The grass was a little soft but very rideable. There were 4 sets of stairs and one flyover in the 10 minute lap. The laps seemed to take forever as the course was massive.
The USAC Cat 1/2 race would start at 5:30 PM while it was still daylight and still hot. Very hot.
I arrived a little early and spent some time at the bike sponsors tent. Jeff from Sinclair was there supporting the Stevens riders and I met a couple of other guys who were racing. It was great to have the support of the Stevens guys as it ave me somewhere to dump my stuff. I'd ridden the 30 minutes to the venue as a warmup but I hardly needed it in this heat.
We were seeded based on our USAC national ranking and I would be 46th on the grid. Super supporter Hailey arrived by cab with the camera just before the start. The cab driver had got lost on the 6 mile drive and apparently took a 15 minute detour.
we were lined up for the grid in race number order and I seemed a long way from the front. This was a massive event with all the big teams and their sponsors sporting massive trucks and trailers, there were also food and beer tents set up too.
We went off the line and immediately it was mayhem, I was moving up and weaving my way past people and looks to be in the top 20 within the first half lap. At the second or third corner a rider two places in front of me went a little wide on the exit of the corner and got tangled in the fencing before hitting a fence post and going down. The two guys in front of me rode over him and I managed to swerve and avoid hitting anything or anyone. The only problem now was that a gap had opened to the group in front of me.
I was maxed out trying to close the gap and almost made it back on before I ran out of power and started drifting back.
We were supposed to do a shortened first lap before coming through the finish and heading out onto the main loop. There was a woman's field starting a minute behind us and they were also supposed to do a shortened first loop but the marshal forgot to change the course fencing and the women were sent out on the main loop in front of us. We would start catching the back markers very quickly but there were a couple of national champions in their field and some of the woman would battle it out with the boys.
I was now on my own as the field really stretched out on this massive course, I caught a few guys and a couple of guys passed me but had no idea where I was. The evening was still very hot and the air was extremely dry so my mouth dried up almost immediately after the start. The soft grass was draining and I was starting to slow down, but so were a bunch of other people.
With a 40 minute race and a 10 minute lap we only managed 4 laps but I was totally cooked. My Heart Rate averaged 193 for the 40 minutes and as soon as I saw Hailey after the finish I grabbed a bottle of water and tried to cool off.
We we're given towels covered in Shammy Butter's new Euro Prow wash and I wiped my face and hung it around my neck. After poring a pint or two of water over my head the alcohol in the wash cloth really started to work and I was cooling down rapidly. So rapidly that about 20 minute later I was almost shivering. Where was this magic wash before the start. I'd have kept the towel on for the whole race if I'd had known it was that good at cooling.
I rolled back to the Stevens tent and met up with the other guys and collected all my stuff together.
Hailey and I needed to go back to the hotel for an early party before coming back to Cross Vegas for the UCI Pro race. Now that was a whole different world. Those guys came off the line sooooo fast it was shocking. It was a great race to watch but by that time race lung had set in and I spent the whole time coughing up a lung. That would go on until about 2 AM and then start again the next morning. The super hot dry air had caused havoc with my lungs.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
The USAC Cat 1/2 race would start at 5:30 PM while it was still daylight and still hot. Very hot.
I arrived a little early and spent some time at the bike sponsors tent. Jeff from Sinclair was there supporting the Stevens riders and I met a couple of other guys who were racing. It was great to have the support of the Stevens guys as it ave me somewhere to dump my stuff. I'd ridden the 30 minutes to the venue as a warmup but I hardly needed it in this heat.
We were seeded based on our USAC national ranking and I would be 46th on the grid. Super supporter Hailey arrived by cab with the camera just before the start. The cab driver had got lost on the 6 mile drive and apparently took a 15 minute detour.
we were lined up for the grid in race number order and I seemed a long way from the front. This was a massive event with all the big teams and their sponsors sporting massive trucks and trailers, there were also food and beer tents set up too.
We went off the line and immediately it was mayhem, I was moving up and weaving my way past people and looks to be in the top 20 within the first half lap. At the second or third corner a rider two places in front of me went a little wide on the exit of the corner and got tangled in the fencing before hitting a fence post and going down. The two guys in front of me rode over him and I managed to swerve and avoid hitting anything or anyone. The only problem now was that a gap had opened to the group in front of me.
I was maxed out trying to close the gap and almost made it back on before I ran out of power and started drifting back.
We were supposed to do a shortened first lap before coming through the finish and heading out onto the main loop. There was a woman's field starting a minute behind us and they were also supposed to do a shortened first loop but the marshal forgot to change the course fencing and the women were sent out on the main loop in front of us. We would start catching the back markers very quickly but there were a couple of national champions in their field and some of the woman would battle it out with the boys.
I was now on my own as the field really stretched out on this massive course, I caught a few guys and a couple of guys passed me but had no idea where I was. The evening was still very hot and the air was extremely dry so my mouth dried up almost immediately after the start. The soft grass was draining and I was starting to slow down, but so were a bunch of other people.
With a 40 minute race and a 10 minute lap we only managed 4 laps but I was totally cooked. My Heart Rate averaged 193 for the 40 minutes and as soon as I saw Hailey after the finish I grabbed a bottle of water and tried to cool off.
We we're given towels covered in Shammy Butter's new Euro Prow wash and I wiped my face and hung it around my neck. After poring a pint or two of water over my head the alcohol in the wash cloth really started to work and I was cooling down rapidly. So rapidly that about 20 minute later I was almost shivering. Where was this magic wash before the start. I'd have kept the towel on for the whole race if I'd had known it was that good at cooling.
I rolled back to the Stevens tent and met up with the other guys and collected all my stuff together.
Hailey and I needed to go back to the hotel for an early party before coming back to Cross Vegas for the UCI Pro race. Now that was a whole different world. Those guys came off the line sooooo fast it was shocking. It was a great race to watch but by that time race lung had set in and I spent the whole time coughing up a lung. That would go on until about 2 AM and then start again the next morning. The super hot dry air had caused havoc with my lungs.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Los Vegas NV
Sunday, October 28, 2012
2012 BASP #2 Candlestick 45+ A
Great Video by Hans Kellner of lap 1 at the BASP #2 Candlestick Park. Look for the DODOcase kit on the left at the start.
Started on the 4th row of the grid seeded 22nd and finished up 16th. Had a hard time getting into the swing of things after nearly 2 weeks in Hawaii relaxing at the Ironman World Championships with Hailey.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Started on the 4th row of the grid seeded 22nd and finished up 16th. Had a hard time getting into the swing of things after nearly 2 weeks in Hawaii relaxing at the Ironman World Championships with Hailey.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Candlestick Park San Francisco, CA
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Winters Road Race Pro/1/2
This was going to be the last big race of the season and I wanted to make it a good one. I picked up Cyrus really early and we made the hour and a half drive to Winters where we were almost the first people there.
Breakfast was an egg sandwich that I'd eaten in the car on the way to the race.
As this was one of the main races of the Cal Cup it was likely going to be a big field with some tough racing. It was 4 laps for about 95 miles.
Things started out fairly easy with a couple of little attacks on the first lap, people were getting off the front trying to give themselves a little breathing room on the field before the first lap climb. The first time up the climb was hard but not crazy, little gaps opened but by the end of the descent I was back in the main group and rolling the flat.
Lap 2 was very different, we were going slow enough that we were caught by the Masters field that started behind us and were neutralized coming into the start of the climb. This meant that the group were rested going into the climb and almost everyone stayed together. Small breaks had got away and come back together.
The third lap was also fairly easy as there was a break up the road and things had calmed down. A large group managed to get back on the main field and the size of the field had grown significantly from the second lap. At this point I saw Cyrus for the first time and also noticed that Andrew Touchstone had gone missing. I would eventually find out the after a number of early attacks he had pulled out.
With a small break up the road things were fairly easy until we came into the feed zone. I needed a bottle and hesitated long enough that a gap opened up and I was very alone on the climb, there were still a lot of riders behind me but the main group of about 15 were gone. Over the top of the climb I waited for the group behind me as it contained Steve OMara and another Mikes Bikes rider who was strong, it also had Cyrus. We all worked together as we picked up more people and tried to chase the main group. Guys were. Cracking and dropping off of our group but I still felt strong and was driving to the finish. In hindsight I should have attacked at about a mile out but again hesitated to make a move. Our group came down to a sprint and I think I finished about 4 back. This was good enough for 28th at about 1.5 minutes back on the winners.
With 26 people not finishing out of the 80 starters I was really pleased with this result in a Pro/1/2 race. As alway it was lack of power not fitness that held me back. It seems the heart and lungs are fine but I need a bigger pair of legs.
Now it was time to take a break and get ready for Cyclocross season with a trip to Cross Vegas next month.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Breakfast was an egg sandwich that I'd eaten in the car on the way to the race.
As this was one of the main races of the Cal Cup it was likely going to be a big field with some tough racing. It was 4 laps for about 95 miles.
Things started out fairly easy with a couple of little attacks on the first lap, people were getting off the front trying to give themselves a little breathing room on the field before the first lap climb. The first time up the climb was hard but not crazy, little gaps opened but by the end of the descent I was back in the main group and rolling the flat.
Lap 2 was very different, we were going slow enough that we were caught by the Masters field that started behind us and were neutralized coming into the start of the climb. This meant that the group were rested going into the climb and almost everyone stayed together. Small breaks had got away and come back together.
The third lap was also fairly easy as there was a break up the road and things had calmed down. A large group managed to get back on the main field and the size of the field had grown significantly from the second lap. At this point I saw Cyrus for the first time and also noticed that Andrew Touchstone had gone missing. I would eventually find out the after a number of early attacks he had pulled out.
With a small break up the road things were fairly easy until we came into the feed zone. I needed a bottle and hesitated long enough that a gap opened up and I was very alone on the climb, there were still a lot of riders behind me but the main group of about 15 were gone. Over the top of the climb I waited for the group behind me as it contained Steve OMara and another Mikes Bikes rider who was strong, it also had Cyrus. We all worked together as we picked up more people and tried to chase the main group. Guys were. Cracking and dropping off of our group but I still felt strong and was driving to the finish. In hindsight I should have attacked at about a mile out but again hesitated to make a move. Our group came down to a sprint and I think I finished about 4 back. This was good enough for 28th at about 1.5 minutes back on the winners.
With 26 people not finishing out of the 80 starters I was really pleased with this result in a Pro/1/2 race. As alway it was lack of power not fitness that held me back. It seems the heart and lungs are fine but I need a bigger pair of legs.
Now it was time to take a break and get ready for Cyclocross season with a trip to Cross Vegas next month.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Mountain View, CA United States
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Some great training weeks - The lost post
After the disappointment of Mt Hamilton I decided to take a fresh look at the training and see where I was lacking. As always real watts seems to be the problem an that has been hinted at all season, from the first TT at Valley of the Sun to Chico SR and Wente.
I needed to include more solid big ring efforts and a lot more climbing to build up some watts before weight training starts later in the season. Hitting the gym is probably the best way to build horse power but not at this time of year. I searched Craigslist and have found a Golds Gym for the office so things should be easier come fall.
I've had some solid training weeks with rides to the office on multiple days and a huge weekend with Spencer and Co riding to Bonny Doone and East Zyante. I racked up 111 miles and 10,000 feet of climbing in a day followed by another good session on Montebello the following day. The fitness and recovery are excellent but the quest for more power continues.
This week is a rest week and we're off to The White House in Washing DC for a tour and a forum on Entrapneurship and Small Business Growth. Quite a treat as Super Supporter Hailey is coming too.
I needed to include more solid big ring efforts and a lot more climbing to build up some watts before weight training starts later in the season. Hitting the gym is probably the best way to build horse power but not at this time of year. I searched Craigslist and have found a Golds Gym for the office so things should be easier come fall.
I've had some solid training weeks with rides to the office on multiple days and a huge weekend with Spencer and Co riding to Bonny Doone and East Zyante. I racked up 111 miles and 10,000 feet of climbing in a day followed by another good session on Montebello the following day. The fitness and recovery are excellent but the quest for more power continues.
This week is a rest week and we're off to The White House in Washing DC for a tour and a forum on Entrapneurship and Small Business Growth. Quite a treat as Super Supporter Hailey is coming too.
Location:Virgin Flight 84 to Washington DC
Monday, May 28, 2012
Mt Hamilton Road Race
This race was going to be a highlite of my season. I'd gone relatively well there the previous year with little formal training and was looking forward to racing with a good solid base.
We woke up early the morning of the race making sure that I had a good breakfast and arrived in time to get a good warmup on the trainer before the Elite 2 race started at 8:10.
I was so excited to race that we actually arrived before registration was even set up and had to wait 30 minutes before we could get the race numbers. I hopped on the trainer around 7:15 and started my normal warmup routine of spinning with a few 1 minute hard efforts to get the heart rate up. For some reason I found it really easy to push my HR up above the 140, 150, 160 and 175 steps that I normally set. Things spun up really easily but this wasn't normal. I didn't know if this was a good sign or not.
At about 7:45 I jumped off the trainer and started getting things ready for the start, pulling on a clean and number pinned jersey and getting the bottles and stuff ready.
As I went to get my bike off the trainer the handle that loosens the clamping mechanism broke off in my hand leaving my bike trapped on the trainer in what had now become a heavy metal boot. Ok, don't panic, I still had about 15 minutes to figure out how to get the bike out and roll to the start. I found some tools in the truck and started to dismantle the trainer and within a few minutes I'd freed the bike. With all this going on I'd forgotten to pack my race food into my pockets and had another mad dash back from the start line to get the race food out of the truck.
Now I was finally ready to go. I was looking around and noticed that a lot of guys only had one bottle. With the neutral feed at 30 miles you really only needed one bottle to get over the mountain this early in the AM.
The race rolled off the start line and super supporter Hailey jumped into the truck to meet me at the official feed zone on the east side of the mountain near the intersection of 130 and Mines Road.
The race started fast with 3 Metromint guys on the front setting a hard tempo up the first climb. It was obvious that these guys were only racing for the top of the Mountain, not the finish in Livermore.
My heart rate was high and I was breathing heavy right from the start. I hung with the group and maintained my place about 10 guys backfor the whole of the first climb and down into the first valley. About a mile into the second climb things started to go bad, my heart rate was high but my legs were empty, in fact my whole body was feeling empty and and as the group started to slip away I realized that this wasn't going to be a good day.
I pushed on and maintained a high HR all the way to the top of Mt Hamilton. I was pushing hard but there was no power in the legs. Looking at the Strava data I managed to hold an average HR of 179 for the first 1:10 of the race. Just before the top I was caught by the lead riders of the 35+ 1/2/3 who had started 10 minutes behind us. I stayed with them on the descent and even passed a few trying to chase backto the 2's but as soon as the road went up hill my legs gave out and I was dropped. This would happen time and again as groups came by me and I couldn't hang on.
I pushed on regardless just trying to get to the finish. I picked up a feed from Hailey but it made no difference to the speed I was going, there was no energy to push the pedals. By the time I got to the finish the 2's field had been done for about 30 minutes and I was rolling in with the 3's. One thing that was interesting was that I crossed the line with the Metromint guy who had been drilling it on the first 2 climbs. Apparently he had blown up on the first part of the main climb but he had done the damage by that point. He was trying to launch his teammates to the KOM. I have no idea if he was successful or not but as I thought they weren't racing for the finish.
The good news was that Spencer had placed 2nd in a sprint of about 15 guys. I'd picked him to win but 2nd at Mt Hamilton was a great result.
Again it's time to recover and look at ways of generating more power on the bike. I'm obviously fit enough, being able to hold a HR of 180 for over an hour but it's raw power that I need to develop and I also need to come into these races rested and less stressed if possible. This is going to take some work and careful planning.
I don't have the results yet but the Strava times show that even though I had dead legs and couldn't pedal up hill, I still beat my previous years time by 30 seconds, and the previous year I'd felt great and turned myself inside out to get to the finish line. This year there was no pain and no soreness as I'd had no energy to even push that hard. All I can think is that I'm actually stronger than last year but need to be better rested to be more successful.
Let's see how that goes.
Race Day Food:
Breakfast - 4 bags of instant oatmeal. 1 banana, 1 bottle of Cytomax.
Race - 1 gel, 1 banana, 2 bottles of Cytomax
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
We woke up early the morning of the race making sure that I had a good breakfast and arrived in time to get a good warmup on the trainer before the Elite 2 race started at 8:10.
I was so excited to race that we actually arrived before registration was even set up and had to wait 30 minutes before we could get the race numbers. I hopped on the trainer around 7:15 and started my normal warmup routine of spinning with a few 1 minute hard efforts to get the heart rate up. For some reason I found it really easy to push my HR up above the 140, 150, 160 and 175 steps that I normally set. Things spun up really easily but this wasn't normal. I didn't know if this was a good sign or not.
At about 7:45 I jumped off the trainer and started getting things ready for the start, pulling on a clean and number pinned jersey and getting the bottles and stuff ready.
As I went to get my bike off the trainer the handle that loosens the clamping mechanism broke off in my hand leaving my bike trapped on the trainer in what had now become a heavy metal boot. Ok, don't panic, I still had about 15 minutes to figure out how to get the bike out and roll to the start. I found some tools in the truck and started to dismantle the trainer and within a few minutes I'd freed the bike. With all this going on I'd forgotten to pack my race food into my pockets and had another mad dash back from the start line to get the race food out of the truck.
Now I was finally ready to go. I was looking around and noticed that a lot of guys only had one bottle. With the neutral feed at 30 miles you really only needed one bottle to get over the mountain this early in the AM.
The race rolled off the start line and super supporter Hailey jumped into the truck to meet me at the official feed zone on the east side of the mountain near the intersection of 130 and Mines Road.
The race started fast with 3 Metromint guys on the front setting a hard tempo up the first climb. It was obvious that these guys were only racing for the top of the Mountain, not the finish in Livermore.
My heart rate was high and I was breathing heavy right from the start. I hung with the group and maintained my place about 10 guys backfor the whole of the first climb and down into the first valley. About a mile into the second climb things started to go bad, my heart rate was high but my legs were empty, in fact my whole body was feeling empty and and as the group started to slip away I realized that this wasn't going to be a good day.
I pushed on and maintained a high HR all the way to the top of Mt Hamilton. I was pushing hard but there was no power in the legs. Looking at the Strava data I managed to hold an average HR of 179 for the first 1:10 of the race. Just before the top I was caught by the lead riders of the 35+ 1/2/3 who had started 10 minutes behind us. I stayed with them on the descent and even passed a few trying to chase backto the 2's but as soon as the road went up hill my legs gave out and I was dropped. This would happen time and again as groups came by me and I couldn't hang on.
I pushed on regardless just trying to get to the finish. I picked up a feed from Hailey but it made no difference to the speed I was going, there was no energy to push the pedals. By the time I got to the finish the 2's field had been done for about 30 minutes and I was rolling in with the 3's. One thing that was interesting was that I crossed the line with the Metromint guy who had been drilling it on the first 2 climbs. Apparently he had blown up on the first part of the main climb but he had done the damage by that point. He was trying to launch his teammates to the KOM. I have no idea if he was successful or not but as I thought they weren't racing for the finish.
The good news was that Spencer had placed 2nd in a sprint of about 15 guys. I'd picked him to win but 2nd at Mt Hamilton was a great result.
Again it's time to recover and look at ways of generating more power on the bike. I'm obviously fit enough, being able to hold a HR of 180 for over an hour but it's raw power that I need to develop and I also need to come into these races rested and less stressed if possible. This is going to take some work and careful planning.
I don't have the results yet but the Strava times show that even though I had dead legs and couldn't pedal up hill, I still beat my previous years time by 30 seconds, and the previous year I'd felt great and turned myself inside out to get to the finish line. This year there was no pain and no soreness as I'd had no energy to even push that hard. All I can think is that I'm actually stronger than last year but need to be better rested to be more successful.
Let's see how that goes.
Race Day Food:
Breakfast - 4 bags of instant oatmeal. 1 banana, 1 bottle of Cytomax.
Race - 1 gel, 1 banana, 2 bottles of Cytomax
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:San Jose, CA
Europe, Mt Hamilton Reece and Poison Oak
I basically took 2 weeks off in the middle of may after feeling flat at Wente without the energy to climb with the pack. I had a week at home resting and then took a trip to Europe for a Trade Show and visited family. This wasn't relaxing, I walked for about 10 miles each day at the trade show and took 4 flights that week, but it did give me a break from the bike. The real fun part was catching up with some old friends at the pub. One friend showed up that I hadn't seen in about 10 years. It was a really good night out and the old Kings Head beer selection has got much better over the years.
Watching the Giro TTT in a German hotel room. Probably the smallest hotel room in the world.
I arrived back on a Tuesday but didn't manage to get back on the bike until Wednesday and did some spin sprints, as you can imagine with Airplane legs I was slow but happy to be out.
I did some hard hill efforts on the Thursday and started to feel better and by Saturday I'd decided to take a ride to Mt Hamilton to check out the climb for the road race. I couldn't find anyone who was interested in going with me so I rode over there by myself. I wasn't setting any records on the climb but enjoyed the view and being out on the bike. It turned into a 5 hour round trip as the ride across town has so many stop lights. I'm glad I rode it as it's always a longer climb than I remember. The next day I screwed up and did a much harder ride than I'd planned racing a couple of friends up OLH instead of just spinning around.
On the Monday I'd signed up to do the Santa Cruz dirt ride. This was a group MTB ride to Santa Cruz taking in as many of the best trails that the coast had to offer. This was a really fun ride and I felt really strong all day, climbing easily with the lead group and putting in some good efforts on Alpine and the other epic climbs. There was one section where we had to go off trail as a few large trees had fallen and completely blocked the route. This was later to prove the biggest mistake of the week. Somewhere in this section I manage to tangle with a Poison Oak bush. As always I wouldn't know until a few days later but this is where the damage was done.
I was really please with the dirt ride and looking forward to Mt Hamilton, all I needed to do now was recover during the week and get ready to race.
The unfortunate thing about this week was that there was a lot going on and the work stress levels were very high. I was the only one in the office and one of my managers got her finder caught in a machine resulting in a 5 hour trip to the ER at SF General. Now that's a place I don't want to go to again. It was also our wedding anniversary week and the Kona qualifying celebration for Super Supporter Hailey. Add all this up and the recovery wasn't going so well.
By the time Friday came along the Poison Oak was in full bloom on my arms, neck, leg and crouch and none of my normal cures were helping. I tried scrubbing, witch hazel, creams and anything else I could throw at it but it just kept spreading, ruining any sleep and generally messing me up.
I hadn't had Poison Oak in a while so I'd forgotten how much it takes out of you. It used to be a regular part of AR but not something I'd hit in road bike racing.
I spent the Saturday before Mt Hamilton RR cleaning and fixing bikes and took a short spin on the trainer while watching the Queen stage of the Giro. This was a very relaxing day but too little too late.
Picture at the top of Empire Grade from the SC Dirt Ride. A great day out on the bike with 45 other great riders.
Watching the Giro TTT in a German hotel room. Probably the smallest hotel room in the world.
I arrived back on a Tuesday but didn't manage to get back on the bike until Wednesday and did some spin sprints, as you can imagine with Airplane legs I was slow but happy to be out.
I did some hard hill efforts on the Thursday and started to feel better and by Saturday I'd decided to take a ride to Mt Hamilton to check out the climb for the road race. I couldn't find anyone who was interested in going with me so I rode over there by myself. I wasn't setting any records on the climb but enjoyed the view and being out on the bike. It turned into a 5 hour round trip as the ride across town has so many stop lights. I'm glad I rode it as it's always a longer climb than I remember. The next day I screwed up and did a much harder ride than I'd planned racing a couple of friends up OLH instead of just spinning around.
On the Monday I'd signed up to do the Santa Cruz dirt ride. This was a group MTB ride to Santa Cruz taking in as many of the best trails that the coast had to offer. This was a really fun ride and I felt really strong all day, climbing easily with the lead group and putting in some good efforts on Alpine and the other epic climbs. There was one section where we had to go off trail as a few large trees had fallen and completely blocked the route. This was later to prove the biggest mistake of the week. Somewhere in this section I manage to tangle with a Poison Oak bush. As always I wouldn't know until a few days later but this is where the damage was done.
I was really please with the dirt ride and looking forward to Mt Hamilton, all I needed to do now was recover during the week and get ready to race.
The unfortunate thing about this week was that there was a lot going on and the work stress levels were very high. I was the only one in the office and one of my managers got her finder caught in a machine resulting in a 5 hour trip to the ER at SF General. Now that's a place I don't want to go to again. It was also our wedding anniversary week and the Kona qualifying celebration for Super Supporter Hailey. Add all this up and the recovery wasn't going so well.
By the time Friday came along the Poison Oak was in full bloom on my arms, neck, leg and crouch and none of my normal cures were helping. I tried scrubbing, witch hazel, creams and anything else I could throw at it but it just kept spreading, ruining any sleep and generally messing me up.
I hadn't had Poison Oak in a while so I'd forgotten how much it takes out of you. It used to be a regular part of AR but not something I'd hit in road bike racing.
I spent the Saturday before Mt Hamilton RR cleaning and fixing bikes and took a short spin on the trainer while watching the Queen stage of the Giro. This was a very relaxing day but too little too late.
Picture at the top of Empire Grade from the SC Dirt Ride. A great day out on the bike with 45 other great riders.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Overtraining Syndrome
I found this great article this weekend after noticing that my resting heart rate was over 70 bpm the night before the race. I know my RHR is normally higher than others but I'd expected to see something between 50 and 55 not 70! Work has been crazy stressful lately so I'm sure that's partly to blame but either way I need more recovery.
Dr Mark Jenkins wrote this and it really explains the situation well. As I suspected it's time for a break.
*************************************************************************************************
Overtraining Syndrome
It is no secret among athletes that in order to improve performance you've got to work hard. However, hard training breaks you down and makes you weaker. It is rest that makes you stronger. Physiologic improvement in sports only occurs during the rest period following hard training. This adaptation is in response to maximal loading of the cardiovascular and muscular systems and is accomplished by improving efficiency of the heart, increasing capillaries in the muscles, and increasing glycogen stores and mitochondrial enzyme systems within the muscle cells. During recovery periods these systems build to greater levels to compensate for the stress that you have applied. The result is that you are now at a higher level of performance.
If sufficient rest is not included in a training program then regeneration cannot occur and performance plateaus. If this imbalance between excess training and inadequate rest persists then performance will decline. Overtraining can best be defined as the state where the athlete has been repeatedly stressed by training to the point where rest is no longer adequate to allow for recovery. The "overtraining syndrome" is the name given to the collection of emotional, behavioral, and physical symptoms due to overtraining that has persisted for weeks to months. Athletes and coaches also know it as "burnout" or "staleness." This is different from the day to day variation in performance and post exercise tiredness that is common in conditioned athletes. Overtraining is marked by cumulative exhaustion that persists even after recovery periods.
The most common symptom is fatigue. This may limit workouts and may be present at rest. The athlete may also become moody, easily irritated, have altered sleep patterns, become depressed, or lose the competitive desire and enthusiasm for the sport. Some will report decreased appetite and weight loss. Physical symptoms include persistent muscular soreness, increased frequency of viral illnesses, and increased incidence of injuries.
There have been several clinical studies done on athletes with the overtraining syndrome. Exercise physiologic, psychological, and biochemical laboratory testing have been done. Findings in these studies have shown decreased performance in exercise testing, decreased mood state, and, in some, increased cortisol levels -- the body's "stress" hormone. A decrease in testosterone, altered immune status, and an increase in muscular break down products have also been identified. Medically, the overtraining syndrome is classified as a neuro-endocrine disorder. The normal fine balance in the interaction between the autonomic nervous system and the hormonal system is disturbed and athletic "jet lag" results. The body now has a decreased ability to repair itself during rest. Heaping more workouts onto this unbalanced system only worsens the situation. Additional stress in the form of difficulties at work or personal life also contributes.
It appears that there are two forms of the syndrome. The sympathetic form is more common in sprint type sports and the parasympathetic form is more common in endurance sports. The results from various measurements taken during exercise physiologic testing differ between the two forms, but decreased overall performance and increased perceived fatigue are similar. In the parasympathetic form there may be a lower heart rate for a given workload. Athletes training with a heart rate monitor may notice that they cannot sustain the workout at their usual "set point." Fatigue takes over and prematurely terminates the workout. Regulation of glucose can become altered and the athlete may experience symptoms of hypoglycemia during exercise.
I won't comment on all of the differences between the two forms, but one example is resting heart rate. In the sympathetic form, the resting heart rate is elevated. In the parasympathetic form, however, the resting heart rate is decreased. If this sounds confusing, then you are not alone. There is very little agreement in the literature about abnormal laboratory findings. Additionally, it is possible to have the overtraining syndrome, but have completely normal physical findings and biochemical tests. At this point, there is no single test that will confirm the presence of overtraining. The overtraining syndrome should be considered in any athlete who manifests symptoms of prolonged fatigue and performance that has leveled off or decreased. It is important to exclude any underlying illness that may be responsible for the fatigue.
The treatment for the overtraining syndrome is rest. The longer the overtraining has occurred, the more rest required. Therefore, early detection is very important. If the overtraining has only occurred for a short period of time (e.g., 3 - 4 weeks) then interrupting training for 3 - 5 days is usually sufficient rest. After this, workouts can be resumed on an alternate day basis. The intensity of the training can be maintained but the total volume must be lower. It is important that the factors that lead to overtraining be identified and corrected. Otherwise, the overtraining syndrome is likely to recur. The alternate day recovery period is continued for a few weeks and then an increase in volume is permitted. In more severe cases, the training program may have to be interrupted for weeks, and it may take months to recover. An alternate form of exercise can be substituted to help prevent the exercise withdrawal syndrome.
All of the medical studies and advice on overtraining have involved single sport athletes. For triathletes and other multi-sport athletes the recovery process may be different depending on the circumstances. If it can be identified that the overtraining has occurred in only one discipline, then resting that discipline along with significant decreases in the other sports can bring about full recovery. It is vitally important not to suddenly substitute more workouts in one sport in an attempt to compensate for rest in another. The athlete that does this will not heal the overtraining, but will drive him or herself deeper into a hole. Overtraining affects both peripheral and central mechanisms in the body. Resting from overtraining on the bicycle by swimming more will help a pair of fatigued quadriceps, but to the heart, pituitary, and adrenals, stress is stress.
As with almost everything else health related, prevention is the key. Well-balanced gradual increases in training are recommended. A training schedule design called periodisation varies the training load in cycles with built in mandatory rest phases. During the high workload phase, the athlete alternates between high intensity interval work and low intensity endurance work . This approach is used by a number of elite athletes in many sports.
A training log is the best method to monitor progress. In addition to keeping track of distance and intensity, the athlete can record the resting morning heart rate, weight, general health, how the workout felt, and levels of muscular soreness and fatigue. The latter two can be scored on a 10 point scale. Significant, progressive changes in any of these parameters may signal overtraining. Avoiding monotonous training and maintaining adequate nutrition are other recommendations for prevention. Vigorous exercise during the incubation period of a viral illness may increase the duration and severity of that illness. Athletes who feel as if they are developing a cold should rest or reduce the training schedule for a few days.
In conclusion, the prevailing wisdom is that it is better to be undertrained than overtrained. Rest is a vital part of any athlete's training. There is considerable evidence that reduced training (same intensity, lower volume) for up to 21 days will not decrease performance. A well-planned training program involves as much art as science and should allow for flexibility. Early warning signs of overtraining should be heeded and schedule adjustments made accordingly. Smart training is the path to faster times and good health.
Copyright©1998 Mark Jenkins, MD
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Dr Mark Jenkins wrote this and it really explains the situation well. As I suspected it's time for a break.
*************************************************************************************************
Overtraining Syndrome
It is no secret among athletes that in order to improve performance you've got to work hard. However, hard training breaks you down and makes you weaker. It is rest that makes you stronger. Physiologic improvement in sports only occurs during the rest period following hard training. This adaptation is in response to maximal loading of the cardiovascular and muscular systems and is accomplished by improving efficiency of the heart, increasing capillaries in the muscles, and increasing glycogen stores and mitochondrial enzyme systems within the muscle cells. During recovery periods these systems build to greater levels to compensate for the stress that you have applied. The result is that you are now at a higher level of performance.
If sufficient rest is not included in a training program then regeneration cannot occur and performance plateaus. If this imbalance between excess training and inadequate rest persists then performance will decline. Overtraining can best be defined as the state where the athlete has been repeatedly stressed by training to the point where rest is no longer adequate to allow for recovery. The "overtraining syndrome" is the name given to the collection of emotional, behavioral, and physical symptoms due to overtraining that has persisted for weeks to months. Athletes and coaches also know it as "burnout" or "staleness." This is different from the day to day variation in performance and post exercise tiredness that is common in conditioned athletes. Overtraining is marked by cumulative exhaustion that persists even after recovery periods.
The most common symptom is fatigue. This may limit workouts and may be present at rest. The athlete may also become moody, easily irritated, have altered sleep patterns, become depressed, or lose the competitive desire and enthusiasm for the sport. Some will report decreased appetite and weight loss. Physical symptoms include persistent muscular soreness, increased frequency of viral illnesses, and increased incidence of injuries.
There have been several clinical studies done on athletes with the overtraining syndrome. Exercise physiologic, psychological, and biochemical laboratory testing have been done. Findings in these studies have shown decreased performance in exercise testing, decreased mood state, and, in some, increased cortisol levels -- the body's "stress" hormone. A decrease in testosterone, altered immune status, and an increase in muscular break down products have also been identified. Medically, the overtraining syndrome is classified as a neuro-endocrine disorder. The normal fine balance in the interaction between the autonomic nervous system and the hormonal system is disturbed and athletic "jet lag" results. The body now has a decreased ability to repair itself during rest. Heaping more workouts onto this unbalanced system only worsens the situation. Additional stress in the form of difficulties at work or personal life also contributes.
It appears that there are two forms of the syndrome. The sympathetic form is more common in sprint type sports and the parasympathetic form is more common in endurance sports. The results from various measurements taken during exercise physiologic testing differ between the two forms, but decreased overall performance and increased perceived fatigue are similar. In the parasympathetic form there may be a lower heart rate for a given workload. Athletes training with a heart rate monitor may notice that they cannot sustain the workout at their usual "set point." Fatigue takes over and prematurely terminates the workout. Regulation of glucose can become altered and the athlete may experience symptoms of hypoglycemia during exercise.
I won't comment on all of the differences between the two forms, but one example is resting heart rate. In the sympathetic form, the resting heart rate is elevated. In the parasympathetic form, however, the resting heart rate is decreased. If this sounds confusing, then you are not alone. There is very little agreement in the literature about abnormal laboratory findings. Additionally, it is possible to have the overtraining syndrome, but have completely normal physical findings and biochemical tests. At this point, there is no single test that will confirm the presence of overtraining. The overtraining syndrome should be considered in any athlete who manifests symptoms of prolonged fatigue and performance that has leveled off or decreased. It is important to exclude any underlying illness that may be responsible for the fatigue.
The treatment for the overtraining syndrome is rest. The longer the overtraining has occurred, the more rest required. Therefore, early detection is very important. If the overtraining has only occurred for a short period of time (e.g., 3 - 4 weeks) then interrupting training for 3 - 5 days is usually sufficient rest. After this, workouts can be resumed on an alternate day basis. The intensity of the training can be maintained but the total volume must be lower. It is important that the factors that lead to overtraining be identified and corrected. Otherwise, the overtraining syndrome is likely to recur. The alternate day recovery period is continued for a few weeks and then an increase in volume is permitted. In more severe cases, the training program may have to be interrupted for weeks, and it may take months to recover. An alternate form of exercise can be substituted to help prevent the exercise withdrawal syndrome.
All of the medical studies and advice on overtraining have involved single sport athletes. For triathletes and other multi-sport athletes the recovery process may be different depending on the circumstances. If it can be identified that the overtraining has occurred in only one discipline, then resting that discipline along with significant decreases in the other sports can bring about full recovery. It is vitally important not to suddenly substitute more workouts in one sport in an attempt to compensate for rest in another. The athlete that does this will not heal the overtraining, but will drive him or herself deeper into a hole. Overtraining affects both peripheral and central mechanisms in the body. Resting from overtraining on the bicycle by swimming more will help a pair of fatigued quadriceps, but to the heart, pituitary, and adrenals, stress is stress.
As with almost everything else health related, prevention is the key. Well-balanced gradual increases in training are recommended. A training schedule design called periodisation varies the training load in cycles with built in mandatory rest phases. During the high workload phase, the athlete alternates between high intensity interval work and low intensity endurance work . This approach is used by a number of elite athletes in many sports.
A training log is the best method to monitor progress. In addition to keeping track of distance and intensity, the athlete can record the resting morning heart rate, weight, general health, how the workout felt, and levels of muscular soreness and fatigue. The latter two can be scored on a 10 point scale. Significant, progressive changes in any of these parameters may signal overtraining. Avoiding monotonous training and maintaining adequate nutrition are other recommendations for prevention. Vigorous exercise during the incubation period of a viral illness may increase the duration and severity of that illness. Athletes who feel as if they are developing a cold should rest or reduce the training schedule for a few days.
In conclusion, the prevailing wisdom is that it is better to be undertrained than overtrained. Rest is a vital part of any athlete's training. There is considerable evidence that reduced training (same intensity, lower volume) for up to 21 days will not decrease performance. A well-planned training program involves as much art as science and should allow for flexibility. Early warning signs of overtraining should be heeded and schedule adjustments made accordingly. Smart training is the path to faster times and good health.
Copyright©1998 Mark Jenkins, MD
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Wente Road Race Pro/1/2
After Snelling this was going to be the biggest race of the year so far, it would be about 85 miles with over 5K feet of climbing over 5 laps. It was a big field with all the top local teams well represented. It was cool for the 8:00 start but it would soon warm up. We would end up doing the climb 6 times. I only ever remember doing it once when I last did this race as I think I was dropped on the first lap and pulled out.
There was an attack right from the gun with a bunch of guys getting up the road early. The first time up the climb seemed very relaxed. I was well positioned in the first part of the field and didn't drift back at all over the length of the climb. After the main climb there were a few rollers and then a really fun corkscrew descent. With the yellow line rule being strictly enforced on this open to traffic course everyone was crammed onto a narrow piece of tarmac.
As we came though the start line and towards the bottom of the climb marshals and spectators we're telling us that the break had about two minutes on us. This wasn't good news as the field was going to try and take out a bunch of this time on the climb.
I wasn't disappointed this time up the climb, the field upped the pace and now gaps were opening. I saw Drew ahead of me slowly drifting back through the field and I didn't have enough breath to say anything as I was maxed out just holding my position. As we came across the flatter section in the middle of the climb I was starting to lose places and Drew comeback past me as I popped off the back of the field. There was nothing I could do to close the gap and I watched as the field disappeared up the second half of the climb and onto the rollers. I took a deep breath and kept pushing as hard as I could.
I came up on a couple of other riders that had been dropped just after me and we started to work together to see if we could catch back on. Just after the descent another couple of strong guys came up behind me and I jumped on the back of this new group as we started the chase back.
Two of the riders were really strong on the flats and small rollers doing enormous pulls into the wind. Russell White with pulling like a train as well as Brian from the AV team. With about 8 miles from the bottom of the climb we managed to catch onto the back of the group. I tried to recovers best I could ready for the climb again but my legs were hurting bad from the chase.
Spencer rolled up along side me and said hi. He was telling me that the race had been strange up to that point. I agreed but probably not for the same reasons.
This time up the climb the pace was high again almost from the very start, gaps were opening and I tried my best to stay with the group. I stood up on the pedals and my legs were like lead. I was off the back and it wasn't looking good to get back on this time. I kept going as hard as I could and again started to catch other riders that had been dropped. I was passing guys who had beaten me at the Chico Stage Race and I was determined to keep going and either get back onto a group or finish solo.
I had 3 laps to go and 3 more times up the climb to suffer through before the finish. One big mistake I'd made was assuming that there was neutral feed, there was no neutral water at this event and I only had 2 bottles. It didn't impact the fact that I was dropped but it would impact how bad the rest of the race felt.
I rode the whole next lap by myself and just before the bottom of the climb I came up on another rider from the Pro/1/2 field. He told me his hamstring was hurting but would ride with me anyway. I kept pushing on and he hung behind me until the top of the descent. I hit the descent really hard and never saw him again after that. On the rollers I was caught by the Cat 3 field who were on their first lap.
I rolled the rest of the lap again by myself and passed some more dropped riders from my field including more string guys from the Top Sport race. I was still pushing as hard as I could and none of these guys wanted to carry on at that pace. Not that it was fast but they were more cooked than I was at this point.
As I came towards the bottom of the climb I could see the finishers from my race rolling back to the parking area. I was going to be finishing about 15 minutes back on the field. I kept going but was out of water, I got to the bottom of the climb and did my best to look strong as I crawled through the feed zone. Fortunately the feed zone had emptied out a little and not many people were taking notice of me. I got to the finish line and was a little worried that they'd all gone home. Fortunately they were still there and recorded my finish as 50th place.
I rolled back to the car and met Drew, turns out his 2 teammate hadn't finished. Looking at the results it seemed that 20 people dropped out but I'd managed to finish. Not my best day on the bike recently but still a finish.
The good news for the day was that Spencer finished in 2nd place with a drag race to the uphill finish. This was a BIG result for him and hopefully I'll still get to train with him more often.
I get the feeling that I'm fried at this point and need a bit of a break. The legs are like lead and have no snap. I shouldn't have been dropped the second time around so something is up.
Race day food.
Breakfast - Bananas on toast, banana, Crank Gel.
Race - 3 Crank Gels, tortilla, 2 bottles of Cytomax
Results:
Wente 2012 Results
Strava: Wente 2012
There was an attack right from the gun with a bunch of guys getting up the road early. The first time up the climb seemed very relaxed. I was well positioned in the first part of the field and didn't drift back at all over the length of the climb. After the main climb there were a few rollers and then a really fun corkscrew descent. With the yellow line rule being strictly enforced on this open to traffic course everyone was crammed onto a narrow piece of tarmac.
As we came though the start line and towards the bottom of the climb marshals and spectators we're telling us that the break had about two minutes on us. This wasn't good news as the field was going to try and take out a bunch of this time on the climb.
I wasn't disappointed this time up the climb, the field upped the pace and now gaps were opening. I saw Drew ahead of me slowly drifting back through the field and I didn't have enough breath to say anything as I was maxed out just holding my position. As we came across the flatter section in the middle of the climb I was starting to lose places and Drew comeback past me as I popped off the back of the field. There was nothing I could do to close the gap and I watched as the field disappeared up the second half of the climb and onto the rollers. I took a deep breath and kept pushing as hard as I could.
I came up on a couple of other riders that had been dropped just after me and we started to work together to see if we could catch back on. Just after the descent another couple of strong guys came up behind me and I jumped on the back of this new group as we started the chase back.
Two of the riders were really strong on the flats and small rollers doing enormous pulls into the wind. Russell White with pulling like a train as well as Brian from the AV team. With about 8 miles from the bottom of the climb we managed to catch onto the back of the group. I tried to recovers best I could ready for the climb again but my legs were hurting bad from the chase.
Spencer rolled up along side me and said hi. He was telling me that the race had been strange up to that point. I agreed but probably not for the same reasons.
This time up the climb the pace was high again almost from the very start, gaps were opening and I tried my best to stay with the group. I stood up on the pedals and my legs were like lead. I was off the back and it wasn't looking good to get back on this time. I kept going as hard as I could and again started to catch other riders that had been dropped. I was passing guys who had beaten me at the Chico Stage Race and I was determined to keep going and either get back onto a group or finish solo.
I had 3 laps to go and 3 more times up the climb to suffer through before the finish. One big mistake I'd made was assuming that there was neutral feed, there was no neutral water at this event and I only had 2 bottles. It didn't impact the fact that I was dropped but it would impact how bad the rest of the race felt.
I rode the whole next lap by myself and just before the bottom of the climb I came up on another rider from the Pro/1/2 field. He told me his hamstring was hurting but would ride with me anyway. I kept pushing on and he hung behind me until the top of the descent. I hit the descent really hard and never saw him again after that. On the rollers I was caught by the Cat 3 field who were on their first lap.
I rolled the rest of the lap again by myself and passed some more dropped riders from my field including more string guys from the Top Sport race. I was still pushing as hard as I could and none of these guys wanted to carry on at that pace. Not that it was fast but they were more cooked than I was at this point.
As I came towards the bottom of the climb I could see the finishers from my race rolling back to the parking area. I was going to be finishing about 15 minutes back on the field. I kept going but was out of water, I got to the bottom of the climb and did my best to look strong as I crawled through the feed zone. Fortunately the feed zone had emptied out a little and not many people were taking notice of me. I got to the finish line and was a little worried that they'd all gone home. Fortunately they were still there and recorded my finish as 50th place.
I rolled back to the car and met Drew, turns out his 2 teammate hadn't finished. Looking at the results it seemed that 20 people dropped out but I'd managed to finish. Not my best day on the bike recently but still a finish.
The good news for the day was that Spencer finished in 2nd place with a drag race to the uphill finish. This was a BIG result for him and hopefully I'll still get to train with him more often.
I get the feeling that I'm fried at this point and need a bit of a break. The legs are like lead and have no snap. I shouldn't have been dropped the second time around so something is up.
Race day food.
Breakfast - Bananas on toast, banana, Crank Gel.
Race - 3 Crank Gels, tortilla, 2 bottles of Cytomax
Results:
Wente 2012 Results
Strava: Wente 2012
Location:Livermore, CA
Chico Stage Race Pro/1/2 Crit
After and epic road race on Saturday and a fast flat TT on Sunday AM it was time for the Crit stage. I'd finished the RR in 25 and the TT in 35th so I was sure I'd lost a few places on GC even though the road race gaps were fairly large.
I took a nap in the truck before the race as I had over 3 hours between the TT and the Crit start. I'd eaten a couple of bananas and had a Muscle Milk right after the TT finish to help kickstart the recovery process.
I'd found a good parking spot downtown and set up the trainer right behind the truck and an hour before the start I jumped on for a warmup. I did the usual 20 minute easy spin then added a few 1 minute hard efforts to get the blood flowing. I rolled over to the start with my spare wheels and dropped them in the wheel pit. We had time to roll a couple of laps before the start and I took this time to check out the corners. Some of them were interesting with curbs that stuck out into the road. There was one corner that you could catch some air on if you took the inside line.
The overall GC race was very close with the top 20 guys only separated by a few seconds, this was going to be an attacking race as people would try to get away to gain time. They announced 2 time bonus primes which would also stir things up.
The race started with a number of attack, the whole field was struck out in a long line for at least the first 20 minutes of the 70 minute race. There was a brief let up as the early breaks were brought back but then a group of strong guys escaped and we're pulling away from the field. As the teams that missed out went to the front to try and pull things back the pace picked up and the field strung out again. This time the pace was so high that small gaps started to open and people were dropping of the back shrinking the main group significantly over the next few laps. When the pace let up the next time it was noticeable how many people had got dropped and been pulled out.
People who had finished ahead of me in the RR and TT were now standing at the side of the road and spectating 30 minutes into the race.
This always makes me wonder where my strength lies, I can hang in a Crit almost regardless of how hard the effort is but can't TT to save my life. I'm guessing I'm just very efficient in a group and when things get technical.
Id decided before the race that id just sit in and see what happens closer to the end. If I felt good I'd try to mix it up with a sprint but there wasnt much change I was going to make on GC. With a couple of laps to go the break was still away with at least 5 guys up the road. Small groups were still trying to get away but the field wasn't letting anything go. It was really just a matter of sitting in and finishing up the race. I could also see my friend Josh just off the front of the field. He was in the top 10 after the TT and needed a couple of seconds to try and move up. He was dangling off the front of the field and holding them off. The sprint came and Josh had managed to hold off the main field by 2 seconds that held his top 10 place.
I took a couple of cool down laps and then went back to the car to get changed and cleaned up. I found a great little Taco Shop downtown just a few blocks from the course and had some lunch before starting the drive home.
The results came out a couple of days later and amazingly I'd managed to move up to 24rd place on GC and the 11th Cat 2!
Race Food:
Before - Tortillas, Clif Shot 2x Caffeine Gel
During - Crank Gel
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I took a nap in the truck before the race as I had over 3 hours between the TT and the Crit start. I'd eaten a couple of bananas and had a Muscle Milk right after the TT finish to help kickstart the recovery process.
I'd found a good parking spot downtown and set up the trainer right behind the truck and an hour before the start I jumped on for a warmup. I did the usual 20 minute easy spin then added a few 1 minute hard efforts to get the blood flowing. I rolled over to the start with my spare wheels and dropped them in the wheel pit. We had time to roll a couple of laps before the start and I took this time to check out the corners. Some of them were interesting with curbs that stuck out into the road. There was one corner that you could catch some air on if you took the inside line.
The overall GC race was very close with the top 20 guys only separated by a few seconds, this was going to be an attacking race as people would try to get away to gain time. They announced 2 time bonus primes which would also stir things up.
The race started with a number of attack, the whole field was struck out in a long line for at least the first 20 minutes of the 70 minute race. There was a brief let up as the early breaks were brought back but then a group of strong guys escaped and we're pulling away from the field. As the teams that missed out went to the front to try and pull things back the pace picked up and the field strung out again. This time the pace was so high that small gaps started to open and people were dropping of the back shrinking the main group significantly over the next few laps. When the pace let up the next time it was noticeable how many people had got dropped and been pulled out.
People who had finished ahead of me in the RR and TT were now standing at the side of the road and spectating 30 minutes into the race.
This always makes me wonder where my strength lies, I can hang in a Crit almost regardless of how hard the effort is but can't TT to save my life. I'm guessing I'm just very efficient in a group and when things get technical.
Id decided before the race that id just sit in and see what happens closer to the end. If I felt good I'd try to mix it up with a sprint but there wasnt much change I was going to make on GC. With a couple of laps to go the break was still away with at least 5 guys up the road. Small groups were still trying to get away but the field wasn't letting anything go. It was really just a matter of sitting in and finishing up the race. I could also see my friend Josh just off the front of the field. He was in the top 10 after the TT and needed a couple of seconds to try and move up. He was dangling off the front of the field and holding them off. The sprint came and Josh had managed to hold off the main field by 2 seconds that held his top 10 place.
I took a couple of cool down laps and then went back to the car to get changed and cleaned up. I found a great little Taco Shop downtown just a few blocks from the course and had some lunch before starting the drive home.
The results came out a couple of days later and amazingly I'd managed to move up to 24rd place on GC and the 11th Cat 2!
Race Food:
Before - Tortillas, Clif Shot 2x Caffeine Gel
During - Crank Gel
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Downtown Chico, CA
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Chico Stage Race Pro/1/2 TT
Stage 2 of the Chico Stage Race is the time trial. It's a pancake flat 10 mile loop just to the West of town. I arrived very early and set up the trainer for a good warmup. I span for about 30 minutes then did 3 one minute hard efforts to get the HR above 160. As always the first one sucked but the next 2 got easier and easier as the legs and lungs warmed up.
My start time was 8:07:30 and was based on the previous days finish order in reverse. I had 2 fast guys right behind me as they were the guys who dropped me with 500 meters to go. They both caught me about 2 miles from the finish and gave me something to chase. I caught 2 guys who were riding road bikes but other than that it was fairly uneventful. I can't imagine I moved up on GC, I just hope I didn't drop back any.
I rolled back to the car for a warm down on the trainer and grabbed some food to recover for the Crit that was now three and a half hours away.
Food:
Breakfast - Egg McMuffin, bottle of Cytomax, Half double expresso Clif Shot
Garmin time: 0:23:40
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
My start time was 8:07:30 and was based on the previous days finish order in reverse. I had 2 fast guys right behind me as they were the guys who dropped me with 500 meters to go. They both caught me about 2 miles from the finish and gave me something to chase. I caught 2 guys who were riding road bikes but other than that it was fairly uneventful. I can't imagine I moved up on GC, I just hope I didn't drop back any.
I rolled back to the car for a warm down on the trainer and grabbed some food to recover for the Crit that was now three and a half hours away.
Food:
Breakfast - Egg McMuffin, bottle of Cytomax, Half double expresso Clif Shot
Garmin time: 0:23:40
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Chico, CA
Chico Stage Race Pro/1/2 Stage 1
With a very relaxed 9 AM start I didn't have to get up too early from my hotel in Willows To be at the start in plenty of time. When I arrived there was still plenty of parking near registration. I found a good spot behind Scott Witoff, as I pulled off the read I noticed that a large ditch hiding in the grass and made a point to avoid it. I jumped out of the truck and rolled down to pick up my number. As
I came back to my truck someone had pulled in behind me but hadn't managed to avoid the ditch that was hiding in the grass. His trucks front wheel had gone straight down the 6 foot hole and tipped over.
This was going to be a bad day for someone. I offered up the tow rope that I had in the back of the truck and the owner found someone with a big AWD truck to try and pull the truck back onto its wheels. Within a
minute or 2 he came back with the tow rope in 2 pieces. They then went to find a "proper" tow strap.
They eventually got the truck out of the ditch and back on its wheels. It's started right up and drove off to find a better parking spot.
I rolled down to the start ready for the 90 mile two lap race with two passes over the famous Paskenta gravel section.
We rolled really easy for the first 30 miles with only a couple of attacks that didn't go anywhere. The gravel section started at about mile 36 and at 6 miles out people became very nervous. Everyone was fighting for the first few rows. It was getting quite rough but I managed to stay up there ready for the pack to hit the dirt. As we came off the pavement onto the gravel we found that it was very, very soft. The recent week of rain had softened what would have been the clean line causing the wheels to sink in.
There wasn't much difference between riding on the lose gravel and riding on the dirt, they were both slow, but there was a 3" wide strip at the transition between the mud and the gravel that was much firmer but in a group it was very hard to hold onto this strip. I was with the lead group until about 3/4 of the way across the gravel section where the road really kicks up for about 150 yards. The pace picked up and a few of us fell off the back. I was doing my best to chase back on but I wasn't gaining any ground. As I came towards town a small group of about 8 guys came up behind me and I jumped on the back and worked with them to catch back onto the lead group.
We caught them about 5 miles later as they eased up in the headwind. There were a few more attacks in the cross/headwind that caused the group to split into 3 at one point. I was in the front echelon and having no trouble staying there but there were groups a long way back. Eventually we all came back together and it really stayed like this until about 3 miles out from the dirt. Things were rolling along very easy and then the fighting for the front rows started again. Just like the last lap I made my way forward and tried to stay in the first few rows. As we hit the gravel the pace this lap was very different. After 80 miles of racing everyone was very tired and the pace was slow for the first 3 miles. As the road kicked up about 3/4 of the way through I dropped off the back of the group again. I need that extra power that can keep me in the group when the big guys kick it up a notch.
This time there wasn't a group behind me to work with, but I did come up on 3 guys who also got dropped and we started working together to minimize the time loss to the front group.
We could see the group ahead of us and it looked like they stayed intact to the finish. We lost one guy from our group of 4 and I lost contact with the other two stronger guys with 500 meters to go, but the main group was still in sight and I'd only lost about a minute on the leaders. I was the 3rd rider off the group and fairly happy with the performance. I need a lot more horsepower but there isn't much I can do about that right now.
I drove back to the hotel and hit the Mexican restaurant next door for one of the biggest burritos I've ever had.
A great end to a good day.
Food:
Breakfast - 1 Egg McMuffin half a hash brown.
Race - 4 Crank Gels, 2 bottles of Cytomax
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I came back to my truck someone had pulled in behind me but hadn't managed to avoid the ditch that was hiding in the grass. His trucks front wheel had gone straight down the 6 foot hole and tipped over.
This was going to be a bad day for someone. I offered up the tow rope that I had in the back of the truck and the owner found someone with a big AWD truck to try and pull the truck back onto its wheels. Within a
minute or 2 he came back with the tow rope in 2 pieces. They then went to find a "proper" tow strap.
They eventually got the truck out of the ditch and back on its wheels. It's started right up and drove off to find a better parking spot.
I rolled down to the start ready for the 90 mile two lap race with two passes over the famous Paskenta gravel section.
We rolled really easy for the first 30 miles with only a couple of attacks that didn't go anywhere. The gravel section started at about mile 36 and at 6 miles out people became very nervous. Everyone was fighting for the first few rows. It was getting quite rough but I managed to stay up there ready for the pack to hit the dirt. As we came off the pavement onto the gravel we found that it was very, very soft. The recent week of rain had softened what would have been the clean line causing the wheels to sink in.
There wasn't much difference between riding on the lose gravel and riding on the dirt, they were both slow, but there was a 3" wide strip at the transition between the mud and the gravel that was much firmer but in a group it was very hard to hold onto this strip. I was with the lead group until about 3/4 of the way across the gravel section where the road really kicks up for about 150 yards. The pace picked up and a few of us fell off the back. I was doing my best to chase back on but I wasn't gaining any ground. As I came towards town a small group of about 8 guys came up behind me and I jumped on the back and worked with them to catch back onto the lead group.
We caught them about 5 miles later as they eased up in the headwind. There were a few more attacks in the cross/headwind that caused the group to split into 3 at one point. I was in the front echelon and having no trouble staying there but there were groups a long way back. Eventually we all came back together and it really stayed like this until about 3 miles out from the dirt. Things were rolling along very easy and then the fighting for the front rows started again. Just like the last lap I made my way forward and tried to stay in the first few rows. As we hit the gravel the pace this lap was very different. After 80 miles of racing everyone was very tired and the pace was slow for the first 3 miles. As the road kicked up about 3/4 of the way through I dropped off the back of the group again. I need that extra power that can keep me in the group when the big guys kick it up a notch.
This time there wasn't a group behind me to work with, but I did come up on 3 guys who also got dropped and we started working together to minimize the time loss to the front group.
We could see the group ahead of us and it looked like they stayed intact to the finish. We lost one guy from our group of 4 and I lost contact with the other two stronger guys with 500 meters to go, but the main group was still in sight and I'd only lost about a minute on the leaders. I was the 3rd rider off the group and fairly happy with the performance. I need a lot more horsepower but there isn't much I can do about that right now.
I drove back to the hotel and hit the Mexican restaurant next door for one of the biggest burritos I've ever had.
A great end to a good day.
Food:
Breakfast - 1 Egg McMuffin half a hash brown.
Race - 4 Crank Gels, 2 bottles of Cytomax
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Paskenta, CA
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Copperopolis Pro/1/2 or Where's Cyrus?
The Copperopolis Road Race starts at 8AM and its at least 2 hours away, which meant another early wake up call. At the last minute on the Friday night I'd arranged to carpool with Cyrus and Josh from the Form Fitness team. I think this was going to be Cyrus' second Pro/1/2 race, the first being Snelling which from what I hear was a harsh introduction for him.
The plan was to meet Cyrus at Josh's house at 4:50 meaning I had to leave home by 4:30 at the latest. I was there exactly on time and a minute or two later Josh came out of his house with all his gear ready to load into the car. We stood on the sidewalk chatting and by about 5:05 we were wondering if Cyrus was going to show up. Josh texted him and a few minutes later the phone rang. "Sorry guys I slept through my alarm! I'll be there in 15-20 minutes. Josh and I made the decision not to wait and loaded my truck up for the drive.
We arrived at the after a couple of brief stops for breakfast and gas to find Cyrus was already there. After busting on him for a few minutes we signed up and got our gear together for the start.
Copperopolis is affectionately called "The Hell of NorCal" due to the very poor state of the roads it is raced on and that it happens around the same time as Paris - Roubaix. The roads are rough, torn up in places and full of potholes just waiting to eat a tire. The side of the road is even worse. Even the race flyer recommends strong wheels, new tires and a complete bolt check before the start.
I'd decided to use a pair of 25c tires instead of my usual 23c in the hope of having a more comfortable and flat free day. Josh and I rode to the start line with a spare set of wheels for the wheel van only to find that there was no wheel van for the Pro/1/2 race.
The course is a 21 mile loop with about 1600 feet of climbing per lap coming in 2 chunks. The first is about 1300 feet over 3 miles and the second is about 300 feet over a mile both averaging about 4%.
The race started and within about a mile we heard the first flat tire as we rattled and banged over the rough road. The feed zone was a couple o f miles from the start and as usual I immediately started to move up the field to be near the front for the first climb. It was at this point that I was beginning to feel like I'd had too much breakfast but I was sure that would go away within the next 5 hours.
As the main climb started there was a small group away by about 15 seconds and the pace was kept high by the guys at the from to stop the gap growing too much. With well over 100 guys in the field there was a lot of shoulder leaning as the pack climbed the stair steps of the narrow road. The pace was hard and I was suffering along with everyone else but maintaining my place in the front of the group. Near the top the pitch kicked up and the pace stayed the same until we finally crested the top of the climb and made it to the plateau. I was comfortable and happy having now gone further than I'd gone at Copperopolis the last time I raced it more than 10 years ago.
We caught the break and the pace picked up as other little attackers stretched the field out. I had the sense that the pack had got much smaller and after drifting towards the back noticed that we'd lost Cyrus although Josh was still here and looking very comfortable.
We hit the second climb and cruised over the top before hitting the crazy fast and rough descent towards the finish of the first lap. I was loving the 25c tires as they just seemed to float over the bumps. I was flying on the descent with the bars bouncing all over the place, passing a lot of people before ending up back at the front of the group by the bottom of the hill.
We came through the finish line and things relaxed as we came towards the feed zone to start the main climb again. I was managing to hold my position but starting to suffer a lot more this time around. I'd been very conservative on this lap knowing that this time up would be hard but by the time we reached the steepest pitch I was beginning to lose contact with the back of the main group. I looked behind me and could see another group way back but didn't give up on my goal of getting back onto the front group. As I came over the top of the climb I could see the found group strung out way ahead of me with a couple of stragglers in between. I was head down and in TT mode trying to get back. I know that there were a bunch of people dropped and all we needed to do was get together. Eventually a large enough group would form to make a chase group.
By the time we got to the base of the climb for the third time there was about 12 of us and we picked up another couple of people on the way up. I was feeling much stronger in this group and was encouraging everyone to work together hoping we'd be able to catch what would be left of the field after the inevitable break got away.
There were a number of guys in this group who were obviously suffering way more than me. About 4 other guys and myself were doing the majority of the work. About half way around the lap a photographer at the side of the road told us we were only about 90 seconds down on the lead group this spurred everyone on and got the whole group working together.
We rode to the top of the second climb and a group although a little strung out. I was the second wheel as we started the descent, in front of me was a powerhouse from the Fremont Bank team. He was riding so strong I have no idea how he got dropped in the first place. We attacked the descent and were absolutely flying, passing dropped riders from other groups like they were standing still. By the time we reached the small hill to the finish there were only 5 of us left, we'd dropped 10 guys on the descent!
We flew through town and the feed zone ready for the climb again. The group separated on the climb into a pair of riders about 10 seconds up and then 3 of us suffering a little more this time. The 3 of us decided to work together for the final lap and a half before the finish.
I was riding well and the 3 of us were working well together. I was by far the smallest rider so I have no idea how much of a draft I was giving them.
As we came around towards the start of the second climb we were to the right side of the road with the wind coming from left. I was at the back and had just grabbed some food. The rider in front of me moved over to his right and my front wheel was to the right of his rear wheel and suddenly I ran out of road. The edge of the road was very ragged and broken up and I went off the tarmac and into the ditch that was loosely described as the shoulder. The bottom of the ditch was full of small jagged rocks and at 20 mph I was bouncing along just trying to stay upright. After about 20 yards I managed to get the bike back onto the road and was regaining the back of other 2 guys when I could hear the hissing from my rear tire as it went flat. I'd pinched the tube on the rocks in the ditch and my race was over. I'd ridden 80 hard miles with only 25 remaining and was determined to finish the race. There was nothing I could do now but get off the bike and wait for the sag van to come pick me up. There was no wheel van for the Pro/1/2 race and I wasn't carrying a patch kit.
The van came quickly and I loaded the bike on the back. We're we're driving past riders who had obviously quit and as we came through the finish line there were a bunch of the Pro/1/2 field that had dropped out. All you had to do was finish this race and you could have placed well.
I'll be back for this race next year. It's rough and hard and deserves its name as "The Hell of NorCal". I loved it!
Food for the Day
Breakfast: 2 Egg McMuffins. Probably one too many :)
Race: 4 Gels, 3 bottles of Cytomax. Could have used more food but hadn't bonked.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
The plan was to meet Cyrus at Josh's house at 4:50 meaning I had to leave home by 4:30 at the latest. I was there exactly on time and a minute or two later Josh came out of his house with all his gear ready to load into the car. We stood on the sidewalk chatting and by about 5:05 we were wondering if Cyrus was going to show up. Josh texted him and a few minutes later the phone rang. "Sorry guys I slept through my alarm! I'll be there in 15-20 minutes. Josh and I made the decision not to wait and loaded my truck up for the drive.
We arrived at the after a couple of brief stops for breakfast and gas to find Cyrus was already there. After busting on him for a few minutes we signed up and got our gear together for the start.
Copperopolis is affectionately called "The Hell of NorCal" due to the very poor state of the roads it is raced on and that it happens around the same time as Paris - Roubaix. The roads are rough, torn up in places and full of potholes just waiting to eat a tire. The side of the road is even worse. Even the race flyer recommends strong wheels, new tires and a complete bolt check before the start.
I'd decided to use a pair of 25c tires instead of my usual 23c in the hope of having a more comfortable and flat free day. Josh and I rode to the start line with a spare set of wheels for the wheel van only to find that there was no wheel van for the Pro/1/2 race.
The course is a 21 mile loop with about 1600 feet of climbing per lap coming in 2 chunks. The first is about 1300 feet over 3 miles and the second is about 300 feet over a mile both averaging about 4%.
The race started and within about a mile we heard the first flat tire as we rattled and banged over the rough road. The feed zone was a couple o f miles from the start and as usual I immediately started to move up the field to be near the front for the first climb. It was at this point that I was beginning to feel like I'd had too much breakfast but I was sure that would go away within the next 5 hours.
As the main climb started there was a small group away by about 15 seconds and the pace was kept high by the guys at the from to stop the gap growing too much. With well over 100 guys in the field there was a lot of shoulder leaning as the pack climbed the stair steps of the narrow road. The pace was hard and I was suffering along with everyone else but maintaining my place in the front of the group. Near the top the pitch kicked up and the pace stayed the same until we finally crested the top of the climb and made it to the plateau. I was comfortable and happy having now gone further than I'd gone at Copperopolis the last time I raced it more than 10 years ago.
We caught the break and the pace picked up as other little attackers stretched the field out. I had the sense that the pack had got much smaller and after drifting towards the back noticed that we'd lost Cyrus although Josh was still here and looking very comfortable.
We hit the second climb and cruised over the top before hitting the crazy fast and rough descent towards the finish of the first lap. I was loving the 25c tires as they just seemed to float over the bumps. I was flying on the descent with the bars bouncing all over the place, passing a lot of people before ending up back at the front of the group by the bottom of the hill.
We came through the finish line and things relaxed as we came towards the feed zone to start the main climb again. I was managing to hold my position but starting to suffer a lot more this time around. I'd been very conservative on this lap knowing that this time up would be hard but by the time we reached the steepest pitch I was beginning to lose contact with the back of the main group. I looked behind me and could see another group way back but didn't give up on my goal of getting back onto the front group. As I came over the top of the climb I could see the found group strung out way ahead of me with a couple of stragglers in between. I was head down and in TT mode trying to get back. I know that there were a bunch of people dropped and all we needed to do was get together. Eventually a large enough group would form to make a chase group.
By the time we got to the base of the climb for the third time there was about 12 of us and we picked up another couple of people on the way up. I was feeling much stronger in this group and was encouraging everyone to work together hoping we'd be able to catch what would be left of the field after the inevitable break got away.
There were a number of guys in this group who were obviously suffering way more than me. About 4 other guys and myself were doing the majority of the work. About half way around the lap a photographer at the side of the road told us we were only about 90 seconds down on the lead group this spurred everyone on and got the whole group working together.
We rode to the top of the second climb and a group although a little strung out. I was the second wheel as we started the descent, in front of me was a powerhouse from the Fremont Bank team. He was riding so strong I have no idea how he got dropped in the first place. We attacked the descent and were absolutely flying, passing dropped riders from other groups like they were standing still. By the time we reached the small hill to the finish there were only 5 of us left, we'd dropped 10 guys on the descent!
We flew through town and the feed zone ready for the climb again. The group separated on the climb into a pair of riders about 10 seconds up and then 3 of us suffering a little more this time. The 3 of us decided to work together for the final lap and a half before the finish.
I was riding well and the 3 of us were working well together. I was by far the smallest rider so I have no idea how much of a draft I was giving them.
As we came around towards the start of the second climb we were to the right side of the road with the wind coming from left. I was at the back and had just grabbed some food. The rider in front of me moved over to his right and my front wheel was to the right of his rear wheel and suddenly I ran out of road. The edge of the road was very ragged and broken up and I went off the tarmac and into the ditch that was loosely described as the shoulder. The bottom of the ditch was full of small jagged rocks and at 20 mph I was bouncing along just trying to stay upright. After about 20 yards I managed to get the bike back onto the road and was regaining the back of other 2 guys when I could hear the hissing from my rear tire as it went flat. I'd pinched the tube on the rocks in the ditch and my race was over. I'd ridden 80 hard miles with only 25 remaining and was determined to finish the race. There was nothing I could do now but get off the bike and wait for the sag van to come pick me up. There was no wheel van for the Pro/1/2 race and I wasn't carrying a patch kit.
The van came quickly and I loaded the bike on the back. We're we're driving past riders who had obviously quit and as we came through the finish line there were a bunch of the Pro/1/2 field that had dropped out. All you had to do was finish this race and you could have placed well.
I'll be back for this race next year. It's rough and hard and deserves its name as "The Hell of NorCal". I loved it!
Food for the Day
Breakfast: 2 Egg McMuffins. Probably one too many :)
Race: 4 Gels, 3 bottles of Cytomax. Could have used more food but hadn't bonked.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Milton, CA
Sunday, April 1, 2012
The final stage. TopSport SR Stage 3 - Circuit Race Pro/1/2
At the end of the TT I had 2 hours until the start of the final stage of the 2012 TopSport Stage Race. This was enough time to get food, drink and take a quick nap in the car before getting back on the bike to warm up.
I'd gotten cold on the ride back to the car and it took a while with the heater on full blast again before I started to warm up. Slowly the sun came out and the roads started to dry out.
The circuit race was a 5 mile out and back course on a fully closed road with a short loop through the center of town over some cobbled crosswalks. These were not Belgium cobbles but more like rough pavement, nothing to worry about in the dry.
As I started my warmup I took down a double caffeine Clif Shot and began to spin on the trainer. The legs were a little sore but I was hoping that this was the same for everyone else. I'd gone as hard as I could in the TT and hoped it hadn't taken too much out of me.
The race started with a fast lap as the MarcPro-Starva team and the Fremont Bank team both tried to get people up the road. There was another head/cross wind section on the slight incline out of town. This caused small gaps to open that were painful to close on the first couple of laps as I tried to get warmed up and into race mode again. There were an number of good attacks that had the field strung out but things seemed to bunch up after a short while as nothing was sticking. At the far end of the course there was another turnaround with a cone placed in the middle of the road. Just like Saturday the whole field would slow to a crawl as we rounded the cone and then had to sprint like crazy as things were strung out.
The turnaround cone was about 5K from the finish line with a couple of small rollers in between. After a few laps I realized that you needed to be in a really good position coming into the turn if you were going to be able to hold that position for the sprint. I made up my mind that on the final lap I would fight my way into the top ten before the cone and then do what I could to hold it to the 200 meter marker.
As the bell went for 1 lap to go I was still near the back but after the twisty section through town the group hesitated a little and I started my move to the front. About 1/4 of a mile before the turn I was in the top 10 and holding my position. We came around the turn and the lead group sprinted a little to string things out a bit, but everything bunched up again with about 3K to go. I was still near the front but not close enough. I started to move up again and was doing well as the pace picked up. With 1K to go I was back in the top 15 but still hiding out of the wind at the pointy end of the race.
Things were getting a little crazy but this was why I was here, I kept telling myself that this is why I do sprint training each week. At about 300 meters I saw one of the MarcPro-Strava guys launch his sprint on the right side, there was no immediate reaction but as the seconds ticked by the pace wound up until at 200 meters we were at full speed on this flat run in to the finish. I gripped the bars tight and started my sprint making my way through the crowd as the front of the race spread out across the road. I was gaining on two guys in front of me with nowhere to go as we crossed the line. I had to back off a little to avoid running into the back of them. I felt great! I hadn't sprinted like that in many years and loved every minute of it. Turns out I placed 11th in the final stage of a Pro/1/2 Stage Race against some really fast guys.
It had been a great weekend of racing and all that was left to do was to drive home and spend the evening with Super Supporter Hailey, watching the Tour of Flanders that she'd recorded for us in HD!
The GC results were not posted by the time I left so I'll have to wait till they send them out to find out how I placed on GC. I'd been 21st OA and 12th Cat 2 going into the TT but must have lost some places. Everyone finished on the same time in the circuit race so there would have been no changes in GC after that.
Food:
Race: 3 crank gels and a bottle of Cytomax
Pre Race: muscle milk, banana, tortilla and almond butter
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I'd gotten cold on the ride back to the car and it took a while with the heater on full blast again before I started to warm up. Slowly the sun came out and the roads started to dry out.
The circuit race was a 5 mile out and back course on a fully closed road with a short loop through the center of town over some cobbled crosswalks. These were not Belgium cobbles but more like rough pavement, nothing to worry about in the dry.
As I started my warmup I took down a double caffeine Clif Shot and began to spin on the trainer. The legs were a little sore but I was hoping that this was the same for everyone else. I'd gone as hard as I could in the TT and hoped it hadn't taken too much out of me.
The race started with a fast lap as the MarcPro-Starva team and the Fremont Bank team both tried to get people up the road. There was another head/cross wind section on the slight incline out of town. This caused small gaps to open that were painful to close on the first couple of laps as I tried to get warmed up and into race mode again. There were an number of good attacks that had the field strung out but things seemed to bunch up after a short while as nothing was sticking. At the far end of the course there was another turnaround with a cone placed in the middle of the road. Just like Saturday the whole field would slow to a crawl as we rounded the cone and then had to sprint like crazy as things were strung out.
The turnaround cone was about 5K from the finish line with a couple of small rollers in between. After a few laps I realized that you needed to be in a really good position coming into the turn if you were going to be able to hold that position for the sprint. I made up my mind that on the final lap I would fight my way into the top ten before the cone and then do what I could to hold it to the 200 meter marker.
As the bell went for 1 lap to go I was still near the back but after the twisty section through town the group hesitated a little and I started my move to the front. About 1/4 of a mile before the turn I was in the top 10 and holding my position. We came around the turn and the lead group sprinted a little to string things out a bit, but everything bunched up again with about 3K to go. I was still near the front but not close enough. I started to move up again and was doing well as the pace picked up. With 1K to go I was back in the top 15 but still hiding out of the wind at the pointy end of the race.
Things were getting a little crazy but this was why I was here, I kept telling myself that this is why I do sprint training each week. At about 300 meters I saw one of the MarcPro-Strava guys launch his sprint on the right side, there was no immediate reaction but as the seconds ticked by the pace wound up until at 200 meters we were at full speed on this flat run in to the finish. I gripped the bars tight and started my sprint making my way through the crowd as the front of the race spread out across the road. I was gaining on two guys in front of me with nowhere to go as we crossed the line. I had to back off a little to avoid running into the back of them. I felt great! I hadn't sprinted like that in many years and loved every minute of it. Turns out I placed 11th in the final stage of a Pro/1/2 Stage Race against some really fast guys.
It had been a great weekend of racing and all that was left to do was to drive home and spend the evening with Super Supporter Hailey, watching the Tour of Flanders that she'd recorded for us in HD!
The GC results were not posted by the time I left so I'll have to wait till they send them out to find out how I placed on GC. I'd been 21st OA and 12th Cat 2 going into the TT but must have lost some places. Everyone finished on the same time in the circuit race so there would have been no changes in GC after that.
Food:
Race: 3 crank gels and a bottle of Cytomax
Pre Race: muscle milk, banana, tortilla and almond butter
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Copperopolis, CA
Where's the start? TopSport SR Stage 2 TT Pro/1/2
The alarm went off at 5:30 AM. I was staying in Lodi, CA with family and had been woken multiple times during the night by the neighbors dog barking. I looked out the window and it as dark but dry. There was a breeze blowing the trees but nothing like the winds we had the day before.
I packed the truck and swung by the local McDonalds for an egg McMuffin before driving east on Hwy 4 to Copperopolis, the old civil war copper mining town.
I went to the town square and found the GC results. I was 21st on GC and the 12th cat 2 with 6 minutes down on the leader. Only 1 cat 2 was on a different time than me, all the others were on the same time.
I broke out the trainer and started my warmup an hour before my actual start time of 8:14:30. I added 4 hard efforts to get the HR over 160 and really warm things up. The first hard effort felt horrible but each subsequent effort felt a little better.
At 8:00 I jumped off the trainer, pulled on my arm warmers and headed to where I thought the start was but I was wrong. I asked a couple of people and they told me it was about a mile up the road. I had 7 minutes before my start time so I started my TT early making sure I made it to the start just in time. Note so self, read the race bible more carefully next time.
I had 5 people lined up in front of me as they counted down the seconds. I looked up the road and it looked like it was starting out up hill. We were told this was a rolling course and I'd describe it as hilly. In the first few miles I was feeling fairly good, better than I expected considering how the race ended yesterday.
I passed a couple of people and was passed by one guy who stared a minute behind, he caught me within the last 3K. My 30 second guy never caught me. My time was 28:39:00 according to my Garmin. The results showed I was 36th OA which was a little disappointing really. Still a lot of work to do on the TT'ing.
I rolled back to the car and started the recovery for the 3rd stage. This would be a 90 minute circuit race and the wind was picking up again.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I packed the truck and swung by the local McDonalds for an egg McMuffin before driving east on Hwy 4 to Copperopolis, the old civil war copper mining town.
I went to the town square and found the GC results. I was 21st on GC and the 12th cat 2 with 6 minutes down on the leader. Only 1 cat 2 was on a different time than me, all the others were on the same time.
I broke out the trainer and started my warmup an hour before my actual start time of 8:14:30. I added 4 hard efforts to get the HR over 160 and really warm things up. The first hard effort felt horrible but each subsequent effort felt a little better.
At 8:00 I jumped off the trainer, pulled on my arm warmers and headed to where I thought the start was but I was wrong. I asked a couple of people and they told me it was about a mile up the road. I had 7 minutes before my start time so I started my TT early making sure I made it to the start just in time. Note so self, read the race bible more carefully next time.
I had 5 people lined up in front of me as they counted down the seconds. I looked up the road and it looked like it was starting out up hill. We were told this was a rolling course and I'd describe it as hilly. In the first few miles I was feeling fairly good, better than I expected considering how the race ended yesterday.
I passed a couple of people and was passed by one guy who stared a minute behind, he caught me within the last 3K. My 30 second guy never caught me. My time was 28:39:00 according to my Garmin. The results showed I was 36th OA which was a little disappointing really. Still a lot of work to do on the TT'ing.
I rolled back to the car and started the recovery for the 3rd stage. This would be a 90 minute circuit race and the wind was picking up again.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Copperopolis, CA
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Headwind, Tailwind, Headwind, Tailwind, Rain.. TopSport SR Stage 1 Pro/1/2
The forecast called for rain and boy did it rain. But before the rain started we had 50 miles of some of the strongest winds I've ever rode in. The course was an out and back loop on one narrow road with a heavily enforced centerline. It was just about wide enough for 5 riders which didn't matter too much when it was strung out in the gutter.
As an out and back loop we had to contend with mostly head winds in one direction and mostly tail winds in the other, but it was the few cross wind sections that did the most damage. This was going to be a race of attrition as the big guys tried to crush the smaller guys in the wind.
The race started about half way along the loop and into the headwind. It was fairly mellow for the first few miles with just a few attacks that were easily brought back. I was sitting near the front for most of the time with only about 15 riders ahead of me. As we came to the first turnaround people were trying to move up. The road was so narrow at the turn around that the cone forced everyone to an almost complete stop. This meant that it was a mad sprint to get back into the group. I wasted a lot of energy on this first turn and made a mental note to be nearer the front on the next one.
We were now in the tail wind direction with a couple of cross wind sections that caused a lot of trouble. The center line rule was being enforced and that meant that everyone was strung out trying not to cross the yellow line. The cross winds were so strong that all the riders ahead of me we leant over at 60 degrees forcing against the wind.
People were opening gaps and coming back through the groups as they blew up fighting to keep a wheel. I was holding the wheel in front and able to go around people when the gaps opened up. I looked at the GPS at one point and it said 35mph. I was in the 53x11 and completely spun out. I needed a 10 cog!!
I was managing to stay in the lead group even though it was shrinking behind me. We came to the northern turnaround and I came flying up the left side overtaking about 10 guys coming into the cone, again my CX racing over the winter helped. I was always able to cut inside on the tight and twisty sections of the CX courses. I was out of the saddle and sprinting to stay on the back of the lead group as gaps were opening up. This time I used a lot less energy as the gaps were much smaller this close to the front.
The next 10 miles were into a block headwind so the group really slowed. This didn't stop the two biggest teams of MarkPro-Strava and Fremont Bank from attacking the hell out of each other. MarkPro-Strava had a man off the front with about a minute gap and were covering everything that anyone did. They had the strongest riders and the largest number of teammates. The continual attacks were taking their toll on the field. Gaps were opening up and smaller and smaller groups were being formed with each attack. Instinct drove me to the front and I went with a couple of attacks and also bridged up to a group that got away. I could sense that a group was going to get away. Another attack of 3 guys went and I jumped on the back. It took almost everything I had to stay on the wheel and we were away! Another 4 or 5 guys bridged up and we had a good gap. This was it, this was going to stick. The big teams were represented and their teammates were shutting things down behind. Unfortunately I'd used up too much energy getting into the move and didn't have enough power to stay with it when we hit one of the cross wind sections. I fell off the back of the break and started to drift back to the group. I was going backwards through the group as riders were trying to bridge up and nearly lost contact before managing to catch a wheel and hang on the back.
Thankfully things were shut down again by the bigger teams and the group started to slow, but it was much smaller now than it had been a few minutes earlier. The attacks and chasing had popped a bunch of people off.
That was the winning move, the group of 8 broke up a little but the leaders were never caught. We could see them at the next turnaround, they had 30 seconds. This inspired another chase which really put me in the hole. I was struggling to hang on at one point and only just managed to grab a wheel before the group slowed again.
We had a good tailwind and again I was spun out in the biggest gear I had. We came through the northern turnaround again and the gap to the lead group had grown and this took the urgency out of the group. We had slowed down a lot. We started the headwind section again and about half way through we all felt a few spots of rain. By the time we reached the southern turn the wind was howling even stronger and the rain was chucking it down. The bikes were making foamy streaks through the puddles and all the back wheels were throwing up rooster tails. I had a good pair of glasses on and had also treated them with rainX but I couldn't see a bloody thing.
We had about 3/4 of a lap to go, probably around 15 miles but the rain was making this tough. It also started to get much colder at this point.
There were still attacks but the power had really been taken out of them. I was riding near the front and trying to stay out of the potholes. Before the turn around we could see that the lead group had broken up into groups of 2s and 4s. We came around the turn and I sprinted to keep my place in the lead group, I was in the lead 10 of the group and holding my wheel. The finish was uphill, into a head wind so I wanted to leave it late before I sprinted but that would be dependent on what everyone else was doing.
I put my head down and jumped for the line but wasn't making ground on anyone and a couple of guys came around me. I was done. The race was so hard and the weather was so miserable that I just started laughing out loud. I pulled my rain jacket out and just started the ride back to the car. It was about 7 miles and the rain was still coming down. After about a mile just started shivering, I was getting really cold. By the time I got back to the car I was shaking all over and hardly able to open the car door. The first thing that I did was start the engine and then climb into the back of the truck to get out of the wet clothes. It took me about 20 minutes as I was moving so slowly and my handshake stopped working. I couldn't even button my trousers so just did the belt up and figured I'd fix it later. Once I was dressed I started loading my bike and other gear into the truck. Once everything was in I started looking for the truck key and couldn't find it. I started to unload a bunch of stuff and was going through my bags when realized that the truck was running. I was so delirious that I'd forgotten I'd started the engine and the keys were in the ignition.
I jumped into the truck and grabbed some food and a Muscle Milk to start the recovery. It took about 45 minutes of driving with the heater on full before I could really function again. That was the closest I've ever come to hypothermia. Let's not do that again.
This had been one of the hardest races I'd ever done and actually finished. I'm interested in seeing the results but apparently they're not available this evening due to the bad weather.
On to stage 2 and 3 tomorrow. My TT starts at 8:14:30 AM and the Circuit Race at 10:55.
Breakfast: Toast and an Egg McMuffin.
Race Food: 3 Crank Gels 1 Honey Stinger and 2 bottles of Cytomax.
See Strava for race details.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
As an out and back loop we had to contend with mostly head winds in one direction and mostly tail winds in the other, but it was the few cross wind sections that did the most damage. This was going to be a race of attrition as the big guys tried to crush the smaller guys in the wind.
The race started about half way along the loop and into the headwind. It was fairly mellow for the first few miles with just a few attacks that were easily brought back. I was sitting near the front for most of the time with only about 15 riders ahead of me. As we came to the first turnaround people were trying to move up. The road was so narrow at the turn around that the cone forced everyone to an almost complete stop. This meant that it was a mad sprint to get back into the group. I wasted a lot of energy on this first turn and made a mental note to be nearer the front on the next one.
We were now in the tail wind direction with a couple of cross wind sections that caused a lot of trouble. The center line rule was being enforced and that meant that everyone was strung out trying not to cross the yellow line. The cross winds were so strong that all the riders ahead of me we leant over at 60 degrees forcing against the wind.
People were opening gaps and coming back through the groups as they blew up fighting to keep a wheel. I was holding the wheel in front and able to go around people when the gaps opened up. I looked at the GPS at one point and it said 35mph. I was in the 53x11 and completely spun out. I needed a 10 cog!!
I was managing to stay in the lead group even though it was shrinking behind me. We came to the northern turnaround and I came flying up the left side overtaking about 10 guys coming into the cone, again my CX racing over the winter helped. I was always able to cut inside on the tight and twisty sections of the CX courses. I was out of the saddle and sprinting to stay on the back of the lead group as gaps were opening up. This time I used a lot less energy as the gaps were much smaller this close to the front.
The next 10 miles were into a block headwind so the group really slowed. This didn't stop the two biggest teams of MarkPro-Strava and Fremont Bank from attacking the hell out of each other. MarkPro-Strava had a man off the front with about a minute gap and were covering everything that anyone did. They had the strongest riders and the largest number of teammates. The continual attacks were taking their toll on the field. Gaps were opening up and smaller and smaller groups were being formed with each attack. Instinct drove me to the front and I went with a couple of attacks and also bridged up to a group that got away. I could sense that a group was going to get away. Another attack of 3 guys went and I jumped on the back. It took almost everything I had to stay on the wheel and we were away! Another 4 or 5 guys bridged up and we had a good gap. This was it, this was going to stick. The big teams were represented and their teammates were shutting things down behind. Unfortunately I'd used up too much energy getting into the move and didn't have enough power to stay with it when we hit one of the cross wind sections. I fell off the back of the break and started to drift back to the group. I was going backwards through the group as riders were trying to bridge up and nearly lost contact before managing to catch a wheel and hang on the back.
Thankfully things were shut down again by the bigger teams and the group started to slow, but it was much smaller now than it had been a few minutes earlier. The attacks and chasing had popped a bunch of people off.
That was the winning move, the group of 8 broke up a little but the leaders were never caught. We could see them at the next turnaround, they had 30 seconds. This inspired another chase which really put me in the hole. I was struggling to hang on at one point and only just managed to grab a wheel before the group slowed again.
We had a good tailwind and again I was spun out in the biggest gear I had. We came through the northern turnaround again and the gap to the lead group had grown and this took the urgency out of the group. We had slowed down a lot. We started the headwind section again and about half way through we all felt a few spots of rain. By the time we reached the southern turn the wind was howling even stronger and the rain was chucking it down. The bikes were making foamy streaks through the puddles and all the back wheels were throwing up rooster tails. I had a good pair of glasses on and had also treated them with rainX but I couldn't see a bloody thing.
We had about 3/4 of a lap to go, probably around 15 miles but the rain was making this tough. It also started to get much colder at this point.
There were still attacks but the power had really been taken out of them. I was riding near the front and trying to stay out of the potholes. Before the turn around we could see that the lead group had broken up into groups of 2s and 4s. We came around the turn and I sprinted to keep my place in the lead group, I was in the lead 10 of the group and holding my wheel. The finish was uphill, into a head wind so I wanted to leave it late before I sprinted but that would be dependent on what everyone else was doing.
I put my head down and jumped for the line but wasn't making ground on anyone and a couple of guys came around me. I was done. The race was so hard and the weather was so miserable that I just started laughing out loud. I pulled my rain jacket out and just started the ride back to the car. It was about 7 miles and the rain was still coming down. After about a mile just started shivering, I was getting really cold. By the time I got back to the car I was shaking all over and hardly able to open the car door. The first thing that I did was start the engine and then climb into the back of the truck to get out of the wet clothes. It took me about 20 minutes as I was moving so slowly and my handshake stopped working. I couldn't even button my trousers so just did the belt up and figured I'd fix it later. Once I was dressed I started loading my bike and other gear into the truck. Once everything was in I started looking for the truck key and couldn't find it. I started to unload a bunch of stuff and was going through my bags when realized that the truck was running. I was so delirious that I'd forgotten I'd started the engine and the keys were in the ignition.
I jumped into the truck and grabbed some food and a Muscle Milk to start the recovery. It took about 45 minutes of driving with the heater on full before I could really function again. That was the closest I've ever come to hypothermia. Let's not do that again.
This had been one of the hardest races I'd ever done and actually finished. I'm interested in seeing the results but apparently they're not available this evening due to the bad weather.
On to stage 2 and 3 tomorrow. My TT starts at 8:14:30 AM and the Circuit Race at 10:55.
Breakfast: Toast and an Egg McMuffin.
Race Food: 3 Crank Gels 1 Honey Stinger and 2 bottles of Cytomax.
See Strava for race details.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Oakdale, CA
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Prizes but no points
I decided after I missed San Dimas that I wanted to race this weekend, unfortunately the weather looked like it want going to cooperate and it was going to be tough day whatever I did. I missed Ward's Ferry on Saturday and found the Regalado Memorial Road Race was being run about an hour closer on Sunday. The forecast called for 100% chance of rain so I packed all the rain gear that I had available and a large tub of A&D for waterproofing the arms and legs.
I was woken up around 3 AM with the rain pounding on the roof and windows, if this kept up it was going to be messy. There were only 9 riders pre registered for the Pro/1/2 race so the field was going to be small with the bad weather not helping.
The alarm went off at 4:50 AM and I dragged myself out of bed to find the rain had stopped, this was hopeful.
I got to the race venue and registered before heading to the start line to find there was only 8 of us in the Pro/1/2 field. The Cat 3 field that was starting a few minutes behind us had 35 guys so there was a possibility that we'd get caught if we didn't ride hard enough.
The rollout on the first lap was fairly mellow with everyone taking a turn at the front for short pulls. There was one guy from MarcPro Strava and 2 guys from McGuire so things were obviously going to be tough. My money was on one of these 3.
Things stayed mellow until we got to the 2 mile dirt road section. We were told at the start that there were a few potholes but it was way worse than I imagined, these were deep potholes that took up half the road. One rider tried to ride straight through one of the bigger puddles and his wheel was swallowed up to the axel. He managed to stay up but slowed significantly as he dragged himself out of the water.
I was thanking myself for doing so many CX races this past winter, I had no trouble avoiding most of the hazards and was able to go with the 2 leaders as the first big attack started. We got a gap of about 25 meters over the other 5 guys and started to drill it on the second section of the dirt. This was even rougher than the first section with about 20 yards of unavoidable stutter bumps. I lost both bottles on this section so would have to grab new ones at the feed.
I was feeling comfortable and my bike handling skills were giving me a much easier time of things than some of the others in the group. By the time we came off the dirt onto the road there we 4 of us with 2 more chasing about 20 meters back. One of the McGuire guys and the Davis Bike club guy were nowhere to be seen.
After about half a mile there was a solid group of six riders and it was obvious the other 2 were not coming back.
We rode a nice rotation for the next lap with only a couple of minor attacks before we came back around to the dirt. As we hit the dirt there was an early attack that was easy to stay with as everyone spread out to find their own way through the mine field of potholes. On the second half of the dirt I went to one side and tried to find a smooth section at the side of the road. The McGuire guy that was left also had the same idea. I was close enough behind him that I didn't see a couple of deep potholes and hit one hard with my back wheel, which started to make a funny noise. The tire was still inflated so I kept going.
At this point there was another big attack from the Marc Pro Strava guy and as I came up on the wheel of the guy in front of me he slid out on the sharp edge of a large water filled pothole. This forced me straight through the middle of the water and almost took me to a dead stop in a big gear. I pulled myself out of the puddle but a gap had opened up and I was struggling to close it down. A young guy from SJBC caught up to me and was yelling at me to stay with the move and trying to encourage me to dig deeper to get back on, but I didn't have it. I watched as the gap grew slowly at first and then when the other riders reached the pavement the gap grew more quickly. I was now the 6th guy on the road and desperately trying to bridge back on by myself.
I was in full TT mode now, catching and passing small groups of riders from other categories and hoping that the lead 5 would start sitting up, but it didn't happen.
I rode by myself for a full lap and the next time through the dirt section I noticed the junior from SJBC at the side of the road with a flat. I yelled at him to fix it fast and catch back to me so as I'd have some company but I think his race was over.
As I came through the finish with one lap to go the Cat 3 field was coming up behind me. I slowed to let them pass and noticed that the first McGuire rider to get dropped, Sergei Badeka, was sitting comfortably on the back of the 3 field. The race Ref told the pair of us that it was ok for us to sit at the back as long as we didn't interfere with their race, he said he'd rather us do that as it was safer for us to be in a group than by ourselves for some reason. I said I'd sit in as long as we didn't get relegated for drafting off another category. He told me it would be fine, he wouldn't relegate us. We relaxed and rolled the next lap on the back of the 3 field at an easy 19 mph, a big difference to the 22+ we'd been doing a lap or two earlier.
Things were really messy when we hit the dirt section at the end of the 4th lap, the 3's were attacking each other and trying to create a split before the climb to the finish. Sergei and I stayed at the back and had a birds eye view as the sprint started at 1K out, with the uphill finish it was obvious that they were going to fade long before the line. Sergei and I rolled in together with me taking 5th place and him taking 6th. There was no sprint for us. The race was over after 75 miles and all we had left was the roll back to the car. We were both amazed that we'd managed to stay dry, the weather gods were with us today for sure.
It was a great compliment that on our way back to the car Sergei was telling me about the McGuire team anyhow they had a couple of spots open. He invited me to join the team if I was interested. McGuire has been a powerhouse team in the past and this could be an interesting opportunity.
When I got home I was cleaning the bike noticed that the funny noise I heard from the back wheel after I hit the pothole was the brake rubbing on the rim. The wheel was quite badly out of true. I'd opened the brake up while I was TTing but this was too late. I wonder how big an impact this had on my not getting back onto the group during the second time through the dirt? Hailey is telling me that it time to retire my 16 year old pair of Mavic Cosmic Carbone wheels but I'm not ready for that yet.
The bike was covered in mud from the dirt section.
It turns out that they were giving prizes through 6th place and 5th place got me $15 and a really nice Velo Promo t-shirt.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I was woken up around 3 AM with the rain pounding on the roof and windows, if this kept up it was going to be messy. There were only 9 riders pre registered for the Pro/1/2 race so the field was going to be small with the bad weather not helping.
The alarm went off at 4:50 AM and I dragged myself out of bed to find the rain had stopped, this was hopeful.
I got to the race venue and registered before heading to the start line to find there was only 8 of us in the Pro/1/2 field. The Cat 3 field that was starting a few minutes behind us had 35 guys so there was a possibility that we'd get caught if we didn't ride hard enough.
The rollout on the first lap was fairly mellow with everyone taking a turn at the front for short pulls. There was one guy from MarcPro Strava and 2 guys from McGuire so things were obviously going to be tough. My money was on one of these 3.
Things stayed mellow until we got to the 2 mile dirt road section. We were told at the start that there were a few potholes but it was way worse than I imagined, these were deep potholes that took up half the road. One rider tried to ride straight through one of the bigger puddles and his wheel was swallowed up to the axel. He managed to stay up but slowed significantly as he dragged himself out of the water.
I was thanking myself for doing so many CX races this past winter, I had no trouble avoiding most of the hazards and was able to go with the 2 leaders as the first big attack started. We got a gap of about 25 meters over the other 5 guys and started to drill it on the second section of the dirt. This was even rougher than the first section with about 20 yards of unavoidable stutter bumps. I lost both bottles on this section so would have to grab new ones at the feed.
I was feeling comfortable and my bike handling skills were giving me a much easier time of things than some of the others in the group. By the time we came off the dirt onto the road there we 4 of us with 2 more chasing about 20 meters back. One of the McGuire guys and the Davis Bike club guy were nowhere to be seen.
After about half a mile there was a solid group of six riders and it was obvious the other 2 were not coming back.
We rode a nice rotation for the next lap with only a couple of minor attacks before we came back around to the dirt. As we hit the dirt there was an early attack that was easy to stay with as everyone spread out to find their own way through the mine field of potholes. On the second half of the dirt I went to one side and tried to find a smooth section at the side of the road. The McGuire guy that was left also had the same idea. I was close enough behind him that I didn't see a couple of deep potholes and hit one hard with my back wheel, which started to make a funny noise. The tire was still inflated so I kept going.
At this point there was another big attack from the Marc Pro Strava guy and as I came up on the wheel of the guy in front of me he slid out on the sharp edge of a large water filled pothole. This forced me straight through the middle of the water and almost took me to a dead stop in a big gear. I pulled myself out of the puddle but a gap had opened up and I was struggling to close it down. A young guy from SJBC caught up to me and was yelling at me to stay with the move and trying to encourage me to dig deeper to get back on, but I didn't have it. I watched as the gap grew slowly at first and then when the other riders reached the pavement the gap grew more quickly. I was now the 6th guy on the road and desperately trying to bridge back on by myself.
I was in full TT mode now, catching and passing small groups of riders from other categories and hoping that the lead 5 would start sitting up, but it didn't happen.
I rode by myself for a full lap and the next time through the dirt section I noticed the junior from SJBC at the side of the road with a flat. I yelled at him to fix it fast and catch back to me so as I'd have some company but I think his race was over.
As I came through the finish with one lap to go the Cat 3 field was coming up behind me. I slowed to let them pass and noticed that the first McGuire rider to get dropped, Sergei Badeka, was sitting comfortably on the back of the 3 field. The race Ref told the pair of us that it was ok for us to sit at the back as long as we didn't interfere with their race, he said he'd rather us do that as it was safer for us to be in a group than by ourselves for some reason. I said I'd sit in as long as we didn't get relegated for drafting off another category. He told me it would be fine, he wouldn't relegate us. We relaxed and rolled the next lap on the back of the 3 field at an easy 19 mph, a big difference to the 22+ we'd been doing a lap or two earlier.
Things were really messy when we hit the dirt section at the end of the 4th lap, the 3's were attacking each other and trying to create a split before the climb to the finish. Sergei and I stayed at the back and had a birds eye view as the sprint started at 1K out, with the uphill finish it was obvious that they were going to fade long before the line. Sergei and I rolled in together with me taking 5th place and him taking 6th. There was no sprint for us. The race was over after 75 miles and all we had left was the roll back to the car. We were both amazed that we'd managed to stay dry, the weather gods were with us today for sure.
It was a great compliment that on our way back to the car Sergei was telling me about the McGuire team anyhow they had a couple of spots open. He invited me to join the team if I was interested. McGuire has been a powerhouse team in the past and this could be an interesting opportunity.
When I got home I was cleaning the bike noticed that the funny noise I heard from the back wheel after I hit the pothole was the brake rubbing on the rim. The wheel was quite badly out of true. I'd opened the brake up while I was TTing but this was too late. I wonder how big an impact this had on my not getting back onto the group during the second time through the dirt? Hailey is telling me that it time to retire my 16 year old pair of Mavic Cosmic Carbone wheels but I'm not ready for that yet.
The bike was covered in mud from the dirt section.
It turns out that they were giving prizes through 6th place and 5th place got me $15 and a really nice Velo Promo t-shirt.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Oakdale, CA
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Wind, hail, snow Montebello
It seems like every time the weather gets really bad I'm drawn to ride up Montebello and today was no exception. After spending 3 hours on the rollers Saturday watching Milano Sanremo I had to get out. It wasn't raining when I left home but by the end of Grant road I needed my rain jacket on.
By the time got to the top of Montebello I'd been through rain, hail and it was now snowing. No big deal though as I was warm enough and staying fairly dry. The wind was howling and I was glad to start the descent down Page Mill. My feet were cold by the time I got home but that was about it.
This should be a standard training week with a road race next Sunday before. Recovering for the Top Sport Stage Race at the end of the month.
By the time got to the top of Montebello I'd been through rain, hail and it was now snowing. No big deal though as I was warm enough and staying fairly dry. The wind was howling and I was glad to start the descent down Page Mill. My feet were cold by the time I got home but that was about it.
This should be a standard training week with a road race next Sunday before. Recovering for the Top Sport Stage Race at the end of the month.
Location:Mountain View, CA
Missing SDR
This was supposed to be my biggest weekend of racing of the year so far. The plan was to leave on Thursday night and drive down to San Dimas for the San Dimas Stage Race. This is a great event with a 2's only field and an uphill TT. Couldnt be better suited to me really. Unfortunately Apple, Inc. decided to put it New iPad on sale on Friday and this crushed any hopes I had of getting away to race this weekend. Due to some undocumented changes from the previous version we had to do some modification and upgrading to the DODOcase and that took all of Friday. This race will have to wait until next year.
Seems like the weather was crap anyway.....
Seems like the weather was crap anyway.....
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Johan Museeuw "today I need a little bit of lucky"
This has turned out to be an unlucky week as you'll read below. All this followed the flat last weekend at Cantua Creek which I'd hoped was the end of it.
Bad Luck 1. Thursday I had to rush home from work as super supporter Hailey managed to shoot herself in the head with a large catapult and received 11 stitches at the ER. As your can imagine this was a really stressful couple of days as we tried to get Hailey on the mend. With the truck packed up late on Friday night we were ready to roll on Saturday AM.
On Saturday we picked up Drew Touchstone at 8:30 in Menlo Park on our way to Snelling CA for the 27th annual Snelling Race. This is a NorCal classic and always attracts a large crowd of on form Pro/1/2's.
Bad luck 2. Shortly after we turned onto highway 5 a golfball sized rock was shot up from the back wheel of a truck and struck the windscreen of the Xterra right behind the rear view mirror. This created a huge starburst crack in the windscreen than grew to the whole length of the screen within the next few miles. Not much we could do about it but carry on.
The Cracken.
We arrived at the race and the wind was howling! I'd woken up this AM and looked at the weather report. The first thing that I saw was a severe weather alert for the Snelling area warning about high winds and blowing dust.
The report wasn't wrong, the old barn next to the parking lot was coming apart as chunks of the corrugated steel roof were flapping loudly in the wind. I was planning on riding my old Mavic Cosmic Carbones, they're from 97 but still great wheels. After a shot test ride I decided to go back to the box section Ritchey wheels as the wind was just too much.
The race started with the normal neutral roll out to the course with one difference, we all had to stop and put a foot down as we started the loop. No idea why, but they added this for today. The whole group was very nervous for the 3.5 mile rollout and there were nearly a bunch of crashes as people over reacted and locked up their wheels just or went off the road.
The neutral rollout
The first lap seemed fine with some strong teams pulling into the wind and stretching the peloton out into a long straight line. I was fighting to stay near the front and out of the wind. My whole goal was to hide as much as possible and stay as near the front as much as I could. Just after the feed there was a crash just next to me with about 20 people getting tangled and falling off the road. The front group took things easy for a few miles to allow people to get back on. Looking back at the picture it seems that the second group never got back on. I'm in the front 50 out of the 130 starters with the rest of the field shattered behind.
Where's Waldo?? See Drew just coming in to get a bottle from Super Supporter Hailey.
Things heated up on the third lap as we hit the cross winds on the back section. You could tell something was going to happen as everyone was trying to get to the front. I made my way into the front few rows as was comfortable enough as the head winds hit us. The group started to split and I was well placed still in the front group. As we got onto the rougher tailwind section I got out of the saddle to close a small gap and that's when I noticed that my front wheel was going soft. This was my second flat in two weeks, I was out of Cantua Creek due to a flat and not it looked like I was going to be out of Snelling too!
Bad Luck 3. I rolled off the back looking for a wheel van and soon found out that there wasn't one. A number of groups of Pro/1/2 riders were coming past me, the last attacks in the head wind must have done a lot of damage as the groups were really split up with large gaps.
Just before the really rough section I pulled off the course and took the short cut to the Feed Zone where Hailey was parked. The new plan was to change wheels and get back into the race for some training and hard efforts with the group.
I made it to the truck before the the field had come through so I changed the wheels as rolled on slowly waiting for the group to catch me. I'd probably missed about 2 miles of the course but figured I'd just hang on the back get some good training miles. The front group of about 40 guys caught me and I jumped onto the back in about the same spot as I'd flatted. As we hit the head wind section again I was really struggling and shouldn't have been, I eventually got dropped on a section that wasn't going that fast. This was weird. I was caught by another group of about 10 guys and promptly spit out of the back of that group too as the pace picked up. After this I looked back at my rear break and realized that it was rubbing on the rim really badly. This is what was slowing me down. At this point I knew it was time to quit. As always with cycling you need a bit of luck and this past week we've really had no luck.
Time to get back to training ready for the upcoming stage races.
Bad Luck 1. Thursday I had to rush home from work as super supporter Hailey managed to shoot herself in the head with a large catapult and received 11 stitches at the ER. As your can imagine this was a really stressful couple of days as we tried to get Hailey on the mend. With the truck packed up late on Friday night we were ready to roll on Saturday AM.
On Saturday we picked up Drew Touchstone at 8:30 in Menlo Park on our way to Snelling CA for the 27th annual Snelling Race. This is a NorCal classic and always attracts a large crowd of on form Pro/1/2's.
Bad luck 2. Shortly after we turned onto highway 5 a golfball sized rock was shot up from the back wheel of a truck and struck the windscreen of the Xterra right behind the rear view mirror. This created a huge starburst crack in the windscreen than grew to the whole length of the screen within the next few miles. Not much we could do about it but carry on.
The Cracken.
We arrived at the race and the wind was howling! I'd woken up this AM and looked at the weather report. The first thing that I saw was a severe weather alert for the Snelling area warning about high winds and blowing dust.
The report wasn't wrong, the old barn next to the parking lot was coming apart as chunks of the corrugated steel roof were flapping loudly in the wind. I was planning on riding my old Mavic Cosmic Carbones, they're from 97 but still great wheels. After a shot test ride I decided to go back to the box section Ritchey wheels as the wind was just too much.
The race started with the normal neutral roll out to the course with one difference, we all had to stop and put a foot down as we started the loop. No idea why, but they added this for today. The whole group was very nervous for the 3.5 mile rollout and there were nearly a bunch of crashes as people over reacted and locked up their wheels just or went off the road.
The neutral rollout
The first lap seemed fine with some strong teams pulling into the wind and stretching the peloton out into a long straight line. I was fighting to stay near the front and out of the wind. My whole goal was to hide as much as possible and stay as near the front as much as I could. Just after the feed there was a crash just next to me with about 20 people getting tangled and falling off the road. The front group took things easy for a few miles to allow people to get back on. Looking back at the picture it seems that the second group never got back on. I'm in the front 50 out of the 130 starters with the rest of the field shattered behind.
Where's Waldo?? See Drew just coming in to get a bottle from Super Supporter Hailey.
Things heated up on the third lap as we hit the cross winds on the back section. You could tell something was going to happen as everyone was trying to get to the front. I made my way into the front few rows as was comfortable enough as the head winds hit us. The group started to split and I was well placed still in the front group. As we got onto the rougher tailwind section I got out of the saddle to close a small gap and that's when I noticed that my front wheel was going soft. This was my second flat in two weeks, I was out of Cantua Creek due to a flat and not it looked like I was going to be out of Snelling too!
Bad Luck 3. I rolled off the back looking for a wheel van and soon found out that there wasn't one. A number of groups of Pro/1/2 riders were coming past me, the last attacks in the head wind must have done a lot of damage as the groups were really split up with large gaps.
Just before the really rough section I pulled off the course and took the short cut to the Feed Zone where Hailey was parked. The new plan was to change wheels and get back into the race for some training and hard efforts with the group.
I made it to the truck before the the field had come through so I changed the wheels as rolled on slowly waiting for the group to catch me. I'd probably missed about 2 miles of the course but figured I'd just hang on the back get some good training miles. The front group of about 40 guys caught me and I jumped onto the back in about the same spot as I'd flatted. As we hit the head wind section again I was really struggling and shouldn't have been, I eventually got dropped on a section that wasn't going that fast. This was weird. I was caught by another group of about 10 guys and promptly spit out of the back of that group too as the pace picked up. After this I looked back at my rear break and realized that it was rubbing on the rim really badly. This is what was slowing me down. At this point I knew it was time to quit. As always with cycling you need a bit of luck and this past week we've really had no luck.
Time to get back to training ready for the upcoming stage races.
Location:Snelling, CA
Sunday, February 19, 2012
20 - 15 - 10
So I was talking to some friends about my experience at VoS and how the TT really let me down for my GC placing. CT suggested I try a workout that was the core of his TT training and really worked for him.
It consists of doing a TT at full Race pace for the following intervals.
20 minutes hard effort
5 minutes easy
15 minutes hard effort
5 minutes easy
10 minutes hard effort
I gave this a try on Saturday and it really is a good hard workout. My legs were fried after this. I'd already done a lot on Saturday but driving 6 hours, racing 1 hour and then riding for another 1.5 hours but I still posted faster laps than I had on my previous hot laps of this loop.
Let's see how this progresses over the next month or two. Saturday's fastest lap was 5:03 with an average power of 275 watts. Not stellar but a move in the right direction.
It consists of doing a TT at full Race pace for the following intervals.
20 minutes hard effort
5 minutes easy
15 minutes hard effort
5 minutes easy
10 minutes hard effort
I gave this a try on Saturday and it really is a good hard workout. My legs were fried after this. I'd already done a lot on Saturday but driving 6 hours, racing 1 hour and then riding for another 1.5 hours but I still posted faster laps than I had on my previous hot laps of this loop.
Let's see how this progresses over the next month or two. Saturday's fastest lap was 5:03 with an average power of 275 watts. Not stellar but a move in the right direction.
Location:Los Altos, CA
A ride in the Sag Van
At the last minute I decided I was going to ride the Cantua Creek road race instead of the Grasshopper. The thinking was that if was going to drive 3 hours and put out a race effort, it might as well be for USAC points.
I got up at 4:00 AM and jumped into my truck for the 3 hour drive to Coalinga arriving with plenty of time to reg and warm up. I rolled to the line just before the 8:00 AM start, and was wondering why there were only 10 other guys lined up. After asking around it turned out that only 11 people had entered for the Pro/1/2 race. I asked about the mass of guys behind us and was told that was the masters field.
I was laughing and wondering how a race of 11 guys would play out. It was a small group ride. We rolled along for about 30 minutes in a pace line taking turns at the front with the only goal of not getting caught by the juniors. At one point the guys from Clif Bar wanted to stop for a pee, we all pulled over to the side of the road and took a leak. The people in the follow van were laughing. Such a civilized race.
We got back on the bikes and made the turn back to the start/finish. As I started drifting back from the front after taking my turn, one of the other guys asked if I worked at DODOcase as I was wearing my DODOcase kit. Turns out he had just bought a DODOcase the week before. I thanked him for supporting us and the next thing I hear is a loud clang and a hiss as I hit a sharp rock with my front tire and it started to go flat. I was running brand new tubulars and they're not supposed to get pinch flats, but just my luck it was going down.
I stuck my arm up and rolled off the back to get a wheel from the wheel van. The wheel van pulled along side me and the driver jumped out. I said I needed a front wheel and he asked if I'd put wheels in the van. Normally I do but this time I thought I'd rely on the neutral support, but no. With only 11 guys the wheel van was wheels in, wheels out. I said I didn't have wheels in the van and the driver said, sorry, put your bike in the back, your race is over. He wouldn't give me a wheel!
I'd got up at 4 AM, drove 3 hours and raced 20 miles in an 11 man field and now my race was over. This really sucked. I was given a ride back to the finish and then had to hitch a ride to my car as that was 2 miles further down the road.
I got back in the truck and drove the 3 hours home, stuck a new wheel on the bike and went back out riding.
I guess i've saved some energy for Snelling next week but that's not what I'd planned.
There were points to be had at Cantua Creek and with only 11 guys it would have been a good opportunity.
I'll go back to that race next year as there is unfinished business. Let's see how Snelling goes next week.
I got up at 4:00 AM and jumped into my truck for the 3 hour drive to Coalinga arriving with plenty of time to reg and warm up. I rolled to the line just before the 8:00 AM start, and was wondering why there were only 10 other guys lined up. After asking around it turned out that only 11 people had entered for the Pro/1/2 race. I asked about the mass of guys behind us and was told that was the masters field.
I was laughing and wondering how a race of 11 guys would play out. It was a small group ride. We rolled along for about 30 minutes in a pace line taking turns at the front with the only goal of not getting caught by the juniors. At one point the guys from Clif Bar wanted to stop for a pee, we all pulled over to the side of the road and took a leak. The people in the follow van were laughing. Such a civilized race.
We got back on the bikes and made the turn back to the start/finish. As I started drifting back from the front after taking my turn, one of the other guys asked if I worked at DODOcase as I was wearing my DODOcase kit. Turns out he had just bought a DODOcase the week before. I thanked him for supporting us and the next thing I hear is a loud clang and a hiss as I hit a sharp rock with my front tire and it started to go flat. I was running brand new tubulars and they're not supposed to get pinch flats, but just my luck it was going down.
I stuck my arm up and rolled off the back to get a wheel from the wheel van. The wheel van pulled along side me and the driver jumped out. I said I needed a front wheel and he asked if I'd put wheels in the van. Normally I do but this time I thought I'd rely on the neutral support, but no. With only 11 guys the wheel van was wheels in, wheels out. I said I didn't have wheels in the van and the driver said, sorry, put your bike in the back, your race is over. He wouldn't give me a wheel!
I'd got up at 4 AM, drove 3 hours and raced 20 miles in an 11 man field and now my race was over. This really sucked. I was given a ride back to the finish and then had to hitch a ride to my car as that was 2 miles further down the road.
I got back in the truck and drove the 3 hours home, stuck a new wheel on the bike and went back out riding.
I guess i've saved some energy for Snelling next week but that's not what I'd planned.
There were points to be had at Cantua Creek and with only 11 guys it would have been a good opportunity.
I'll go back to that race next year as there is unfinished business. Let's see how Snelling goes next week.
Location:Coalinga, CA
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
The brain’s the boss when it comes to oxygen uptake
I found this and thought it was interesting.
Eventually, your muscles can no longer get enough oxygen. It’s an immutable physical limit that kicks in during any sustained physical exercise and tells your body: “This fast – but no faster.”
At least, that’s the theory we’ve been working with since 1923. But a controversial new study from researchers on three continents suggests that the famous “VO2max” – the maximum amount of oxygen that you’re able to deliver to your muscles during hard exercise – isn’t really a maximum at all. Your heart and lungs don’t call the shots after all; your brain does.
When is VO2max not max?
The concept of VO2max was first introduced by Nobel Prize-winning physiologist A.V. Hill, who found that the amount of oxygen consumed by his muscles increased as he ran at a steadily increasing pace – up to a point. Eventually, his oxygen consumption would plateau, even if he continued to run faster and faster until he reached exhaustion. That plateau, he argued, represented his body’s “maximal oxygen uptake,” or VO2max.
In the decades since, VO2max has become a standard tool to assess aerobic fitness. Researchers measure it using an incremental test to exhaustion: On a treadmill or exercise bike, subjects start at an easy pace, and get faster every minute or so until they’re unable to continue, having reached a plateau in oxygen consumption shortly before failure.
So what causes this plateau? In the conventional view, there are three possibilities, according to Fernando Beltrami, a researcher at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.
“One is that the heart can’t pump any more blood,” he says. “The second is that the muscles are unable to extract any more oxygen from the blood. And the third is that the lungs can’t extract any more oxygen from the air we breathe.”
Over the decades, debate has raged among physiologists about the ultimate location of the bottleneck: heart, muscles or lungs? But the new theory, proposed by physiologist and author Tim Noakes (who is also Mr. Beltrami’s university adviser), suggests that the limit may not be physical at all.
In Dr. Noakes’s “central governor” theory, your decision to slow down or stop during self-paced exercise isn’t the result of an absolute physical limit. Instead, your brain applies the brakes proactively to prevent you from reaching these limits. After all, if you really did run to the absolute edge of your physical limits, Dr. Noakes is fond of pointing out, you’d be dead.
Last month’s issue of the British Journal of Sports Medicine contained eight different studies that, in various ways, offered support for Dr. Noakes’s still-controversial views.
The most significant was a study led by Mr. Beltrami, with collaborators in Norway, Britain and Australia, that turned the standard incremental VO2max test on its head and used a “decremental” test instead.
Mr. Beltrami’s 26 volunteers started by performing a conventional incremental VO2max test. Then, on a separate day, half of them repeated the incremental test while the other half performed a decremental test. After a brief warm-up, the decremental test ramped immediately to a speed higher than the maximum speed reached in the previous incremental test. After about a minute – just before the subjects were about to fall off the back of the treadmill – the speed was decreased by one kilometre an hour. This process was repeated over and over, with the speed being lowered just before the subjects reached failure.
In the group that did two incremental tests, VO2max scores remained the same; but in the decremental group, VO2max scores increased by an average of 4.4 per cent. In other words, the subjects were suddenly able to transport more oxygen to their muscles, simply because the test structure was altered – a clear indication that it wasn’t a fundamental property of the heart, lungs or muscles that created the initial plateau.
The researchers reasoned that, since the subjects knew that the decremental test would become progressively easier, their brains would be less likely to pre-emptively apply the brakes in self-defence. Since emotional stress can affect blood flow and metabolism, that knowledge alone could alter their physiological response to exercise.
There was one further surprise: When the subjects did a final incremental VO2max test at the end of the experiment, the group that had previously performed the decremental test maintained their new higher max – a result that left even Mr. Beltrami puzzled. Whatever additional exercise capacity was unlocked by the novel decremental protocol somehow persisted.
For now, the study raises more questions than it answers. But it suggests that some of the limitations we encounter during hard exercise may actually be self-fulfilling prophecies – and that knowing your VO2max is less important than believing that you can go a little faster or a little farther.
Alex Hutchinson blogs about research on exercise at sweatscience.com. His new book, Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights?, is now available.
Eventually, your muscles can no longer get enough oxygen. It’s an immutable physical limit that kicks in during any sustained physical exercise and tells your body: “This fast – but no faster.”
At least, that’s the theory we’ve been working with since 1923. But a controversial new study from researchers on three continents suggests that the famous “VO2max” – the maximum amount of oxygen that you’re able to deliver to your muscles during hard exercise – isn’t really a maximum at all. Your heart and lungs don’t call the shots after all; your brain does.
When is VO2max not max?
The concept of VO2max was first introduced by Nobel Prize-winning physiologist A.V. Hill, who found that the amount of oxygen consumed by his muscles increased as he ran at a steadily increasing pace – up to a point. Eventually, his oxygen consumption would plateau, even if he continued to run faster and faster until he reached exhaustion. That plateau, he argued, represented his body’s “maximal oxygen uptake,” or VO2max.
In the decades since, VO2max has become a standard tool to assess aerobic fitness. Researchers measure it using an incremental test to exhaustion: On a treadmill or exercise bike, subjects start at an easy pace, and get faster every minute or so until they’re unable to continue, having reached a plateau in oxygen consumption shortly before failure.
So what causes this plateau? In the conventional view, there are three possibilities, according to Fernando Beltrami, a researcher at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.
“One is that the heart can’t pump any more blood,” he says. “The second is that the muscles are unable to extract any more oxygen from the blood. And the third is that the lungs can’t extract any more oxygen from the air we breathe.”
Over the decades, debate has raged among physiologists about the ultimate location of the bottleneck: heart, muscles or lungs? But the new theory, proposed by physiologist and author Tim Noakes (who is also Mr. Beltrami’s university adviser), suggests that the limit may not be physical at all.
In Dr. Noakes’s “central governor” theory, your decision to slow down or stop during self-paced exercise isn’t the result of an absolute physical limit. Instead, your brain applies the brakes proactively to prevent you from reaching these limits. After all, if you really did run to the absolute edge of your physical limits, Dr. Noakes is fond of pointing out, you’d be dead.
Last month’s issue of the British Journal of Sports Medicine contained eight different studies that, in various ways, offered support for Dr. Noakes’s still-controversial views.
The most significant was a study led by Mr. Beltrami, with collaborators in Norway, Britain and Australia, that turned the standard incremental VO2max test on its head and used a “decremental” test instead.
Mr. Beltrami’s 26 volunteers started by performing a conventional incremental VO2max test. Then, on a separate day, half of them repeated the incremental test while the other half performed a decremental test. After a brief warm-up, the decremental test ramped immediately to a speed higher than the maximum speed reached in the previous incremental test. After about a minute – just before the subjects were about to fall off the back of the treadmill – the speed was decreased by one kilometre an hour. This process was repeated over and over, with the speed being lowered just before the subjects reached failure.
In the group that did two incremental tests, VO2max scores remained the same; but in the decremental group, VO2max scores increased by an average of 4.4 per cent. In other words, the subjects were suddenly able to transport more oxygen to their muscles, simply because the test structure was altered – a clear indication that it wasn’t a fundamental property of the heart, lungs or muscles that created the initial plateau.
The researchers reasoned that, since the subjects knew that the decremental test would become progressively easier, their brains would be less likely to pre-emptively apply the brakes in self-defence. Since emotional stress can affect blood flow and metabolism, that knowledge alone could alter their physiological response to exercise.
There was one further surprise: When the subjects did a final incremental VO2max test at the end of the experiment, the group that had previously performed the decremental test maintained their new higher max – a result that left even Mr. Beltrami puzzled. Whatever additional exercise capacity was unlocked by the novel decremental protocol somehow persisted.
For now, the study raises more questions than it answers. But it suggests that some of the limitations we encounter during hard exercise may actually be self-fulfilling prophecies – and that knowing your VO2max is less important than believing that you can go a little faster or a little farther.
Alex Hutchinson blogs about research on exercise at sweatscience.com. His new book, Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights?, is now available.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Valley of the Sun Crit
The Cat 2's had a fairly late start to the day with our race going off at 12:56 PM. This meant eating light for breakfast and just snacks until lunchtime. I arrived downtown at about 11:30 with plenty of time for a warmup. I found a great parking spot just North of the last turn which was turn 8 on this figure 8 course.
I set the trainer up next to the car in the shade of a large palm tree and started the warmup. The legs were feeling fairly good after 2 days of racing and were loosening up nicely after about 20 minutes.
I packed everything back in the truck and rolled down to the start finish area just in time to see the finish of the 3's race and then roll out to the start line for a position centered on the second row.
After giving a few last minute updates on the race duration of 55 minutes the official stood back and drew the starting pistol. Ready! Bang! We were off and racing, I had a great start and was in about 10th - 15th place by turn 2. The whole field was strung out in a long line by a couple of guys driving things at the front. This lasted for about 4 laps before things calmed down a little. There were a number of Primes being offered to spice things up and keep the field on its toes.
I never saw the first crash as it was behind me somewhere but a couple of laps later a rider was back in the field with blood running down his leg.
My goal was to stay in the top 10 - 20 riders for as much of the race as possible. If I started drifting back I would put in extra effort and move my way back again. Things were fairly uneventful up until we got the 5 laps to go signal, then riders started to get nervous and people were all trying to maintain position or move up. You could feel the change in the way guys were riding and it got a little more aggressive.
I was loving every minute of it, moving around in the front of the pack and weaving through into gaps that were left open. I didn't see the next crash that actually happened a few riders ahead of me, the first thing I saw was a guy spinning around on the ground instead of sitting on his bike. Everyone else managed to avoid him and the pace picked up again.
Another crash that I missed was when Raffi's front wheel fell out as he was trying to move up with a couple of laps to go. Apparently he hadn't tightened the skewer enough when he put the wheel in before the start. He wasn't injured but didn't manage to finish. Losing a front wheel with 2 laps to go in a Crit seems about as bad as it could get for a racer.
I'd drifted back a little in the pack and hesitated to move up wondering how crazy things would get on the bell lap but then made a last minute push after the bell to get in a better position for the final turn. At 250 meters, the position you came through the final turn was probably going to be the position you finished in. I went to the outside on turn 7 and came around a few people before turn 8 and we started the finish straight. At about
It 200 meters I heaved on the drops and started my sprint. I don't remember fading before the line and had a fairly clear run on the wide flat straight to the finish. This was great! I was actually sprinting at the end of a Crit. I hadn't done that in years. I came across the line in 20th place very happy to have stayed upright and actually being able to do what I wanted during the race.
I was certainly a bit rusty with my tactics but being able to ride most of the race in exactly the position I wanted to be in gave me a lot of confidence for the next one. If I'd had been more confident going into the last few laps I would have moved up more and really held my position at the front instead of slipping back.
This was a great event and a full weekend of fun racing. I'd love to be able to go back in 2013 for another go.
Immediately after the race I picked up my spare wheels from the pit, got changed and jumped in the truck for the 12 hour drive home. I drove straight through only stopping for fuel and snacks, arriving at my door at exactly 12:59 AM.
Video of the 2012 Cat 2 Crit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oQ6N6W8rHU&feature=youtube_gdata_player
I set the trainer up next to the car in the shade of a large palm tree and started the warmup. The legs were feeling fairly good after 2 days of racing and were loosening up nicely after about 20 minutes.
I packed everything back in the truck and rolled down to the start finish area just in time to see the finish of the 3's race and then roll out to the start line for a position centered on the second row.
After giving a few last minute updates on the race duration of 55 minutes the official stood back and drew the starting pistol. Ready! Bang! We were off and racing, I had a great start and was in about 10th - 15th place by turn 2. The whole field was strung out in a long line by a couple of guys driving things at the front. This lasted for about 4 laps before things calmed down a little. There were a number of Primes being offered to spice things up and keep the field on its toes.
I never saw the first crash as it was behind me somewhere but a couple of laps later a rider was back in the field with blood running down his leg.
My goal was to stay in the top 10 - 20 riders for as much of the race as possible. If I started drifting back I would put in extra effort and move my way back again. Things were fairly uneventful up until we got the 5 laps to go signal, then riders started to get nervous and people were all trying to maintain position or move up. You could feel the change in the way guys were riding and it got a little more aggressive.
I was loving every minute of it, moving around in the front of the pack and weaving through into gaps that were left open. I didn't see the next crash that actually happened a few riders ahead of me, the first thing I saw was a guy spinning around on the ground instead of sitting on his bike. Everyone else managed to avoid him and the pace picked up again.
Another crash that I missed was when Raffi's front wheel fell out as he was trying to move up with a couple of laps to go. Apparently he hadn't tightened the skewer enough when he put the wheel in before the start. He wasn't injured but didn't manage to finish. Losing a front wheel with 2 laps to go in a Crit seems about as bad as it could get for a racer.
I'd drifted back a little in the pack and hesitated to move up wondering how crazy things would get on the bell lap but then made a last minute push after the bell to get in a better position for the final turn. At 250 meters, the position you came through the final turn was probably going to be the position you finished in. I went to the outside on turn 7 and came around a few people before turn 8 and we started the finish straight. At about
It 200 meters I heaved on the drops and started my sprint. I don't remember fading before the line and had a fairly clear run on the wide flat straight to the finish. This was great! I was actually sprinting at the end of a Crit. I hadn't done that in years. I came across the line in 20th place very happy to have stayed upright and actually being able to do what I wanted during the race.
I was certainly a bit rusty with my tactics but being able to ride most of the race in exactly the position I wanted to be in gave me a lot of confidence for the next one. If I'd had been more confident going into the last few laps I would have moved up more and really held my position at the front instead of slipping back.
This was a great event and a full weekend of fun racing. I'd love to be able to go back in 2013 for another go.
Immediately after the race I picked up my spare wheels from the pit, got changed and jumped in the truck for the 12 hour drive home. I drove straight through only stopping for fuel and snacks, arriving at my door at exactly 12:59 AM.
Video of the 2012 Cat 2 Crit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oQ6N6W8rHU&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Location:Downtown Phoenix, AZ
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)