Hagerstown Belated

I had a really busy work week but managed to get some big miles in so far. The cancellation / rescheduling? of the Coppi road race screwed me up. Usually, my training mainly consists of riding a lot, riding hard and varying hard days and medium days. I actually had a plan coming into Coppi because I wanted good form to nail a result and keep on top of the BAR. Oh well. They should have said something earlier. It’s not just training plans that get screwed up with a last-minute cancellation. Now the biggest BAR points race of the year is just hanging out there in limbo. I was planning a trip too. If I don’t take my Wife somewhere besides a bike race soon I may be in trouble.
So this week I got in 50 Monday; 70 Tuesday with 40 on the WOD and 30 slammin 300+ watt miles at Wakefield; 50 Wednesday; and then I cracked myself yesterday. I keep riding by the Herndon group ride at the caboose but never go on it. Yesterday, I figure since I don’t have a race until Sunday, I’ll get 40 on the WOD then jump in that ride. Probably a little much. I can’t help but ride hard, which I did. Plus the ride ended up being 40 miles, so by the time I rode back to Vienna to my car it was 9PM and dark. And I was frigging toast. 250 miles in 4 days. Today is a rest day for sure. Bunny Hop, Hunny Bop or whatever our race is called is going to be a blast. I’m doing 2 races again and looking forward to it.

Hagerstown Cat 3
Aside from being busy, the other reason I probably haven’t written anything is these reports and frankly the racing, are starting to wear on me some. I’ll try not to bitch but maybe point out a few things that might help new Cat 3s. I sat at the back for couple of laps just to cruise around. A couple of guys proceed to lay it down in turn 2 right away. Should have seen that coming. That turn is not that hard to ride but if you ride a wide, round line, the off camber part of the turn will pitch you to the outside. Lean the bike over on top of that, and you go down. Set up wide, cut hard across the turn, no problem.

So I promptly got my ass up front. My race plan is / was the same as all recent crits. Mark anything that looks good, try to create breaks. 10 or so laps in, Ted Michaels (Evo) rolls off the front on the home stretch. Ted is a really good racer and time trialist. I was pretty far back but I threw down a big effort to jump up to him. Now we have two of the stronger guys in the field hopping off the front. We come out of turn 2 and both look back. No one is coming. So we just go.

Some might say, great you are off the front, go. This is one of the key differences between Cat 3 and 1/2/3 racing; and I wish guys in our races would realize this. In a 1/2/3 race, attacks are constantly happening. The race kind of boils at the front. If an attack happens, several guys are going to vault off too. If it stays off for a lap, then they will try to stay off. If not, there will be an inevitable counter. I was hoping Cat 3 would be better than Cat 4 at least. Not really. I said to someone yesterday that the tactics are pretty much the same; we are just in better shape.

So no on comes across and we stayed out for 5 or 6 laps. We tried to roll solid but not completely kill ourselves because we were only 2 and we had 20 laps left. We got caught and I rested for a half lap and then just went back to the front to counter and patrol and make sure I was near the front all the time.


Getting the break going...

Now we have a good gap...

Probably not where I should be but makes a good pic...

.

Here’s my weekly stupid, fucking mistake. I planned before the race to get through turn 2 first on the last lap, which I did. My choice were to bury it the whole last half of the last lap to the line, or get a couple of guys in front of me to set up for the sprint. Halfway down the back stretch I pull left just a little, figuring that at least 2 guys would be flying and come right by and I would instantly drop back in. Nope. People fucking sit up! This is the last lap of a championship crit and guys were sucking my wheel enough to literally stop pedaling behind me. Wtf? At this moment on the right, Jesse from Rte 1 buries it and starts their lead out (nice move btw). So I am over on the left and hit. I rode a typically mediocre sprint ad lost a few spots for 6th. A crappy result. The only good thing from the day is I protected the lead I have going in the BAR.

Ryan Bracken said it well after the race. “When in doubt, lead out”. I have enough races now to know better. I’m still pissed about it. The Rte 1 guys at least had a plan from the beginning to go for a field sprint. They executed a real lead out and won the race. You have to respect that. Otherwise, though, the racing is really not racing. It’s ride around in a pack fairly fast. A single guy, maybe two, attacks now and then but not much else. At least we are having more legitimate break attempts in Cat 3 this year. Ok enough about that.

1/2/3 Race
The two hours between the 3 race and the 1/2/3 race is plenty of time to eat, drink and warm up again but it’s almost too long. It was long enough where I was starting to think about a sandwich, beer and my couch. This was my 8th double of the year and I think I was a little tired. The race wasn’t very exciting and thus, not much to say. It took me probably 15 laps to get to the front. One of our guys had just been pulled back. A counter with Harley and Richmond Pro went and I jumped in. After 1 lap I just pulled out of the break of 4. The field was chasing and 3 or 4 more guys hopped up and I got back in line but I could tell I didn’t have it. I spent the rest of the race staying in front of splits to keep racing and helping block a little when our guys were up the road.

I was toast afterwards. At Ride Sally Ride, I did the same double in 100 degree heat. In that race, I helped create and stay in the winning break for 50 laps. But in Hagerstown there was no question I didn’t have full gas.

Reston Race Pics (F&F)

Who wants to look at pictures of me racing? F&F is "Friends & Family". In reality, it's probably just "F" for "Family"; and probably just my Wife and Mom and Dad. So here you go, family.

Another reason to post these is that they were all taken by a newcomer to the race photo scene: Brian at stefanish.com. Nice shots I think - even if they are of me. I hate having my picture taken. Ask my Wife. I'm notorious for closed eyes, weird facial expressions, stuff like that. Some people can't take a bad picture. These are the first shots of me racing where I *almost* look like I belong on a bike. More work to do, though.

Ham 'n Eggs & Reston

My Wife is on a plane back from Chicago, so I have some time to toss back a few Corona Lights and review the day's activities. She goes to basically every race but missed Reston last year being out of town and I got 3rd. So we joked that I get the best results when she's not around. I got 5th today so I think we broke the curse and she can come to Reston next year.

Ham ‘n Eggs is my way of describing my results this year. I was talking to someone at the Reston race today and he called me “Mr. Consistency”. I guess I can take that as a compliment. Another way to look at it is that I am apparently really adept at piling up 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, stuff like that. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. The reality is that my biggest strengths are that I can ride hard for a long time and go into and out of threshold over and over pretty well. My gig is basically trying to guarantee upgrade point results by staying near the front, attacking or covering basically everything and getting to the front at the end. So far, this is working, but it’s not sexy.

Maybe I should race in greasy coveralls and a hard hat and carry a lunch pail. I suppose you would never go to a really good restaurant and order greasy ham and eggs over easy - but after a long night of drinking - nothing would be better - I guess it depends on how you look at it.

I have been taking to some guys about the comparison between Cat 3 this year and last year. It’s inevitable – you look at the guys that last tread the ground you are on. The differences are pretty distinct. Last year, Jose Escobar and Mike Esmonde were conducting wicked sprints nearly every race, with John Raley right there a lot of the time. Then Pete Custer came up from Cat 4 and crushed everyone right about this time. I’ve been trying to push for more attacks and breakaways this year. That was my plan going in. It's not easy because there is a lack of willingness to drive pace until someone attacks then everyone suddenly chases like rabid hounds.

Look at the beef at the front of some of our races the last few weeks: me, Ryan Bracken and Ian Morrison – all probably about 190ish. Today Jim Bender from Va Beach won and he’s at least 190. Cliff Chamberlain from Bike Doctor was taking big pulls too. It probably doesn’t mean anything; it’s just interesting to me how things work out. The big guys are pulling some results – that’s cool. There are also multiple attacks and counters going on and I’m all for that. Field sprints suck.

They finally posted some BAR results last week. Before I saw them, I predicted that Cat 3 would be really “flat”: meaning a lot of guys bunched together with similar point totals and no one knocking it out of the park. I was right – there were something like 6 guys within 10 points of each other before Tour of Washington County. Turns out I was second behind Josh Kahney of Bike Doctor, 42 to 40. That was a surprise. Last year, I was all over keeping track of the BAR. Talk about ham ‘n eggs. Last year I missed tying for 1st by one point by scoring in almost every race with a bunch of top 10s – mostly 6s, 7s, 8s. This year I hadn’t even thought about it. I was much more concerned with getting my cat 2 as fast as possible.

So last week at TOWC, I got enough points for the Cat 2 upgrade with 4th on GC and 3rd in the crit. I was getting ready to put together my upgrade request when I realized that the GC placing was worth 18 points and put me in the BAR lead. And we are getting close to the end of the season. Long story short, I decided to stay in Cat 3 and take a shot at the BAR; and the championship jerseys. I can still ride 1/2/3 races too. I like the guys I’m racing with and against so it should be fun. We are all trying to push pace and string out races so wtf, let’s see what happens. We only have 5 or 6 races left so it seems worthwhile. Plus Artemis is crushing the team BAR over NCVC adn everyone else. Last year, we lost by less than 100 points. This year we are already up 800ish to 600ish and we don’t have all of our points right yet. So if I can help there, that’s cool too. Turns out Reston today was a "Showcase" race and worth double BAR points, so 5th got me another 16 points.

Reston Cat 3 / 4
So basically, I rode the exact same game plan as Sally Ride and TOWC crit: attack early, cover any attacks, try to get a break going and be on the front at the end. That’s pretty much how it went. I attacked twice myself -couldn’t stick it. Got in 3 other breaks with one or a few guys, couldn’t stick it. Stayed up front at the end. Jim Bender (big guy from VA Beach) and I were off the front on the bell lap a little. He went hard up the back stretch. I kept waiting for him to pull off but we were inside half a lap so he drilled it. He hit the final corner 1st, me 2nd. Instead of keeping his wheel a little longer, I came out into my own wind but did not really open the sprint - a mistake. I lost 3 spots and finished 5th. But I did exactly what I knew I needed to do: get to the front for the last corner. More ham ‘n eggs but I’m ok with it.

1 / 2 / 3 Race
I had 2 hours between races – almost too much. Plenty of time to eat, drink and stuff but also time to get stiff and a little un-motivated. I’ve done the Cat3 – 1/2/3 double 7 times now this year but this race is faaaast. Like Sally Ride, I rode the back for the first 10 laps or so to flush out the last race. I started picking off 5 or 6 guys a lap on the uphill back stretch. A few more laps and I felt better so I attacked up the side at the end of the home stretch 2 laps in a row and made it to the front.

Right as I got there, a break was developing. We had Nate and Ramon in and at least 3 Harley. They were only 100 meters up the road. The front of the field was broken up and I was there with 2 Harley. Russ Langley jumped to go across. I followed. My guys (rightfully) motioned for me to stay back. Here was my big race mistake. After busting my ass to get to the front, I made a big show of sitting up. Don’t ask me why. Really all I was doing was letting the field roll onto me, but I let 30 guys I just put behind me roll on by. Dumbass. I’m used to the 3 fields kind of hesitating when people come back together. No effing way. I won’t do that again in a race with this kind of pace.

I figured, no problem, I’ll just go up again. The pace was single file and wicked fast but I love it like that. Anyway, I put myself back with guys having a hard time and a 5 or 6 bike length gap appeared like 5 guys in front of me. Crap. Next thing you know, it’s 50, then 100 meters. 3 of us gutted ourselves to catch back on. We were reaaaally close. Didn’t make it. I pulled out a few laps later. I’m dying to do 1/2/3 races on fresh legs. I guess that’s what I have to motivate me for next year.

I can’t believe the season is this far gone already. It really seems like yesterday that I was praying for days warm enough not to freeze my ass off.

TOWC TT and Crit

First off, I want to say thanks to Joe Jefferson and everyone who promoted and supported the first Tour of Washington County. It was a great race with great courses. Everything was well run and the racing was really good. On top of all that, we didn’t get rained on Sunday!

I rode a really good road race on Saturday but mishandled the last 500 meters. I ended up 14th, with 8 points. I had done some results research on Tour De Ephrata earlier in the year and I knew that two good stages in the top 5 could yield a top 5 GC placing. Of course, that’s easier said than done; but that’s the attitude you have to take when you don’t score well in the road race. So Saturday night, I concentrated on drinking a lot of water and staying positive.

Time Trial
I got to the TT nice and early. Plenty of time to walk around and talk to people, set up the trainer, eat and drink, stuff like that. I was determined not to go to the start without a good sweat and having run the heart rate and power up close to threshold for awhile. The weather was perfect. My goal for the TT was top 3. I talked to Super Dave and he said the course was really fast on the way back. I have ridden Boonsboro twice before but didn’t have the up and down rollers mapped out in my head so I just decided to ride as hard as I could.

I got out of the gate well and felt good right away. The heart rate came up nicely. Basically, this course was the tale of two halves: going out and then back. It took me 5 minutes to catch my 30 second man, a little longer than I wanted. Then I hit the long incline on the way out. I was suffering. I came up off the aero bars for awhile. I started to have negative thoughts. I don’t know about everyone else, but I constantly talk to myself during TTs. In crits I talk to myself and have music playing in my head – no shit.

Anyway, I caught another guy before the turn but I was not feeling great at the turn. Thank God for the first downhill section after the turn. I felt better and was holing into the 30s. Hope returned. I just tried to remind myself to push tempo going downhill and not rest too much. I caught 3 more guys on the way back. Two of them were gutting it out on road bikes, so that doesn’t count as much. Still, 5 guys on a 20K TT would be about 10 on a 40K TT, which is usually a decent sign.

Anyway, I ended up 29:16. I didn’t manage the effort real well. I still need to invest more time on the bike. I talked to Ryan Bracken and he did a 28:45 I think. I figured he probably won and told him so. I was right as it turned out. The question was: how many in-between Ryan and me 30 seconds back? I got 5th. Not bad. I should have done better, but at least I felt like I was back in the game.

I packed up and drove over to the crit course. Had some Pop Tarts and Gatorade. I felt really good in the car. That was a good sign.

Crit
I got my tent set up right across the street from the official’s tent at the start-finish and right up front for the Joe Jefferson show: always can’t miss entertainment. The Cat 3 race wasn’t until 2:45, so I had time to sit back and watch the 1 / 2 / 3 race. Before the Masters 50+ race, I went out on the course while they warmed up and did a few hot laps. I felt really good.

I had two goals for this race: race to win the race, and get podium placing. Sound contradictory? Maybe. Maybe not. Some guys that were high on GC after the road race didn’t time trial well. So I was pretty sure that top 3 would get me in the top 5 on GC. I felt like I could win the race; but I also wanted a GC result, so I was going to do what it took to stay up front and protect a top 3. As the race played out, this definitely came into play.

The short version of the race story is that I covered or bridged to every attack made. I initiated 3 of my own. That made something like 7 or 8 moves total. It was hard but it was the only way I could guarantee to be at the front at the end. The problem is that the field is chasing me really hard if I attack and then countering. I felt like if I rested, I would get countered and maybe watch 2 or 3 guys (and my GC place) go up the road. I was definitely in the yellow a lot but was able to cover everything.

Ryan Bracken was up there a lot. Nate Wilson (NCVC) made his usual few attacks. Cliff Chamberlain (Bike Doctor) took some runs at the front too. I bridged up to a developing break with Ryan and two other guys but the two along started looking back after only one lap. You have to be willing to kill it for at least two and that didn’t work. I made an attack solo and Paul Beyer (WWVC) came across but we got chased down. I did everything I could to get a break going but it wasn’t happening. I really didn’t want a field sprint.

The good thing was, I was having no trouble going to the front or bridging and covering. The laps were flying by. I was about 4th wheel as we came by the start-finish and Joe Jefferson said “3 laps to go!” Wtf. I didn’t really think about it – I just went. After turn one I peaked back and I had 50 meters right away. I kept going. I felt good enough that if I got caught I could still reposition for the sprint do I went for it. I held them off for the first lap and most of the second. As we came across for the bell though, the field was there.

I pulled off on the little hill before turn one to put 2 or 3 guys in front of me, grab about 5 seconds of rest and then get ready to blast to the finish. But as the field got there, they slowed down??? There was this weird pause for a couple of seconds on the false flat before the downhill on the top of the course. I’ve been at threshold for 3 laps so I have an excuse. But the rest of the field should have rocketed by. This all happened in about 5 seconds but I’m thinking go the first wheel – someone has to attack.

Ian Morrison (Bike Doctor) took off. I was still on the front so I threw down to get to his wheel and off we went. I knew it was going to be nearly impossible to pass all the way to the final corner. So crossing that gap to Ian’s wheel instantly was the race for me. We bombed the downhill. One guy slipped inside me coming down the hill. That’s ok, but that’s it, no more I thought to myself. I rode the same line I had on the fast downhill corner the whole race. That cost me a spot but the last lap is no time to try new lines if you want to stay up. I made another conscious decision that probably also protected my finish placing and GC. I consistently rode a tighter inside line on the final corner the whole race. The faster, sexier line is to the outside. But if you look at that corner, the pavement starts to drop slightly to the outside. That few degrees drop can take your wheels out from under you if you don’t have the outside leg down solid to hold the line. Turn or pedal too early and slide out. It had been happening all day.

Ian bombs the outside line. Ryan comes to my outside shoulder and goes for the wide line to Ian’s wheel. Unfortunately, he lost his front wheel and went down. If he had been able to hold that line, I think he would have run Ian down and won the race. So I went for the conservative line. I came through the corner third and finished the race 3rd. I think I had the legs to win the race there but I think I made the right decision. I really wanted to come out of the weekend with points.

Turns out my GC math estimate was pretty much right on. The 5th in TT and 3rd in the crit, along with 14th in the road race got me 4th overall on GC. The thing I was happiest about was that I didn’t let the poor road race placing get me down; and I ham-and-egged my way to a decent result.

It was fun to hand around and talk to everyone on a nice day of racing. Can’t wait to do it again next year. Reston is going to be a blast. I love that course. I predict more of the same – attacks – attacks – attacks. Only this time, a break is going to stick. The Williamsport course has two spots that stop momentum and let chasers roll up a little too easily. Reston is just full out suffering and speed the whole time. Perfect.

Check Your Six

Tour of Washington County road race was today. Failure to “check the six” was my racing mistake for the day and it cost me. More on that below.

I got there early and pre-rode the course in reverse. I remembered the course pretty well from last year’s 3 / 4 road race where I hung on for 7 of 9 laps. But this year I’m lugging around 30 less pounds and rode a bunch of hills in the off-season so most courses ride a lot differently for me this year. My pre-ride confirmed that I felt really good. I was able to big ring the back side of the steep hill pretty easily and no where near threshold.

I staged early and led out for the neutral start. I wanted to ride the first turn in the clear and open the legs up some. I “attacked” a couple of times the first lap to string the field out but mainly just to loosen up. The race was only 37 miles – kind of a joke for a road race. Nothing against the race though – it’s great to have a local stage race. They are running a bunch of fields so they have to keep the distance down. The 1 /2 / 3 race was only 50 miles.

Basically I stayed up front and pushed pace as much as I could and tried to get people to pull through to keep some decent speed. I’m trying to hold to a rule of no bitching in the blog, so I will just say that the race was too slow and most people will not contribute to a decent pace. All I can say is: if you do that race after race and upgrade to 2, you will get dropped. There are some legitimate contenders who save their energy, play their cards well and get results. I respect that. It’s not the way I ride but that’s fine. However, there is a distinct lack of willingness to ride that sucks a little. My numbers were 277 watts average and 22.9 mph. For comparison, I did an early season P123 road race in NC where I put out 308 watts for over 3 hours. For a fast crit of this length, I should be over 350 watts average. The race was really a long crit; but we rode it like a fast training ride. That leaves everyone in the game at the end, which is what happened today.

Ok, enough on that. Nate Wilson attacked a couple of times solo but that wasn’t going to go anywhere. I stayed on the front with some other guys and we brought that back pretty easily. I attacked 3 or 4 other times pretty hard but felt like I was getting chased really hard every time. On the 2nd to last lap I went really hard on the back stretch and Ryan B bridged up and we traded some pulls but couldn’t stick it. I was hoping for someone else to initiate a break to bridge up to earlier in the race but there just wasn’t anything going on.

I felt really, really good on the climbs. The hill was easy and I was cresting near the front most of the time. I’m happy with that. I like climbing, and the off-season work really helped. I wish there was more uphill in our races.

So we are rolling the false flat leading to the steep hill on lap 3 or 4. Ryan Bracken drops his chain. No big deal, he rolls it back on easily. Someone said something and I chime in with something like, “ok Ryan, you only get one of those per race, and that was it.” No shit, the very next lap, I hit the bottom of the climb first. I had shifted to the 39, or tried, but it didn’t go. Ok, I know I can big ring it so I just hop out of the saddle and go. About 8 pedal stokes later, the bike shifts and drops the chain off – right in the middle of the steep part of the hill. I do a couple of Fred Flintstone pedal revs but I have zero time to get it back on. I either unclip or fall over and take out half a dozen guys.

I’m on the front, so I have to get small and stand there as the field climbs by. After they pass, I put the chain on and get to restart the climb right in the middle with the field going away on the downhill. No way am I dropping off like this. Anyway, I caught back on after only about a minute and got back to the front in half a lap. Needless to say I got in the 39 earlier the rest of the way.

Last lap, back side, slow frigging pace. I’m on the front and pick up the bottle for one last drink before we battle it out over the past 3 hills to the finish. Literally as I raise the bottle to my lips, Ryan Bracken attacks. He blows by with 2 or 3 chasing before I can put the bottle away and start hammering. Around the final turn and toward the steep hill, Ryan is off the front with one in tow and 3 of us chasing maybe 100 meters back. As Ryan gets close to the hill, I see him move back and forth. The guys on his wheel won’t come through at all.

I knew that was it for Ryan unfortunately. I was next with 3 other guys. I started thinking about staying on the front all the way to the finish. Ryan hits the hill first, then another guy and me. I went over the top 3rd wheel. Perfect. On the descent and flat where we crossed the course to the straight to the finish, we are running Ryan down fast. I have 3 in front of me and I am thinking about staying where I am until the crest of the last hill where you can see the finish, then open up and go for the line. I set it up probably better than any finish I have ridden.

Except…

Here was my mistake.

A good racer will play out what’s in front, like I did. I had it all figured out. The problem was I didn’t look back (check the six). When we came off the hill we were single file and carrying good speed, enough to keep it that way and get up the hill. The problem was that as we came up on Ryan and the other guy, the guys in front of me rode towards them and eased for a couple of seconds instead of just blasting around them. Big mistake - and it cost us.

My problem was I that I was so laser focused on the front that I didn’t peek back. I would have seen 10+ guys now barreling down on us because of the hesitation. That would have maybe given me time to attack the last hill. This exact same thing happened at Strassburg RR earlier this year. In that case, I reacted to the swarm fast enough to break out and got 3rd. Not so today.

On that last rise today, we got swarmed. And people started going sideways too. Fuck. Suddenly instead of 4 single file, we are 15 packed against the yellow line. I went wide to try to get space but lost momentum. When the “sprint” started I was headed out into the turn lane for space. No matter how good I think I’m climbing, there’s no way I’m going to start an uphill sprint late and do much. Ended up 14th. Given that I had shelter on the flat before the last hill, I should have attacked around the 3 in front of me and tried to get to the line. I’m getting a lot better at being a controlling factor in races and having the fitness to do it, but I’m lacking the killer instinct / timing. There is no way I’m going to sit in and sprint – ever. It’s not fun and I don’t want to even try. So attacks, breakaways and pursuit type efforts are going to have to be my thing. Getting closer but not there yet.

Tomorrow I have to absolutely kill the effing time trial to get back in this thing. In the crit, I’ll be pushing to avoid a bunch sprint and try to make people feel the effort of the time trial.

Congrats to Alex Butterfield on 3rd today. Nice ride. You are now officially the favorite to win this thing. Also congrats to Paul Beyer of WWVC who rode up front in support of Ryan and then cracked it in the hill sprint and took 6th.

Good News & Bad News

I’ve got family in town but the house is empty right now so here’s the exciting Church Creek TT recap.

I rode an unofficial 27:30. Not real happy with that at all.

Good News.
• The TT bike is great. My position is really good. I can make really good tempo in the aero position which was not the case last year.
• I put in 6 hours and 150 miles this week and felt good with the set up.
Bad News.
• Even though I’ve had this bike for two months, I only rode it this week! Wtf.
• As I already knew, and can now confirm again, there is a big difference between rolling 23 on the path and trying to hold 28 on the rivet in the wind for an hour.

It will be interesting to see times for everyone relative to last year. The wind was definitely different. It was really windy at the school – not a good sign. Also, the direction was different so that the wind was a bitch on the first half and *should* have been more down wind on the second half. I felt like there was a head wind or cross wind 80% of the time. I guess that’s always the cease – you never *feel* the tailwind.

Good News.
• Warmed up well, felt good bounce.
• Came out of the start feeling really good, even into the wind.
• Held 26 and 27 into the wind for first 5 miles or so.
Bad News.
• The effort piled up on me pretty quickly.

I caught my 1 minute guy after 11 minutes. It’s hard to tell if that means anything though because you don’t necessarily know what pace the other guy is riding. I caught 2 more guys in the next 10 minutes. Then Andy Shaw of NCVC came by me. He’s going good for sure but he started a minute behind me.

My problem for the day started developing at about the half way point. I can hold a 175ish heart rate pretty easily for an hour or more. In the first half I was at 164 – 168; not stellar output but not bad. I had no SRM, btw because it’s out for service. Anyway, I stayed behind Andy and matched his pace staying back about 50 meters. When we got out of the wind for a minute, I was getting 28s pretty easy. That’s better. But my ass started hurting (hip flexors / glutes). Simply not enough time hitting hard in the TT position.

I could tell it was an issue because my heart rate was down to 160 – which I have held for a 3 hour road race. My legs were ok, but my crotch and hips hurt. So I told myself to focus on the good legs and lungs and tough it out. When we got to the highway, where it goes down a little, I should have been 30+ but anything above 28, then 27 hurt. I was no where near the aerobic output I should have had at that point. Too many form breaks to move in the saddle and change gears. I was all the way down to high 150s heart rate at several points on the way in. That’s way, way too low. My ass pain was now in my head, so to speak.

It’s my own fault and I’m ok with it. I just have to take responsibility and decide if I’m willing to invest in TT results or not. Boonsboro is part of the stage race next week so I better decide now, huh?

Good News.
• My fitness is really good.
• The bike is good and I feel much better on it.
• I have a lot more to deliver in the TT.
Bad News
• I couldn’t get the power to the road. Didn’t I say that last year? Yep, I did.
• I have to devote more time to hard TT training to get results.

Fry Sally Fry

Weather.com said 97 degrees. My Wife said one of the race officials had over 100. Ouch. I resistered for the Cat 3 and 1/2/3 races - 60 miles of wicked hot and fast crit racing.

I finally did a few things right yesterday. It’s taken three weeks but I finally felt like I had some decent form again. I had some hefty business stuff going on in April and got off track mentally and with that came some comfort drinking and eating and to top it off my miles were way down. I managed a couple of decent placings lately but I could hear the “yep, he peaked too early and cracked” comments coming - and rightfully so if I didn't HTFU. Like I’ve said before, I knew there would be some down turn at some point after hitting it hard for a solid year. So I’ve been dieting some again, cut back on drinking and, drinking tons of water. This past week, I was back to 300 miles and ditched the rest day and felt much better, spinning much better tempo.

The first good thing I did yesterday wasn’t racing related – it was an early trip to Target. I’m not a big discount store shopper but I love going in there before 9AM, the place is vacant. I knew it was going to be wicked hot and the Google satellite map didn’t show what looked like many big trees around the industrial park. So I decided to see if I could pick up one of those 10 foot by 10 foot pop up canopy tents. I got the last one they had. I also bought an assload of Gatorade and water and two nice chairs. My Wife and I both said later that tent was the best $120 we ever spent.

I’ve always handled heat well in athletics. I think part of it comes from the fact that I grew up playing 3 sports all the time and I’m at that age (over 40) where withholding water to make you tougher was allowable back in the day. Anyone else remember that? In high school summer football two-a-days they would run us until we literally dropped before giving a water “reward”. In the first practices for basketball, the coaches put a trash bag held open with a wire hanger at each end of the court to puke in – no shit. I think you would get put in jail for that now?

Anyway, it was wicked hot yesterday. I’m notorious for not drinking much at all during races and I was determined not to do that yesterday – especially not with two races on tap. I got there early and set up because I wanted to see how the Masters field rode the course. My thinking going in – especially for the Cat 3 race was to get active early, animate, create and get into a break. I’m really tired of seeing everyone slog around in a pack and then “sprint”. It’s not fun and no one is learning how to race.

The course was as smooth as a baby’s butt. The road was closed, 4 lane’s worth, and the surface was perfect. It wasn’t exciting at all from a technical perspective – especially coming off of CSC last week. But whoever planned the course did a really smart thing in making it 1K. More laps, better incentive for breaks, more viewing for spectators. The Master’s race confirmed my thoughts. Ken Young and an ABRT guy instigated a break and it stuck.

Cat 3 Race
The plan was simple – go to the front, attack, cover and keep at it until the field split or I got off in a break. That’s what I did. Bike Doctor was really active right away. Cliff and Evan attacked a couple of times each. I went to their wheels each time to see if we could develop something. I attacked a couple of times too. This went on for maybe 10 laps. At one point, we had 5 or 6 quality guys and a gap. I didn’t want to piss anyone off but I was verbal about getting on it for a couple of laps really hard. The glances back started after only a little more than a lap and that’s not going to cut it. The second thing I did right at this point was to get off the front. Guys stopped pulling through and I promised myself to absolutely stop pulling the field around. Plus I needed a little rest.

Ryan Bracken (WWVC) and Ian Morrison (Bike Doctor) rolled off the front a little. I was there and let them go. I needed a little rest and I knew we could pull back two big guys pretty fast if necessary. So a few laps go by and we are just sitting there. Wtf? Am I missing something or is this crit racing 101? Not only was there little willingness to organize to pull them back, people wouldn’t even pull through at a reasonable pace. I’m not going to complain about tactics – no one needs to read race report bitching. What I will say is this was a Cat 3 only race. You have to figure that a decent number of us want to go to Cat 2. That ain’t gonna cut it. I did some work, asked for some help. Two Kelly guys came up and did some work, two out of town guys took some pulls but we should have pulled back 2 guys in 3 laps or less.

It wasn’t happening so I went on my own into the wind on the back strech and put my head down for the whole leg of the course before I looked back at all. This was a good decision. It was hot, I could tell that some guys were uncomfortable. I was pissed which provided some motivation plus I would feel compelled to pull the field. One guy got to my wheel and we stayed off. I was a little worked from the earlier efforts in the race so I was hoping for some help from my break mate. It didn’t really materialize. The last 5 or 6 laps he was saying he couldn’t go when I asked for more pace. I would ask him to stay in one more pull, one more lap, which he did, sort of.

The field was out of sight behind and Ryan and Ian were 15 seconds up the road. I probably should have dropped the guy I was with and gone for it but he looming 1/2/3 race figured in a little. On the last lap, my companion is still with me. He sucked my wheel all the way around and sprinted me for third by a half a wheel. Pretty funny. I guess I should have sent hat coming and dropped him sooner. So 4th place – and no field sprint. Congrats to Ryan and Ian for countering well and staying away.

Cat 3 Finish Video shot at the line:

Ride Sally Ride Cat 3 Finish from Bryan Vaughan on Vimeo.
http://www.vimeo.com/1139321

Finish Video from BAS:

Ride Sally Ride - Cat 3 Men from Brian on Vimeo.


http://www.vimeo.com/1137567

After that race, I went straight to my tent and started drinking. Another good decision. And I drank a lot. There was a big ass pile of Gatorade and water bottles piling up quick. By the time I cooled down some, it was only 20 minutes to the 1/2/3 start. The hardest effort of the day might have been getting up to go back out in the sun and “warm up” after being soaking wet and in that tent.

1/2/3 Race
This was my first “official” 1/2/3 crit. I did 3 Traezone 1/2/3s but this one was mid-season with guys much more on form I think. Surprisingly, I had some pretty good bounce in the legs warming up. I did some light sprints and a couple of sustained one minute-ish TT efforts over on the side roads to see what was up. Heart rate came up to 160s and I didn’t feel too bad at all. Looking back, I think getting a decent result in the 3 race took some pressure off and I decided to just see what I had. Team mate Nate Coleman has been killing it lately and I was hoping to at least get near the front and try to do some work as long as I could for he and Ramon or Bo or Dave or whoever else was up there. I figured worst case, I could cover some breaks to give our guys a little rest or provide a decent draft until I cracked.

Things didn’t start well at all. We had miles of road width to line up, so staging was no issue at all. I figured Dave Fuentes or DC Velo or someone would go from the gun. It took me like 4 tries to clip in. Idiot. And I had to deal with the initial threshold that comes in the first couple of laps too. The first two laps I was literally on the back. I figured that this wasn’t going to turn out well at all. I could see the little splits already developing and guys hopping off the front in those initial laps. Decision time. Either move up or get ready to get dropped. On the next lap on the back I hammered up the side and got about half way through the field. Going through the last corner, I hear a tubular blow. I didn’t see anything right away. A second later two guys were down right in front of me. I eased up and they slid in front of me. This put me on the back of the front group and I had to hammer to get back on. I felt ok though. Ramon was already animating off the front and Nate was up there too. That got me going and the next lap, I went all the way to the front on the back stretch.

Ramon had just come off an attack. Nate was on the front. I just got there. Not two seconds go by and a DC Velo rider (Ryan I think) attacks hard on the inside of the last corner. Here was my race moment for the day – that point where the race goes one way or another. In the Cat 3 race it was the decision to dropt he field and go solo. Here it was Nate saying “Bryan cover that”. I had already made a mistake by hesitating. I should have known to be all over that. Still learning. Anyway, I drilled it and caught his wheel coming up the home stretch and we had a gap. A few more guys came up. On the back stretch a mistake was made that almost killed this break before it had a chance.

We had a bit of a mish mash of guys and the gap had just formed. We went around turn 2 into the wind and no one pulled through. Ryan said, and rightfully so, “pull”. I came around and put my head down and we started working better together. I didn’t look back for a couple of laps. After turn 1, I caught a glimpse of riders coming up and thought, shit the field is here. Nope. Dave Fuentes, Ken Young, Dave Bozak I think, and a couple of other really strong guys. Ramon came up too and now we had serious horsepower and we were in business.

I’m not sure how many laps we were out from beginning to end but it seemed like a lot to me – maybe 35 or 40. For me, being there was sort of an accomplishment as a new Cat 3 but I wanted to make sure we stayed about after all that work. The truth is, there was a ton more power and experience in the group – with probably 5 of the top 10 MABRA guys there, so they didn’t need me anyway. At first I was a little concerned that 10 were too many and an attack / split was imminent.

So at about 20 laps to go, things get a little harder – no a lot harder. Firstly, I’m running out of water. If I hadn’t been drinking all day, I would have cracked for sure. Still being that hot and going hard with no water sucks. My last sip came at about 7 to go. I took a peak at Ramon’s and he was low too so I had to just deal with it. Inside 15 to go, I went to the back of the group. I knew I was on the limit after the 3 race and I knew if I got gapped, the field would swallow me up and it would have been “almost a nice ride, Bryan, maybe next time”. No effing way did I want to hear that. In the last 6 laps I expected a full out assault which never really happened, thankfully. Some accelerations but not anything too serious. The field got a little closer but we were ok. Dave Fuentes attacked once with about 6 to go and the acceleration to stay there resulted in the full out cold goose bumps. I was pretty done. Probably the hardest thing for me all day was I got of the back of that break twice in the last 10 laps and had to go really deep to get back on. We were all together on the back stretch on the last lap but I had nothing to offer so I watched the front of the group blast around the corner for the sprint and rolled in 10th.

After the race, my Wife said she was looking at my face the last 10 laps thinking, "he's not going to finish". Apparently we have video of my suffering-ass dehydrated face. I have'nt seen it yet. I'm sure I look great and in total control - ha.

The 10th place was nice but I was really happier with being able to get to the front and help create and sustain what turned out to be the winning break. Obviously, the quality that came up the break is what made it stick but I was there early and that was cool. I know that breaks are going to be the best way for me to get results; and it’s the way I like to ride anyway. I’ve had a lot of “woulda, coulda, shoulda” so far this season with missed opportunities, so it was nice to get decent results by being aggressive instead of hanging back.