Failure is usually not very exciting to read or write about, but in rare cases, the failed efforts to win a race can be more exciting than the races result.
Tarantino style, we'll get back to that later.
Saturday night was the crit. Joe was gonna do that Cat 4 race at 6:00, and I was slated to start the Cat 3 race at 7:00. Sunset was at 7:08, so it was a certainty that Sam and I would be rocking the 3's race in the lights. Joe sat in for most of the crit, we saw him on the front of it a few times, never doing any work. It seems we are all still gassed from our training camp, because when it came to the sprint, Joe had no legs and sat in.
The 3 race was just as boring. With stiff headwinds and hills on most of the course, the likelihood of a break getting away in the races was very slim. So I didn't plan to try. From the line it was doomed. I missed clipping in and went from first to 30th in a metter of seconds. As it got darker, things got sketchier. The TdT organizers apparently did not plan for the lack of lighting on the bottom part of the course, under the bridge, and it was essentially blind for most of the end of the race. A Frazier cycling rider got way off the front for a bit, but we slowly brought him in without rushing. My legs were shot the whole time, and I was having difficulty moving through the pack. There were a couple close calls, but thankfully no one crashed. with 3 to go it spread out a bit more and on the sprint I managed an amazing 19th place finish...woot.
I felt much better Sunday morning. Did a lot of carbo loading the night before, and Sam and I worked out a daring strategy to take the road race by storm. Since we were familiar with the course, and the field was unfamiliar with us, our best bet for a win was to break away early. And about 3 miles into the race, we took off. For some reason I had no trouble moving through the pack today. Sam attacked, I followed, and the pack let us go just as we expected. We pounded it up the first small steep hill and then went into full on TT mode for the next 5 miles. The motorbike told us we had 2 minutes at the sharp right hand turn. We kept pushing it until the long climb, at which point we decided to tempo up it instead of pushing the pace. The 3 field proved to be mediocre climbers the day before, so we figured the fact we were out of sight would aid us in staying away. We got up the hill well away from the pack, but we had lost a lot of our time advantage, which was only 37 seconds when we crossed the start finish. When we hit the short steep hill again, the pack was on us. A chase jumped up to us, and I tried to counterattack, but the field wouldn't let me away again. After 12 miles away, our breakaway was over
This is the part when failure gets interesting. Sam, for some reason, decided to roll up next to me and have a chat about making another move. The guy on his right decided to swerve into him. HE was leaning on Sam, Sam was leaning on me. After about 30 seconds of back and forth, trying to stay vertical, Sam hit my handlebars after a final lean from the other guy, and I was diving for the asphalt. I have a shoulder that likes to dislocate spontaneously, so I immediately moved to protect it, even before I hit the ground. I knew I was going to get hit, I was in 5th or 6th place when I went down. And sure enough, bodies, bikes and pieces of bikes were slamming into me. I waited for the crashing and grinding to stop, then immediately checked the damage. Shoulder in place, all limbs movable. Once I untangled from the carnage and walked it off, I surveyed the bike. Front tire, torn off the rim and ripped. Front wheel, solid. Rear brake lost its pads. Handlebars crooked. Front brake loose, and hoods both bent in. Some allen wrenches and hammering made the bike rideable, and a borrowed wheel from Jacob of Tria got me to the finish line. The pain would wait a few hours to rear its ugly head. Sam stuck it out, and finished out with the pack. In the sprint, he took it up a notch and rocked to a 4th place finish, taking home a hundred bucks for his work!
Joe was sitting in the Cat 4 field at the time. When I saw him come around the first time, the pack was split in 3. A main group, a tiny chase group, and a tail group. Joe was in the main group. When they came around to finish, Joe was mid pack, and the downhill finish definitely didn't suit his strenghts. He finished in the pack.
While Sam and my break was a good idea, no one joining us doomed it. Sketchy riders ruined my day, week, and probably my chances of a good results next week too. Next week we travel to Banner Elk for the Lees McRae races!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
UGA Race Weekend
UAH Cycling – UGA Race Weekend Race Report
3/21/2009 – Road Race
Well before we even left Banner Elk for Athens, we decided we weren’t going to do the Time Trial. I had decided after our TTT in Clemson I wasn’t going to bother with them anymore. I need my legs for the other races, and waking up later is pretty nice. Especially after our 340 mile, 36,000 foot, 22 hour week, doing 11 miles in zone 5 was just not appealing, particularly at 9:00 AM. Our laziness apparently also is contagious, as Clinton ended up skipping the Time Trial as well. So instead of rolling off at 9AM we started racing at 2PM. Hey, this IS COLLEGIATE racing….waking up early is not our thing
So anyway, there was definitely a lot of doubt in our minds as to how well we could actually hold on. Joe had a 44 mile race ahead of him in the B’s, I had 66 in the A’s, and Clinton had 33 in the C’s although he was really confident he would be able to finish strong. He didn’t do the training camp and was relatively fresh.
I rolled off first, and thankfully the pace was manageable. Cumberland not being there really helped keep the pace more consistent. We stayed together pretty much the whole first lap. About 6 miles into each lap is a wicked quarter mile climb on which we attacked HARD each time. On the 2nd lap a group of 4 got off the front, and it contained 2 Lees McRae riders, so it got a decent gap. We almost caught it on the climb the 2nd time around, but LMC got back on the front after the climb and slowed the pace so their boys could get further ahead. A GA Tech rider made an attack, but we all knew he wouldn’t hold it by himself, so no one chased him. I spent most of the time after the 2nd climb in the top 5 just chilling. As we went past the start/finish I pulled through and picked the pace up from 22 to about 26/27. I ripped through the first corner and kept it for a bit longer then tried to pull off. Whoever the GA kid marking me was, he wouldn’t let me pull off, he just followed my wheel. Someone made a weak attack, which I followed and then proceeded to TT again, halving the gap between us and the GT rider without even trying. A strong attack went up the road, which I covered, then sat back in around 6th place. Around another corner the same 2 riders tried to attack again, I let the pack cover the attack and hopped in around 10th place. When we approached the hill the 3rd time, I decided to be more conservative on the climb instead of pounding up it like I had the last 2 times. That was a bad decision. The field effectively split in half and myself and Ben Grier (Clemson) got stuck in no mans land. Unlike the previous 2 laps, the field did not ease up after the climb, in fact they attacked. Ben and I pacelined TTT style towards the pack, closing withing about 30 feet before losing ground again. Just before the start/finish, Ben pulled out, leaving me by myself. I DNF’d both races last weekend, I was not about to quit a race in 65 degree beautiful weather. I kept hammering at a decent pace. I was not really all that worn out, I just wasn’t fast enough to bridge back to the attacking peleton. I continued to maintain about 22mph per lap. I caught a Georgia Southern C rider, who I allowed to draft off me for a lap and a half until he finished. He still owes me a beer… At the end of the 4th lap, he pulled off to finish, and to my surprise Kyle (UFL) and a UGA rider came by me at a decent pace. I hopped on the train, relieved to finally have some people to share the work with. We rolled easily for a lap, then picked up another UGA rider who was about to DNF but decided to hop on the train and get a finish instead. He had apparently burnt himself out chasing a LMC breakaway up the road. He helped us get around the last lap at a good tick, thanks Parker. On the last lap, however, the corner marshals and police all left after the A peleton passed through, and we were unprotected at all the corners, still racing. When we hit the finish, I took a couple extra pedal strokes to beat our group of 4 to get top 15 or something, who knows. The official was informed of the absence of marshals, which was quite dangerous and unacceptable. Fortunately we are big boys and know how to look both ways ;) Anywho, I finished, got points for the team (big whoop), and added 70 miles to my week, still averaging about 22.5.
Joe’s day was even moreso ruined by ignorant police. A cop pointed Joe’s chase group the wrong way , and when the main group saw them go the wrong way, they dropped the hammer. Joe and the group, mostly LMC’s top B riders, pulled out at the finish line, quite livid about the mess.
Clinton sat in the C field very easily. All of the C field studs have moved up to the B’s, so the field is now truly a beginner field, as opposed to 5 or 6 sandbaggers (cough, Joe, cough) and a bunch of beginners. Andy from UA took the sprint for the W and Clinton held on for a top 10 (7th or 8th we think). AWESOME result for Clinton in his 3rd race weekend, and only 2 weeks after epicly crashing out of the Clemson 500.
We raced pretty much exactly as our coach planned for us to, although I can personally say the training camp has done wonders, not only to our riding style and efficiency but also mentally, as we are much more confident. Sam and I rode much more of the A race near the front, and less hanging onto the back. We weren’t supposed to have any legs for these races after a 400 mile week, so we were happy just to get some race training in.
3/22/09
UGA Crit
Sam and a bunch of other schools talked a lot of crap about the UGA crit course, but I actually really liked it. It is a .8 mile race which is uphill on the finishing stretch and downhill on the back stretch. The hill was pretty steep, but after the descent to the bottom of it, getting up it was quite easy.
Since I didn’t race until 11:45 and Joe raced at 9:45, Joe rode over to the race with Preston (Alabama), while Sam rolled over with me after sleeping in and getting breakfast. Again, collegiate racing.
While we were away, Clinton sat in for a pack finish in the C’s, just happy to finish the crit after his last crit experience.
We caught the end of Joe’s race, which was dominated by a lone attack by a Lees McRae rider who sat about 30 seconds, or ¼ of a lap, off the front. A 2nd LMC rider tried to break too, but the pack ate him up. At the field sprint, Joe’s dead legs said No, and he sat in the field
I wasn’t sure how I would feel, but I figured I could hang on if it came down to a sprint finish. The course is fairly friendly to a smart breakaway, which is ironically not the breakaway that goes uphill. Since the hill is so short and the descent so fast, any break made on the hill was usually caught at the bottom of it. The money spot was attacking just after the hill, on the gradual section by the start finish. Many tried, but it wasn’t until about 45 minutes in that a break finally got away. I had no interest in breaking away, nor was I in a position to do so anyway. The break got away, and I sat in. Most of the race, I again sat near the front, did no work, and made sure to follow fast wheels. After the break got a good lead, LMC backed off the gas. Ben Grier got on front and tried to drive the pace a little bit to make sure the leaders didn’t lap us, but not fast enough to advance on them since Tyler from Clemson was in the break. A chase group attacked, lightning fast off our right and got a 10-20 second gap almost immediately. We let it sit up there for 2 laps. I got frisky and decided to bridge up to the break, which at the time was not so far away. I attacked and got free almost immediately. I am not a threat to anyone, nor did anyone really consider me a factor in the race…because I wasn’t. I caught within 10 feet of the chase when the field roared past me. I took a breather and went to the back, knowing a counter attack would come. It did. Another chase group with 3 riders got up the road. I was not bridging again. Ben did though, and caught them fast. With 3 to go it was a lead group of 5, Ben’s group of 4, then us. I pissed off a few guys in the pack by not covering attacks or pulling through, but I had no reason to. I was just sitting in, the pack wasn’t going to let 2 random guys just ride away. Almost on cue, some LMC guys filled the gap, problem solved. I sat up towards the finish, took last in the field sprint, and beat a few stragglers. Avg speed was 24.5, and we had shedded a few riders, so I still wasn’t “last”.
Next week, it will be up to Clinton to write up the race reports. Joe and I are racing the Tour of Tuscaloosa instead of the Auburn races. And at Lees McRae I will try and get everyone to write their own reports so that its not a little bit about everyone else and a page about me…
Thanks for the support!
3/21/2009 – Road Race
Well before we even left Banner Elk for Athens, we decided we weren’t going to do the Time Trial. I had decided after our TTT in Clemson I wasn’t going to bother with them anymore. I need my legs for the other races, and waking up later is pretty nice. Especially after our 340 mile, 36,000 foot, 22 hour week, doing 11 miles in zone 5 was just not appealing, particularly at 9:00 AM. Our laziness apparently also is contagious, as Clinton ended up skipping the Time Trial as well. So instead of rolling off at 9AM we started racing at 2PM. Hey, this IS COLLEGIATE racing….waking up early is not our thing
So anyway, there was definitely a lot of doubt in our minds as to how well we could actually hold on. Joe had a 44 mile race ahead of him in the B’s, I had 66 in the A’s, and Clinton had 33 in the C’s although he was really confident he would be able to finish strong. He didn’t do the training camp and was relatively fresh.
I rolled off first, and thankfully the pace was manageable. Cumberland not being there really helped keep the pace more consistent. We stayed together pretty much the whole first lap. About 6 miles into each lap is a wicked quarter mile climb on which we attacked HARD each time. On the 2nd lap a group of 4 got off the front, and it contained 2 Lees McRae riders, so it got a decent gap. We almost caught it on the climb the 2nd time around, but LMC got back on the front after the climb and slowed the pace so their boys could get further ahead. A GA Tech rider made an attack, but we all knew he wouldn’t hold it by himself, so no one chased him. I spent most of the time after the 2nd climb in the top 5 just chilling. As we went past the start/finish I pulled through and picked the pace up from 22 to about 26/27. I ripped through the first corner and kept it for a bit longer then tried to pull off. Whoever the GA kid marking me was, he wouldn’t let me pull off, he just followed my wheel. Someone made a weak attack, which I followed and then proceeded to TT again, halving the gap between us and the GT rider without even trying. A strong attack went up the road, which I covered, then sat back in around 6th place. Around another corner the same 2 riders tried to attack again, I let the pack cover the attack and hopped in around 10th place. When we approached the hill the 3rd time, I decided to be more conservative on the climb instead of pounding up it like I had the last 2 times. That was a bad decision. The field effectively split in half and myself and Ben Grier (Clemson) got stuck in no mans land. Unlike the previous 2 laps, the field did not ease up after the climb, in fact they attacked. Ben and I pacelined TTT style towards the pack, closing withing about 30 feet before losing ground again. Just before the start/finish, Ben pulled out, leaving me by myself. I DNF’d both races last weekend, I was not about to quit a race in 65 degree beautiful weather. I kept hammering at a decent pace. I was not really all that worn out, I just wasn’t fast enough to bridge back to the attacking peleton. I continued to maintain about 22mph per lap. I caught a Georgia Southern C rider, who I allowed to draft off me for a lap and a half until he finished. He still owes me a beer… At the end of the 4th lap, he pulled off to finish, and to my surprise Kyle (UFL) and a UGA rider came by me at a decent pace. I hopped on the train, relieved to finally have some people to share the work with. We rolled easily for a lap, then picked up another UGA rider who was about to DNF but decided to hop on the train and get a finish instead. He had apparently burnt himself out chasing a LMC breakaway up the road. He helped us get around the last lap at a good tick, thanks Parker. On the last lap, however, the corner marshals and police all left after the A peleton passed through, and we were unprotected at all the corners, still racing. When we hit the finish, I took a couple extra pedal strokes to beat our group of 4 to get top 15 or something, who knows. The official was informed of the absence of marshals, which was quite dangerous and unacceptable. Fortunately we are big boys and know how to look both ways ;) Anywho, I finished, got points for the team (big whoop), and added 70 miles to my week, still averaging about 22.5.
Joe’s day was even moreso ruined by ignorant police. A cop pointed Joe’s chase group the wrong way , and when the main group saw them go the wrong way, they dropped the hammer. Joe and the group, mostly LMC’s top B riders, pulled out at the finish line, quite livid about the mess.
Clinton sat in the C field very easily. All of the C field studs have moved up to the B’s, so the field is now truly a beginner field, as opposed to 5 or 6 sandbaggers (cough, Joe, cough) and a bunch of beginners. Andy from UA took the sprint for the W and Clinton held on for a top 10 (7th or 8th we think). AWESOME result for Clinton in his 3rd race weekend, and only 2 weeks after epicly crashing out of the Clemson 500.
We raced pretty much exactly as our coach planned for us to, although I can personally say the training camp has done wonders, not only to our riding style and efficiency but also mentally, as we are much more confident. Sam and I rode much more of the A race near the front, and less hanging onto the back. We weren’t supposed to have any legs for these races after a 400 mile week, so we were happy just to get some race training in.
3/22/09
UGA Crit
Sam and a bunch of other schools talked a lot of crap about the UGA crit course, but I actually really liked it. It is a .8 mile race which is uphill on the finishing stretch and downhill on the back stretch. The hill was pretty steep, but after the descent to the bottom of it, getting up it was quite easy.
Since I didn’t race until 11:45 and Joe raced at 9:45, Joe rode over to the race with Preston (Alabama), while Sam rolled over with me after sleeping in and getting breakfast. Again, collegiate racing.
While we were away, Clinton sat in for a pack finish in the C’s, just happy to finish the crit after his last crit experience.
We caught the end of Joe’s race, which was dominated by a lone attack by a Lees McRae rider who sat about 30 seconds, or ¼ of a lap, off the front. A 2nd LMC rider tried to break too, but the pack ate him up. At the field sprint, Joe’s dead legs said No, and he sat in the field
I wasn’t sure how I would feel, but I figured I could hang on if it came down to a sprint finish. The course is fairly friendly to a smart breakaway, which is ironically not the breakaway that goes uphill. Since the hill is so short and the descent so fast, any break made on the hill was usually caught at the bottom of it. The money spot was attacking just after the hill, on the gradual section by the start finish. Many tried, but it wasn’t until about 45 minutes in that a break finally got away. I had no interest in breaking away, nor was I in a position to do so anyway. The break got away, and I sat in. Most of the race, I again sat near the front, did no work, and made sure to follow fast wheels. After the break got a good lead, LMC backed off the gas. Ben Grier got on front and tried to drive the pace a little bit to make sure the leaders didn’t lap us, but not fast enough to advance on them since Tyler from Clemson was in the break. A chase group attacked, lightning fast off our right and got a 10-20 second gap almost immediately. We let it sit up there for 2 laps. I got frisky and decided to bridge up to the break, which at the time was not so far away. I attacked and got free almost immediately. I am not a threat to anyone, nor did anyone really consider me a factor in the race…because I wasn’t. I caught within 10 feet of the chase when the field roared past me. I took a breather and went to the back, knowing a counter attack would come. It did. Another chase group with 3 riders got up the road. I was not bridging again. Ben did though, and caught them fast. With 3 to go it was a lead group of 5, Ben’s group of 4, then us. I pissed off a few guys in the pack by not covering attacks or pulling through, but I had no reason to. I was just sitting in, the pack wasn’t going to let 2 random guys just ride away. Almost on cue, some LMC guys filled the gap, problem solved. I sat up towards the finish, took last in the field sprint, and beat a few stragglers. Avg speed was 24.5, and we had shedded a few riders, so I still wasn’t “last”.
Next week, it will be up to Clinton to write up the race reports. Joe and I are racing the Tour of Tuscaloosa instead of the Auburn races. And at Lees McRae I will try and get everyone to write their own reports so that its not a little bit about everyone else and a page about me…
Thanks for the support!
Friday, March 20, 2009
Final Days of Training Camp
Sorry to all that I did not update last night. Yesterday was a particularly rough day, and after 2 Steaks, tons of chocolate milk, and bad Sci-Fi movies, we retired early. So we shall start with yesterdays report from Boone, NC.
Stuart has a sick sense of humor and awesome routes for 3 college kids who want nothing more than to punish their bodies for long term gain. after our 105 mile, 9500+ foot day on Wednesday, he assigned us a 95 mile, 10k+ foot ride which culminated in the climb up epic Beech Mountain. Unlike the ride Wednesday though, all of the climbing was contained within 4 major climbs, the first of which was about 4 miles at a 7% average grade, the second being non-memorable. The 3rd major climb of the day took us from 3300 feet in elevation all the way up to 5500 feet. It started at mile 55 and ended at mile 60. Fortunately we found an awesome grocery store at mile 55, ate lunch and replenished before tackling Iron Mountain/Carters Gap. Not only did the elevation change as we headed up the mountain, but the long awaited cold front rolled in as we headed up the mountain. When we started the climb it was about 50 degrees at the bottom and the wind was picking up. At the top of the climb it was at best 40 degrees with 15-20mph winds at the top. The descent was epic, almost 9 miles straight down into the bitter headwind. At the end of that descent we began our leadup to Beech Mountain. For about 6 miles we gradually went uphill before hitting Beech Mountain. For the majority of the day, with random exceptions, it was Joe, Me, and Sam finishing the mountains in that order. Be it a lack of nutrition attention on my part or mental fatigue, the moment I hit Beech Mountain my legs disappeared from under me. For 2 miles the grade never dipped below 10%, and heading into and out of every switchback (as well as the 1/2 mile leadup to the 1st switchback) we saw 17-20%. I let Sam and Joe go and focused on establishing a rhythm. Hitting a 4 mile climb (with an average grade of 11%) at mile 86 hurts, and I had no legs for it. To make it better, it was raining at the top (about 5200 feet where we turned around). We spun around, Sam and Joe bombed down the descent (Sam hit 51mph!) while I spun easy. Apparently it snowed something special in Banner Elk last week and the roads are still caked with salt and sand. I prefer not to crash in training rides, so I took almost every descent this week pretty casual (with the exception of the rocking descent on the LMC race course....I felt I needed to know that pretty well). So, as I mentioned before, after 94 miles, 10,000 feet of climbing and 6 hours on the bike, we showered, cooked up 2 steaks each and passed out. Our "recovery" ride waited for us...
Apparently we are ensuring we hit such a ridiculous high mileage this week that we will feel like failures if we dont at least match HALF of it every week this year. Our recovery ride was 47 miles with 5500 feet of climbing, While our descent elevation was more than our ascent, our uphill distance was VASTLY more than our descent distance. We spent at least 2/3 of our ride going uphill, and on most of our downhills it was gentle and short. We got 2 dive bombing descents, the first one only 3 miles into the route (although dropping 2000 feet in 8 miles was amazing...Joe caught a car on the way down). We kept to our recovery pace, though, and rolled up to the cars easy and ready for our drive to Athens. After our epic Monday/Tuesday rides (3 mechanicals, 2 crashes), we experienced much smoother riding. I personally felt terrible today, and made a vow to stay in zone 1 and 2, a vow I broke only on the first climb, and maybe a little bit on the last climb. I take my rest days very seriously, and when it got vertical, I did my best to spin easy.
So, in summary:
Joe was definitely the stud of the week. If it was uphill, he attacked almost every time. If I or Sam decided to follow his pace, he made sure to make us feel it. I found the best strategy to staying on his wheel was to ride a fast tempo up to him, allow him to make mini attacks, and stay far enough behind him that he couldnt use my presence as a motivator. When i did that, I usually finished about 10-15 feet behind him.
Sam definitely rode smarter than all of us. He picked his battles well. Both of the long days, he saved his best efforts for the last climbs, Zone 2 on the rest. When Sam decided to push the pedals, it was up to us to follow, Joe being no exception. Before losing sight of them on Beech, I saw SAM put a gap on JOE for a brief period. To my knowledge it did not last particularly long.
I wont pat myself on the back, I did ok. Rode my own pace up pretty much every climb. Sometimes that was with Joe, usually it was between Joe and Sam, and towards the end of the week it was more behind them than anything. Hopefully the week did the job it needed to, and after my coming recovery week, I will be ready to steal some money from the Cat 3's at Tour of Tuscaloosa.
I currently blog to you from a MASSIVE hotel room in Athens, GA. Thats right, after racing last weekend, 350 miles in 5 days, we return to racing tommorrow at the University of Georgia race weekend. Clinton has joined us, and tommorrow he will be participating in the ITT and Road Race in the C's (Cat 5/4). Joe and I are skipping the ITT (As is Sam....but now that Training Camp is over, no more updates on the competition ;O ). I have 66 miles in the A's (Pro/1/2/3) and Joe has 44 in the B's (3/4). Fortunately the road race is at 2pm, the high is in the mid 60's and sunny with 0% chance of rain. Hopefully we have time enough to recover...
Updates tommorrow! Wish us luck!
Stuart has a sick sense of humor and awesome routes for 3 college kids who want nothing more than to punish their bodies for long term gain. after our 105 mile, 9500+ foot day on Wednesday, he assigned us a 95 mile, 10k+ foot ride which culminated in the climb up epic Beech Mountain. Unlike the ride Wednesday though, all of the climbing was contained within 4 major climbs, the first of which was about 4 miles at a 7% average grade, the second being non-memorable. The 3rd major climb of the day took us from 3300 feet in elevation all the way up to 5500 feet. It started at mile 55 and ended at mile 60. Fortunately we found an awesome grocery store at mile 55, ate lunch and replenished before tackling Iron Mountain/Carters Gap. Not only did the elevation change as we headed up the mountain, but the long awaited cold front rolled in as we headed up the mountain. When we started the climb it was about 50 degrees at the bottom and the wind was picking up. At the top of the climb it was at best 40 degrees with 15-20mph winds at the top. The descent was epic, almost 9 miles straight down into the bitter headwind. At the end of that descent we began our leadup to Beech Mountain. For about 6 miles we gradually went uphill before hitting Beech Mountain. For the majority of the day, with random exceptions, it was Joe, Me, and Sam finishing the mountains in that order. Be it a lack of nutrition attention on my part or mental fatigue, the moment I hit Beech Mountain my legs disappeared from under me. For 2 miles the grade never dipped below 10%, and heading into and out of every switchback (as well as the 1/2 mile leadup to the 1st switchback) we saw 17-20%. I let Sam and Joe go and focused on establishing a rhythm. Hitting a 4 mile climb (with an average grade of 11%) at mile 86 hurts, and I had no legs for it. To make it better, it was raining at the top (about 5200 feet where we turned around). We spun around, Sam and Joe bombed down the descent (Sam hit 51mph!) while I spun easy. Apparently it snowed something special in Banner Elk last week and the roads are still caked with salt and sand. I prefer not to crash in training rides, so I took almost every descent this week pretty casual (with the exception of the rocking descent on the LMC race course....I felt I needed to know that pretty well). So, as I mentioned before, after 94 miles, 10,000 feet of climbing and 6 hours on the bike, we showered, cooked up 2 steaks each and passed out. Our "recovery" ride waited for us...
Apparently we are ensuring we hit such a ridiculous high mileage this week that we will feel like failures if we dont at least match HALF of it every week this year. Our recovery ride was 47 miles with 5500 feet of climbing, While our descent elevation was more than our ascent, our uphill distance was VASTLY more than our descent distance. We spent at least 2/3 of our ride going uphill, and on most of our downhills it was gentle and short. We got 2 dive bombing descents, the first one only 3 miles into the route (although dropping 2000 feet in 8 miles was amazing...Joe caught a car on the way down). We kept to our recovery pace, though, and rolled up to the cars easy and ready for our drive to Athens. After our epic Monday/Tuesday rides (3 mechanicals, 2 crashes), we experienced much smoother riding. I personally felt terrible today, and made a vow to stay in zone 1 and 2, a vow I broke only on the first climb, and maybe a little bit on the last climb. I take my rest days very seriously, and when it got vertical, I did my best to spin easy.
So, in summary:
Joe was definitely the stud of the week. If it was uphill, he attacked almost every time. If I or Sam decided to follow his pace, he made sure to make us feel it. I found the best strategy to staying on his wheel was to ride a fast tempo up to him, allow him to make mini attacks, and stay far enough behind him that he couldnt use my presence as a motivator. When i did that, I usually finished about 10-15 feet behind him.
Sam definitely rode smarter than all of us. He picked his battles well. Both of the long days, he saved his best efforts for the last climbs, Zone 2 on the rest. When Sam decided to push the pedals, it was up to us to follow, Joe being no exception. Before losing sight of them on Beech, I saw SAM put a gap on JOE for a brief period. To my knowledge it did not last particularly long.
I wont pat myself on the back, I did ok. Rode my own pace up pretty much every climb. Sometimes that was with Joe, usually it was between Joe and Sam, and towards the end of the week it was more behind them than anything. Hopefully the week did the job it needed to, and after my coming recovery week, I will be ready to steal some money from the Cat 3's at Tour of Tuscaloosa.
I currently blog to you from a MASSIVE hotel room in Athens, GA. Thats right, after racing last weekend, 350 miles in 5 days, we return to racing tommorrow at the University of Georgia race weekend. Clinton has joined us, and tommorrow he will be participating in the ITT and Road Race in the C's (Cat 5/4). Joe and I are skipping the ITT (As is Sam....but now that Training Camp is over, no more updates on the competition ;O ). I have 66 miles in the A's (Pro/1/2/3) and Joe has 44 in the B's (3/4). Fortunately the road race is at 2pm, the high is in the mid 60's and sunny with 0% chance of rain. Hopefully we have time enough to recover...
Updates tommorrow! Wish us luck!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Training Camp Day 2 - Blood, Sweat and Gears
Today we embarked on a 105-mile ride through the hilliest sections of the Boone, NC area. The course is the Blood Sweat and Gears Century route, with the apex of the route ending at the road peak of Snake Mountain at mile 64.
Our target was 15mph for an average, but to make ourselves feel better we "raced" a virtual partner traveling at 12.5 mph. He beat us the first hour...
The majority of the climbs, however, were fairly gradual and long, allowing us to tempo up them fairly easily and conserve energy for Snake Mountain. The Boone area is either up or down, and this route was no different.
As usual, Joe "Mountain" Bray dropped us on almost every climb he wanted to. Sometimes he chilled with the mortals, but if he wanted to ride away, he did.
Fortunately, no mechanicals or crashes, just 9900 feet of climbing. Around mile 82 I decided to drop the hammer on a rare flat section, maintaining 22-23 for several miles until we hit an awesome climb with 6 switchbacks. I dropped the gas a little bit towards the end, but once mile 90 hit we went into survival mode and took it easy up all the climbs.
At the end of the day we had 9900 feet of climbing in 6 hrs 43 minutes for a 15.6 mph average...not terribly impressive average, but for the course difficulty we were happy with it
Wont lie, Im too tired from the ride to talk about it much....and tommorrow we have 95 miles which includes Beech Mtn and Iron Mountain. Heres the ride tommorrow:
http://www.mapmyride.com/view_route?r=869123738356149939
MOre updates tommorrow!
Our target was 15mph for an average, but to make ourselves feel better we "raced" a virtual partner traveling at 12.5 mph. He beat us the first hour...
The majority of the climbs, however, were fairly gradual and long, allowing us to tempo up them fairly easily and conserve energy for Snake Mountain. The Boone area is either up or down, and this route was no different.
As usual, Joe "Mountain" Bray dropped us on almost every climb he wanted to. Sometimes he chilled with the mortals, but if he wanted to ride away, he did.
Fortunately, no mechanicals or crashes, just 9900 feet of climbing. Around mile 82 I decided to drop the hammer on a rare flat section, maintaining 22-23 for several miles until we hit an awesome climb with 6 switchbacks. I dropped the gas a little bit towards the end, but once mile 90 hit we went into survival mode and took it easy up all the climbs.
At the end of the day we had 9900 feet of climbing in 6 hrs 43 minutes for a 15.6 mph average...not terribly impressive average, but for the course difficulty we were happy with it
Wont lie, Im too tired from the ride to talk about it much....and tommorrow we have 95 miles which includes Beech Mtn and Iron Mountain. Heres the ride tommorrow:
http://www.mapmyride.com/view_route?r=869123738356149939
MOre updates tommorrow!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
UAH Training Camp Day 1
Today was technically day 2 of our training camp, but it is Day 1 in Boone/Banner Elk North Carolina. Yesterday we rode in Maryville, TN in Joe's backyard. Here's a recap of that ride:
We trekked from Joe's house up to the base of a climb called Butterfly gap. It was me, Joe, Sam, and Joe's dad. We knew the climb would be hard and long, but none of us had ever climbed it except Joe and his dad. When we hit the base of the climb, Joe took off with Sam, I kept tempo and Joe's dad took it nice and easy. Joe soon rode away from Sam, while I tempoed past Sam about 1/2 way up the climb. Joe definitely knew what he was doing, and all 130 pounds of him disappeared from sight. Meanwhile, I stood up on a 23% grade (Thank you Garmin!) and my left calf seized. I had to dismount and stretch before resuming on the grade while Joe's dad rode past. We regrouped at the top and continued up the gradual top of the climb to the parkway, looking forward to a long descent back to Maryville. Sam stood up in his big ring to attack the downhill and his chain snapped. His new chain had failed, strangely. 10 minutes later and thanks to Joe's chain tool, Sam was back up and running and we were screaming downhilll. The speed was affected by a heavy fog which didnt let us see more than 30 feet in front of us, and when the fog cleared, we dropped the hammer again. I floored it the last mile or so, topping out arond 42 mph and stopping at the bottom. Apparently I hit a nail on the descent and discovered it at the bottom. After I fixed the flat, we hopped on the homestretch in the pouring rain back to Joe's house. The days stats: 38 miles, 3650 feet of climbing with an average of 17.5 mph. Joe's dad is a baller rider, he was pusing us hard on the flats. Elevation profile:
Annnnd after that ridiculousness we drove to Boone, NC. The good news is our room is pretty awesome, we have a kitchenette and 18 steaks for 3 guys over 4 days. You do the math. Were eating a lot of steak.
Today we wanted to get 2 rides in with a target of 4 hours. We wanted to incorporate the Lees-McRae Road Race course as much as possible, as it is decidedly the most difficult course of the year. It has 1500 feet of climbing per 10 mile lap, most of it climbing. We rode from the hotel to the course in 46 degree sunny weather and when we got onto the course it was closer to 50 degrees, and it would only continue to get warmer. The arm warmers came off as we hit the first climb, about 2 miles long. It then hits a fast windy descent made worse by sand and salt in the roads (Banner Elk got 8 inches of snow last week). Sam and Joe were balls and took it full speed. I dont like crashing, so I took it slow and caught them on the very small flat. That flat then turns into a 3+ mile climb. We rocked the ascent, but at the top Joe noticed my tire was low. My tube had a slow leak. I replaced it, again, and we moved on. Lap 2, after the screaming descent, Sam decided to joke around and cut Joe off on accident. They collided, Sam stayed up and Joe hit the ground lightly. We finished the lap without further incident and rolled back to the hotel up yet another 2+ mile climb. In Boone, its either up or down.
At long last we got to cook up the steaks. We ate like Kings, watched Leprechaun 4: In Space (a 2 hour long cliche...) then geared up for part 2. This time we drove to the LMC course. The route to the course from the hotel is a busy highway, and we decided to just haul the 5 miles in the car. This time around, we were all a bit more confident, and I hit the ascent with Joe. We waited for Sam, then hit the descent hard. Sam was ahead of me, and Joe a good bit behind. I took the descent very fast with Sam, while Joe took it a bit easier. We hit the flat a good bit before him, and took the sketchy right onto the long climb. The corner had a lot of sand and debris in it. We took it slow, but Joe tried a fast line through it to catch up and went down hard. We heard him crash and turned back. He played it off, but we soon found it was a bit worse than he let on. He tore up his leg with some epic road rash (although nothing compared to Clinton's battle scars from Clemson). We hit the long climb, while I kept tempo with Joe and Sam took his own pace up. I could tell Joe was hurting a bit, but figured he was just feeling the 3rd time up the hill. Turns out his leg was hurting more than he thought. At the end of the lap Joe left to get bandages and ointment while Sam and I took the lap easy , hammering a decent pace up the climb. We debated doing a 3rd lap, but decided to save something for tommorrow, which we had tentatively planned to do a 102 mile century. The elevation profiles from the 2 rides:
We trekked from Joe's house up to the base of a climb called Butterfly gap. It was me, Joe, Sam, and Joe's dad. We knew the climb would be hard and long, but none of us had ever climbed it except Joe and his dad. When we hit the base of the climb, Joe took off with Sam, I kept tempo and Joe's dad took it nice and easy. Joe soon rode away from Sam, while I tempoed past Sam about 1/2 way up the climb. Joe definitely knew what he was doing, and all 130 pounds of him disappeared from sight. Meanwhile, I stood up on a 23% grade (Thank you Garmin!) and my left calf seized. I had to dismount and stretch before resuming on the grade while Joe's dad rode past. We regrouped at the top and continued up the gradual top of the climb to the parkway, looking forward to a long descent back to Maryville. Sam stood up in his big ring to attack the downhill and his chain snapped. His new chain had failed, strangely. 10 minutes later and thanks to Joe's chain tool, Sam was back up and running and we were screaming downhilll. The speed was affected by a heavy fog which didnt let us see more than 30 feet in front of us, and when the fog cleared, we dropped the hammer again. I floored it the last mile or so, topping out arond 42 mph and stopping at the bottom. Apparently I hit a nail on the descent and discovered it at the bottom. After I fixed the flat, we hopped on the homestretch in the pouring rain back to Joe's house. The days stats: 38 miles, 3650 feet of climbing with an average of 17.5 mph. Joe's dad is a baller rider, he was pusing us hard on the flats. Elevation profile:
Annnnd after that ridiculousness we drove to Boone, NC. The good news is our room is pretty awesome, we have a kitchenette and 18 steaks for 3 guys over 4 days. You do the math. Were eating a lot of steak.
Today we wanted to get 2 rides in with a target of 4 hours. We wanted to incorporate the Lees-McRae Road Race course as much as possible, as it is decidedly the most difficult course of the year. It has 1500 feet of climbing per 10 mile lap, most of it climbing. We rode from the hotel to the course in 46 degree sunny weather and when we got onto the course it was closer to 50 degrees, and it would only continue to get warmer. The arm warmers came off as we hit the first climb, about 2 miles long. It then hits a fast windy descent made worse by sand and salt in the roads (Banner Elk got 8 inches of snow last week). Sam and Joe were balls and took it full speed. I dont like crashing, so I took it slow and caught them on the very small flat. That flat then turns into a 3+ mile climb. We rocked the ascent, but at the top Joe noticed my tire was low. My tube had a slow leak. I replaced it, again, and we moved on. Lap 2, after the screaming descent, Sam decided to joke around and cut Joe off on accident. They collided, Sam stayed up and Joe hit the ground lightly. We finished the lap without further incident and rolled back to the hotel up yet another 2+ mile climb. In Boone, its either up or down.
At long last we got to cook up the steaks. We ate like Kings, watched Leprechaun 4: In Space (a 2 hour long cliche...) then geared up for part 2. This time we drove to the LMC course. The route to the course from the hotel is a busy highway, and we decided to just haul the 5 miles in the car. This time around, we were all a bit more confident, and I hit the ascent with Joe. We waited for Sam, then hit the descent hard. Sam was ahead of me, and Joe a good bit behind. I took the descent very fast with Sam, while Joe took it a bit easier. We hit the flat a good bit before him, and took the sketchy right onto the long climb. The corner had a lot of sand and debris in it. We took it slow, but Joe tried a fast line through it to catch up and went down hard. We heard him crash and turned back. He played it off, but we soon found it was a bit worse than he let on. He tore up his leg with some epic road rash (although nothing compared to Clinton's battle scars from Clemson). We hit the long climb, while I kept tempo with Joe and Sam took his own pace up. I could tell Joe was hurting a bit, but figured he was just feeling the 3rd time up the hill. Turns out his leg was hurting more than he thought. At the end of the lap Joe left to get bandages and ointment while Sam and I took the lap easy , hammering a decent pace up the climb. We debated doing a 3rd lap, but decided to save something for tommorrow, which we had tentatively planned to do a 102 mile century. The elevation profiles from the 2 rides:
Monday, March 16, 2009
Georgia Tech Race Weekend Race Report
Georgia Tech Race Weekend
Race Report
Saturday March 14th 2009 – Road Race
Going into this weekend we knew the weather was going to be miserable. 90% chance of rain both Saturday and Sunday, with highs expected in the high 40’s during race times. We made a quick stop at Trailhead to load up on rain gear we might need before heading out of town, which ended up being a wise investment. This weekend was just Joe and I, as we were leaving straight from the race to embark on a weeklong training camp in the mountains near Boone, NC.
The Saturday road race dynamics were changed by the arrival of multiple schools, most notably conference powerhouse and multiple nation champions Lees McRae. The centrality of the race to most of the conference enticed what would likely be the best turnout next to the Championships (April 18th-19th). Brevard, Cumberland, Auburn, Alabama, UAH, West Virginia (out of conference), Clemson, Florida, USF, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, Georgia, Georgia Tech, and Tennessee were all represented as were many others. (Mars Hill, forgot that one). The A field was stacked with talented riders, and almost 40 strong. We had 62 miles over a very rolling and challenging course ahead of us, with the guaranteed prospect of rain. While warmer than the hellish NGCSU race 2 weeks ago, there were certainly no comments about the great weather… With Lees McRae, it’s a totally different bike race. From the gun, all 8 of their guys were on the front and driving. I was on the back, even though I swore I would not be there. From the back I watched 3 guys roll up the road and we never saw them again. Unlike other A races though, the racing did not stop. Cumberland, Clemson, Georgia all tried to drive the field up to the breakaway, with LMC covering every move, executing teamwork as its supposed to be done. They had 2 riders in the breakaway. Meanwhile, I found I did not have legs. One massive attack by Clemson and Georgia strung out all 35+ riders single file for about a mile or two at 30+ mph. The pace was blistering, and it took all I had to hold on. I rubber banded off the back but pulled back on once the attack seized. That effort did me in though, and 2 laps later the rubber band snapped. After 5 laps of racing, I made the typical bike racer decision to pack it in and hope for the best tomorrow.
Joe, however, was playing it safe and tactical in his first ever B race. A fairly large field, a hilly course, and a more challenging team structure were against him, but Joe had the legs and the smarts to play the game right. He slowly moved from the back of the pack into the top 5 by halfway through, and remained close to the front, never taking a pull. Several breaks got up the road, but courageous “Ricky Bobby” from Cumberland drove the B field back up to every break. When it came time for the sprint, an uphill sprint, Joe moved his way into perfect position and launched himself up the 100yd roller, just barely getting nipped by a Clemson rider for 3rd place. Clearly Joe established he was deserving of moving into the B’s, and with more results like that he could easily find his way into the A’s by conference.
Sunday March 15th 2009
Road Race #2
Georgia Tech had 3 races this weekend, and ITT and 2 road races. We passed on the ITT for energy saving, and based on the hassle of dragging Curtis’ TT bike around North Carolina for a week. Oh, and ITT was at 9am and the road race was at 1PM. So we slept in Saturday. NO such luck Sunday though, as our road races started at 10AM.
I didn’t feel fantastic at the start, but I typically ride better the day after a hard workout, so I was optimistic. I tried a new strategy this time, starting in the front for the neutral rollout and making sure to keep on the leaders’ wheels. In this case, I wanted to remain on Lees McRae riders’ wheels. And it was working great. One of their guys got up the road, but we really didn’t care. Either Cumberland or Clemson or whoever would move up and drive the train. Many attacks ensued, and I quickly found out riding in the front is much more efficient. I could immediately respond to the attacks and be done with the counterattack much sooner, using less energy by hanging on faster wheels. I was riding in the top 10 comfortably, doing no work and being sure to stay right on LMC wheels. Then I made a fatal error. There was a 2-man break about 30 seconds up, and then a lone Florida rider 15 seconds up the road. I felt like I had good legs, and the pack was cruising. I attacked. I made it up to the Florida rider pretty quick and looked back. The pack wasn’t following. The UFL rider, who was dying, jumped on my wheel. I rode for a while, continuing to tempo towards the breakaway. I looked back and the field was completely disinterested. I moved aside for the UFL rider to pull through and he did nothing. I sat up. I wasn’t going to drag him up the road to the break, uphill, without help. He had no guy in the breakaway, and no reason not to pull. I had better chances hanging in the pack and letting the big guns take over. As soon as the pack caught me though, they attacked, and fast. I popped into the middle of the pack and held for a bit, then ANOTHER attack was launched after the 2 riders up the road. A small gap became a big gap, and before I knew it I was sliding back. I pulled out of the pack so the riders behind could bridge up easier and tried to stick close to the field to get some draft and pull on the very back for some needed rest. The attack continued up the hill. Kyle McElhaney from Florida yelled some words of encouragement ,but in a split second I was dropped for good. In my weakest moment, the pack made its strongest move. I continued to tempo for a few miles, hoping the pack would ease up and I could move up, but soon they were out of sight, and I went from hoping to catch the pack, to hoping the pack would break up and I could pick up stragglers. Not much later, I caught up to Sam Barr (Alabama), my virtual teammate in the pack, who had also been spit out the back after an attack up a long hill. We teamed up and decided to finish the race and try to snipe everyone who got kicked off or quit, praying for a top 20 finish by attrition. After 20 miles though, those sentiments faded. It was 45 degrees and absolutely pouring rain, and with no protection from the pack, and no possibility of catching it, we decided to pack it in. The weekend had already been a mess for us (Sam got dropped 1.5 laps from the finish Saturday….but finished), and 40 solo miles in the cold rain sounded lame. We packed up and waited for Joe to finish.
Perseverance was the name of the game in the rain. The C field absolutely self destructed, finishing in pieces. The B field remained a bit more cohesive, with an early break of 5 guys getting up the road. Joe says it was 5 and that 3 of them got caught, leaving 2 up the road. Sam and I counted 3 at least up the road from the main field, including a Less McRae B Joe didn’t even know was ahead. Those LMC riders are very sneaky, and strong. Finally, Joe and the B field rounded the corner towards the downhill sprint. With sore legs and no gravitational advantage, Joe held his position through the sprint to finish top 5 in the field sprint. While exact placings may never be known (No one apparently likes to officiate collegiate races…so the same person is at every one, which we certainly appreciate), it looks like a definite top 10 for Joe, amounting to a very impressive first weekend as a B racer. Depending on how Joe feels about it, we may see him in the A field at Conference. Continuing his dominance of the lower categories is definitely making us look good though…
So now Joe, Sam and I are driving up to Knoxville for the night/tomorrow before rolling on to Boone, NC for the week. Stuart is going to put us through hell, and we are almost certainly facing our toughest week of training all year. Next week we head to Athens for some better weather (hopefully) and with tired legs. Be sure to check the team blog all this week (and twitter of course!) for daily updates from our training camp, as well as pictures and possibly some training data via Sam and Curtis’ Garmins.
Also, we would like to take this chance to thank the community and the school for all your support. The amount of interest and congratulations in our results has been extremely motivating for all involved. Without the support of the local cycling community, UAH Cycling would not be possible, and we hope to become a vital part of the cycling culture in Huntsville for years to come. RideStrong.
Race Report
Saturday March 14th 2009 – Road Race
Going into this weekend we knew the weather was going to be miserable. 90% chance of rain both Saturday and Sunday, with highs expected in the high 40’s during race times. We made a quick stop at Trailhead to load up on rain gear we might need before heading out of town, which ended up being a wise investment. This weekend was just Joe and I, as we were leaving straight from the race to embark on a weeklong training camp in the mountains near Boone, NC.
The Saturday road race dynamics were changed by the arrival of multiple schools, most notably conference powerhouse and multiple nation champions Lees McRae. The centrality of the race to most of the conference enticed what would likely be the best turnout next to the Championships (April 18th-19th). Brevard, Cumberland, Auburn, Alabama, UAH, West Virginia (out of conference), Clemson, Florida, USF, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, Georgia, Georgia Tech, and Tennessee were all represented as were many others. (Mars Hill, forgot that one). The A field was stacked with talented riders, and almost 40 strong. We had 62 miles over a very rolling and challenging course ahead of us, with the guaranteed prospect of rain. While warmer than the hellish NGCSU race 2 weeks ago, there were certainly no comments about the great weather… With Lees McRae, it’s a totally different bike race. From the gun, all 8 of their guys were on the front and driving. I was on the back, even though I swore I would not be there. From the back I watched 3 guys roll up the road and we never saw them again. Unlike other A races though, the racing did not stop. Cumberland, Clemson, Georgia all tried to drive the field up to the breakaway, with LMC covering every move, executing teamwork as its supposed to be done. They had 2 riders in the breakaway. Meanwhile, I found I did not have legs. One massive attack by Clemson and Georgia strung out all 35+ riders single file for about a mile or two at 30+ mph. The pace was blistering, and it took all I had to hold on. I rubber banded off the back but pulled back on once the attack seized. That effort did me in though, and 2 laps later the rubber band snapped. After 5 laps of racing, I made the typical bike racer decision to pack it in and hope for the best tomorrow.
Joe, however, was playing it safe and tactical in his first ever B race. A fairly large field, a hilly course, and a more challenging team structure were against him, but Joe had the legs and the smarts to play the game right. He slowly moved from the back of the pack into the top 5 by halfway through, and remained close to the front, never taking a pull. Several breaks got up the road, but courageous “Ricky Bobby” from Cumberland drove the B field back up to every break. When it came time for the sprint, an uphill sprint, Joe moved his way into perfect position and launched himself up the 100yd roller, just barely getting nipped by a Clemson rider for 3rd place. Clearly Joe established he was deserving of moving into the B’s, and with more results like that he could easily find his way into the A’s by conference.
Sunday March 15th 2009
Road Race #2
Georgia Tech had 3 races this weekend, and ITT and 2 road races. We passed on the ITT for energy saving, and based on the hassle of dragging Curtis’ TT bike around North Carolina for a week. Oh, and ITT was at 9am and the road race was at 1PM. So we slept in Saturday. NO such luck Sunday though, as our road races started at 10AM.
I didn’t feel fantastic at the start, but I typically ride better the day after a hard workout, so I was optimistic. I tried a new strategy this time, starting in the front for the neutral rollout and making sure to keep on the leaders’ wheels. In this case, I wanted to remain on Lees McRae riders’ wheels. And it was working great. One of their guys got up the road, but we really didn’t care. Either Cumberland or Clemson or whoever would move up and drive the train. Many attacks ensued, and I quickly found out riding in the front is much more efficient. I could immediately respond to the attacks and be done with the counterattack much sooner, using less energy by hanging on faster wheels. I was riding in the top 10 comfortably, doing no work and being sure to stay right on LMC wheels. Then I made a fatal error. There was a 2-man break about 30 seconds up, and then a lone Florida rider 15 seconds up the road. I felt like I had good legs, and the pack was cruising. I attacked. I made it up to the Florida rider pretty quick and looked back. The pack wasn’t following. The UFL rider, who was dying, jumped on my wheel. I rode for a while, continuing to tempo towards the breakaway. I looked back and the field was completely disinterested. I moved aside for the UFL rider to pull through and he did nothing. I sat up. I wasn’t going to drag him up the road to the break, uphill, without help. He had no guy in the breakaway, and no reason not to pull. I had better chances hanging in the pack and letting the big guns take over. As soon as the pack caught me though, they attacked, and fast. I popped into the middle of the pack and held for a bit, then ANOTHER attack was launched after the 2 riders up the road. A small gap became a big gap, and before I knew it I was sliding back. I pulled out of the pack so the riders behind could bridge up easier and tried to stick close to the field to get some draft and pull on the very back for some needed rest. The attack continued up the hill. Kyle McElhaney from Florida yelled some words of encouragement ,but in a split second I was dropped for good. In my weakest moment, the pack made its strongest move. I continued to tempo for a few miles, hoping the pack would ease up and I could move up, but soon they were out of sight, and I went from hoping to catch the pack, to hoping the pack would break up and I could pick up stragglers. Not much later, I caught up to Sam Barr (Alabama), my virtual teammate in the pack, who had also been spit out the back after an attack up a long hill. We teamed up and decided to finish the race and try to snipe everyone who got kicked off or quit, praying for a top 20 finish by attrition. After 20 miles though, those sentiments faded. It was 45 degrees and absolutely pouring rain, and with no protection from the pack, and no possibility of catching it, we decided to pack it in. The weekend had already been a mess for us (Sam got dropped 1.5 laps from the finish Saturday….but finished), and 40 solo miles in the cold rain sounded lame. We packed up and waited for Joe to finish.
Perseverance was the name of the game in the rain. The C field absolutely self destructed, finishing in pieces. The B field remained a bit more cohesive, with an early break of 5 guys getting up the road. Joe says it was 5 and that 3 of them got caught, leaving 2 up the road. Sam and I counted 3 at least up the road from the main field, including a Less McRae B Joe didn’t even know was ahead. Those LMC riders are very sneaky, and strong. Finally, Joe and the B field rounded the corner towards the downhill sprint. With sore legs and no gravitational advantage, Joe held his position through the sprint to finish top 5 in the field sprint. While exact placings may never be known (No one apparently likes to officiate collegiate races…so the same person is at every one, which we certainly appreciate), it looks like a definite top 10 for Joe, amounting to a very impressive first weekend as a B racer. Depending on how Joe feels about it, we may see him in the A field at Conference. Continuing his dominance of the lower categories is definitely making us look good though…
So now Joe, Sam and I are driving up to Knoxville for the night/tomorrow before rolling on to Boone, NC for the week. Stuart is going to put us through hell, and we are almost certainly facing our toughest week of training all year. Next week we head to Athens for some better weather (hopefully) and with tired legs. Be sure to check the team blog all this week (and twitter of course!) for daily updates from our training camp, as well as pictures and possibly some training data via Sam and Curtis’ Garmins.
Also, we would like to take this chance to thank the community and the school for all your support. The amount of interest and congratulations in our results has been extremely motivating for all involved. Without the support of the local cycling community, UAH Cycling would not be possible, and we hope to become a vital part of the cycling culture in Huntsville for years to come. RideStrong.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Clemson University Race Report
Race Report – Clemson University Race Weekend
Saturday 3/7/09
We brought three racers to Clemson for the weekend; myself, Joe, and Clinton. The forecast looked amazing, and our expectations were high for good racing. The weather and the race lived up to expectations
First off was me and the 30+ strong A field. We had a 60 mile road race in front of us, and with Cumberland, Clemson, Brevard, Furman and Georgia all bringing big teams and big names, it was sure to be a fast and aggressive race. The course has 3 or 4 ½-mile climbs, almost always preceded by sharp turns, and a combined rise of 350 meters per lap. The hills provided the necessary pain, but did little to shake up the field, as the following descents and flats allowed the peleton to easily regroup. We took the first lap neutral, more or less, as everyone wanted to survey the course. Once lap 2 started, so did the attacks. A breakaway of 3 got up the road, and a few other rides attempted to bridge. I raced pretty dumb, and was never in position to join or bridge to a break. At one point I was in good position to jump up to an attempted break that was about 5 seconds up the road and composed of a few teams not in the primary break. I hoped that I could bridge up and ride away with them. Unfortunately the pack decided to catch my wheel and I ended up dragging them to the chase group, and in the process, trashed my legs. It would take a full lap of sitting in to feel comfortable again. Other than that failed move, the race was quite uneventful. I did run over a water bottle though…On the last lap, rolling towards the sharp right before the 300meter final stretch, I found myself in bad sprint position, again. I sprinted hard to break the top 20 (maybe top 15), but essentially took yet another field finish.
I never did get a full report from Joe or Clinton, except that the pack essentially remained together the entire C race. Coming around the final corner, a Georgia Tech rider decided to pass 6 rows by crossing the yellow line. He won the race after an impressive sprint, but was disqualified. Joe, meanwhile, continues his C Category Dominance by adding a 2nd place finish to his resume. Clinton, hung onto the main field, finishing comfortably with them.
After a jaunt down to Firehouse Subs for lunch, we headed back to the race site for our first ever Team Time Trial. The outlook for the race was never fantastic. Since I am an A racer, the team is required to race as an A TTT team. That put us at odds with Furman and Florida, both with top 5 National TTT Teams. Despite the odds, we wanted to do the race. We practiced the discipline, we wanted to at least do one. The course is not fantastic for a TTT, however at only 7.5 miles, it was quite short. We started out fairly well, kept to our planned rotations. The speed was quick, particularly on the flats. As we hit a hill though, Clinton dropped a chain and was unable to shift it back onto the chain ring. We rode easy while he reattached it, hopped on and sprinted up the hill after us. At least a minute and a half, poof, gone. It happens. We got back into a good rhythm, and before we were even ready for it, the race was over. We succeeded in not getting passed by a competitor, kept the tires down, and finished together.
Sunday 3/8/09
The “crit” was very reminiscent of my days at Indiana training for and racing in the Little 500. It was on a 1/2 – mile paved racetrack, with light banking. Joe and I did a little too much socializing the night before, and certainly were not as rested or prepared to race as we should have been. And speaking of which, thanks to Sam Barr (Alabama), I will never enter a moon bounce again. Moving on, Joe and Clinton started their race while I was still sleeping off the previous evenings’ sins in the car. I woke up about mid race, staggered out to the laughs of Stuart and officials, and immediately noticed something was up. The C field was quite small, and a lot of riders were in the pit getting new wheels and having their bikes checked. Looking at the field, I saw Joe, but not Clinton. As an equally groggy Sam found me at the line, we discovered a crash had occurred. We trekked to the other end of the course, passing a bloody Georgia Tech rider on the way, to find Clinton and his poor bicycle. Clinton had touched wheels and gone down, taking 9 or 10 other riders with him. The crash occurred on the backstretch, where the wind was strongly a tailwind. At 25 mph, Clinton got a taste of asphalt. Welcome to bicycle racing, Clinton, you are now an official member. Joe continued to hang on in the pack, which increased in size a bit once healthy riders got repaired and put back in the race. Joe stuck it out in the race to finish top 10 again in the sprint. He had no legs for the sprint, and I wasn’t sure I had legs to even start.
The A field was quite big, with a lot of big engines looking to take a win. Sam and I were looking to survive. While the speed was blistering, averaging about 25 mph each lap (30-35 on the back stretch), we found our legs and sat in. I was suffering, and like Saturday, was a complete failure at moving up in the pack. I spent most of my time on the back as a result. About ½ of the way through the race, 3 riders got off the front and started pulling away. At one point they had over half a lap on us, and we just let them hang there. A couple guys tried to get chase groups up to it, and the pack always caught them, and the breakaway continued to move up. Eventually Clemson and Furman decided to chase the break down. And for 5 laps we hammered so hard the entire field went single file. Once we caught them the pace eased a bit, but still, without fail every lap people would attack into the wind on the font stretch, and almost always get caught on the back stretch. There was some sort of acceleration or attack every lap. With 3 to go the pace started to ramp up, and again, I didn’t position well, or at all. Coming out of the last corner I was sitting around 20th place. I sprinted before the corner ended, caught and passed a whole bunch of people. Apparently I also gave Sam a lead out, which he used to nip me at the line. Legs shaking, I finished and was ready to leave and eat.
So, 2 more top 10’s for the team, Joe has enough races and results to cat up to Cat 4/B. This weekend marked our 5th weekend, we are now past the halfway point. The big races are coming. Georgia Tech, Georgia, Auburn, Lees McRae, and Brevard are up now, and the competition will be strong at every race. Keep checking back, the next few weeks will be mission critical for the team.
Saturday 3/7/09
We brought three racers to Clemson for the weekend; myself, Joe, and Clinton. The forecast looked amazing, and our expectations were high for good racing. The weather and the race lived up to expectations
First off was me and the 30+ strong A field. We had a 60 mile road race in front of us, and with Cumberland, Clemson, Brevard, Furman and Georgia all bringing big teams and big names, it was sure to be a fast and aggressive race. The course has 3 or 4 ½-mile climbs, almost always preceded by sharp turns, and a combined rise of 350 meters per lap. The hills provided the necessary pain, but did little to shake up the field, as the following descents and flats allowed the peleton to easily regroup. We took the first lap neutral, more or less, as everyone wanted to survey the course. Once lap 2 started, so did the attacks. A breakaway of 3 got up the road, and a few other rides attempted to bridge. I raced pretty dumb, and was never in position to join or bridge to a break. At one point I was in good position to jump up to an attempted break that was about 5 seconds up the road and composed of a few teams not in the primary break. I hoped that I could bridge up and ride away with them. Unfortunately the pack decided to catch my wheel and I ended up dragging them to the chase group, and in the process, trashed my legs. It would take a full lap of sitting in to feel comfortable again. Other than that failed move, the race was quite uneventful. I did run over a water bottle though…On the last lap, rolling towards the sharp right before the 300meter final stretch, I found myself in bad sprint position, again. I sprinted hard to break the top 20 (maybe top 15), but essentially took yet another field finish.
I never did get a full report from Joe or Clinton, except that the pack essentially remained together the entire C race. Coming around the final corner, a Georgia Tech rider decided to pass 6 rows by crossing the yellow line. He won the race after an impressive sprint, but was disqualified. Joe, meanwhile, continues his C Category Dominance by adding a 2nd place finish to his resume. Clinton, hung onto the main field, finishing comfortably with them.
After a jaunt down to Firehouse Subs for lunch, we headed back to the race site for our first ever Team Time Trial. The outlook for the race was never fantastic. Since I am an A racer, the team is required to race as an A TTT team. That put us at odds with Furman and Florida, both with top 5 National TTT Teams. Despite the odds, we wanted to do the race. We practiced the discipline, we wanted to at least do one. The course is not fantastic for a TTT, however at only 7.5 miles, it was quite short. We started out fairly well, kept to our planned rotations. The speed was quick, particularly on the flats. As we hit a hill though, Clinton dropped a chain and was unable to shift it back onto the chain ring. We rode easy while he reattached it, hopped on and sprinted up the hill after us. At least a minute and a half, poof, gone. It happens. We got back into a good rhythm, and before we were even ready for it, the race was over. We succeeded in not getting passed by a competitor, kept the tires down, and finished together.
Sunday 3/8/09
The “crit” was very reminiscent of my days at Indiana training for and racing in the Little 500. It was on a 1/2 – mile paved racetrack, with light banking. Joe and I did a little too much socializing the night before, and certainly were not as rested or prepared to race as we should have been. And speaking of which, thanks to Sam Barr (Alabama), I will never enter a moon bounce again. Moving on, Joe and Clinton started their race while I was still sleeping off the previous evenings’ sins in the car. I woke up about mid race, staggered out to the laughs of Stuart and officials, and immediately noticed something was up. The C field was quite small, and a lot of riders were in the pit getting new wheels and having their bikes checked. Looking at the field, I saw Joe, but not Clinton. As an equally groggy Sam found me at the line, we discovered a crash had occurred. We trekked to the other end of the course, passing a bloody Georgia Tech rider on the way, to find Clinton and his poor bicycle. Clinton had touched wheels and gone down, taking 9 or 10 other riders with him. The crash occurred on the backstretch, where the wind was strongly a tailwind. At 25 mph, Clinton got a taste of asphalt. Welcome to bicycle racing, Clinton, you are now an official member. Joe continued to hang on in the pack, which increased in size a bit once healthy riders got repaired and put back in the race. Joe stuck it out in the race to finish top 10 again in the sprint. He had no legs for the sprint, and I wasn’t sure I had legs to even start.
The A field was quite big, with a lot of big engines looking to take a win. Sam and I were looking to survive. While the speed was blistering, averaging about 25 mph each lap (30-35 on the back stretch), we found our legs and sat in. I was suffering, and like Saturday, was a complete failure at moving up in the pack. I spent most of my time on the back as a result. About ½ of the way through the race, 3 riders got off the front and started pulling away. At one point they had over half a lap on us, and we just let them hang there. A couple guys tried to get chase groups up to it, and the pack always caught them, and the breakaway continued to move up. Eventually Clemson and Furman decided to chase the break down. And for 5 laps we hammered so hard the entire field went single file. Once we caught them the pace eased a bit, but still, without fail every lap people would attack into the wind on the font stretch, and almost always get caught on the back stretch. There was some sort of acceleration or attack every lap. With 3 to go the pace started to ramp up, and again, I didn’t position well, or at all. Coming out of the last corner I was sitting around 20th place. I sprinted before the corner ended, caught and passed a whole bunch of people. Apparently I also gave Sam a lead out, which he used to nip me at the line. Legs shaking, I finished and was ready to leave and eat.
So, 2 more top 10’s for the team, Joe has enough races and results to cat up to Cat 4/B. This weekend marked our 5th weekend, we are now past the halfway point. The big races are coming. Georgia Tech, Georgia, Auburn, Lees McRae, and Brevard are up now, and the competition will be strong at every race. Keep checking back, the next few weeks will be mission critical for the team.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
NGCSU Road Race
Well, much more can be said about Joe's race than mine. Going into this one we knew the weather was going to suck. Forecast was for falling temperatures all day and a very high probability of rain.
I rolled off at 9AM wearing a decent amount of layering for the misty rain. Then the heavens opened up and it was pouring. In 40 minutes the outside temperature dropped into the low 30s. Despite this, the A field, about 30 strong pushed into the first lap at full speed. A few things happened that resulted in the fields, and in particular my, self destruction. The main factor was the almost monthlong absence of 2 schools with varsity programs, Brevard and Cumberland. They brought very respectable fields to the A's, and with only a few races on their schedules, they felt they had to fight for every conference point possible to earn a bid to nationals. The result was these teams continuously attacking every hill in the first 10 miles of the race, repeatedly. They were blowing their own riders off the back in addition to their opponents. Now, granted, there were some studs in the front of that pack. But if the intention was a team result, team points, and nationals qualifications, blowing up your own team is just bad. I can whine because the same efforts eventually blew me off the back on a long climb. I lost contact about 3/4 of the way up, and by the time I got to the top they were halfway down. I chased for the rest of the lap, catching and passing a Cumberland rider that had been blown off, until I saw a group of 5 coming back at me, including 2 Clemson riders. I made a split decision. Chase for another 50 miles in the freezing rain/snow, banking on a breakaway succeeding and the pack slowing for me to catch them, or take a DNF, rest my legs, and complain about it in a blog. Clearly, my choice was obvious. I turned around, joined the quitters, and rode back as the rain continued to pick up. Now, granted, had the weather been good, I still probably would have been blown off the back. The hills were murderous, and the guys came ready to blow up the field. I have a lot of work to do.
As I hit climb after climb with the A group, I remember thinking to myself, "This is perfect for Joe". Our climbing specialist has been dying for a route like this all year. As Joe tells it, the weather, not necessarily the pace, contributed to the thinning of their field. After the first lap 1/2 of the field quit. (As did most of the B's after 2 laps, and at least 15 A's after 2 laps) With just 10 guys, they were left to fight for their spot. We didnt talk much about the specifics of that last lap, but the general word was that Joe felt strong on the climbs, and the competition was weak at best. Unfortunately, Joe's day yesterday fighting FSU had robbed him of some much needed energy, and when it came time for the sprint, the win was not his. He told me after the race that if not for yesterday, he could have easily won today. It seems we both have some work to do, both me on climbing/strength/endurance, and Joe on recovery and his sprints. Despite being tired, Joe definitely was the man of the day. With at least 60% of the riders in all categories pulling out, anyone that stuck it to the finish deserves a points bonus. Joe took 4th in his sprint, another top 5 finish for him, and about time for him to move up to the B's
We have certainly had better weekends, but it is certainly necessary to have bad races. I think Joe would agree we would rather THIS weekend go bad than other important races such as Lees McRae, Brevard, and Clemson, races we have been looking forward to all season. We both hit a rest week this week, and then Clemson next weekend!
All in all,
I rolled off at 9AM wearing a decent amount of layering for the misty rain. Then the heavens opened up and it was pouring. In 40 minutes the outside temperature dropped into the low 30s. Despite this, the A field, about 30 strong pushed into the first lap at full speed. A few things happened that resulted in the fields, and in particular my, self destruction. The main factor was the almost monthlong absence of 2 schools with varsity programs, Brevard and Cumberland. They brought very respectable fields to the A's, and with only a few races on their schedules, they felt they had to fight for every conference point possible to earn a bid to nationals. The result was these teams continuously attacking every hill in the first 10 miles of the race, repeatedly. They were blowing their own riders off the back in addition to their opponents. Now, granted, there were some studs in the front of that pack. But if the intention was a team result, team points, and nationals qualifications, blowing up your own team is just bad. I can whine because the same efforts eventually blew me off the back on a long climb. I lost contact about 3/4 of the way up, and by the time I got to the top they were halfway down. I chased for the rest of the lap, catching and passing a Cumberland rider that had been blown off, until I saw a group of 5 coming back at me, including 2 Clemson riders. I made a split decision. Chase for another 50 miles in the freezing rain/snow, banking on a breakaway succeeding and the pack slowing for me to catch them, or take a DNF, rest my legs, and complain about it in a blog. Clearly, my choice was obvious. I turned around, joined the quitters, and rode back as the rain continued to pick up. Now, granted, had the weather been good, I still probably would have been blown off the back. The hills were murderous, and the guys came ready to blow up the field. I have a lot of work to do.
As I hit climb after climb with the A group, I remember thinking to myself, "This is perfect for Joe". Our climbing specialist has been dying for a route like this all year. As Joe tells it, the weather, not necessarily the pace, contributed to the thinning of their field. After the first lap 1/2 of the field quit. (As did most of the B's after 2 laps, and at least 15 A's after 2 laps) With just 10 guys, they were left to fight for their spot. We didnt talk much about the specifics of that last lap, but the general word was that Joe felt strong on the climbs, and the competition was weak at best. Unfortunately, Joe's day yesterday fighting FSU had robbed him of some much needed energy, and when it came time for the sprint, the win was not his. He told me after the race that if not for yesterday, he could have easily won today. It seems we both have some work to do, both me on climbing/strength/endurance, and Joe on recovery and his sprints. Despite being tired, Joe definitely was the man of the day. With at least 60% of the riders in all categories pulling out, anyone that stuck it to the finish deserves a points bonus. Joe took 4th in his sprint, another top 5 finish for him, and about time for him to move up to the B's
We have certainly had better weekends, but it is certainly necessary to have bad races. I think Joe would agree we would rather THIS weekend go bad than other important races such as Lees McRae, Brevard, and Clemson, races we have been looking forward to all season. We both hit a rest week this week, and then Clemson next weekend!
All in all,
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