01 April 2011

Cherry Blossom SR-Columbia Hills RR

Sleep 6
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast 6:15 AM – oatmeal, plain non-fat yogurt, banana, water
8:30 AM – PowerBar, water
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food large bottle w/3 scoops Perpetuem, large bottle w/2 scoops HEED, gel
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day 9:10 AM
Workout Type race
Weather 50-60, mostly sunny, some wind, dry
Course 19 mile loop containing one longer, milder hill and one shorter steeper hill
Distance 55.8 miles
Time  
Power  
Results Masters 40+
20th
official results
Equipment Road Bike
39/53, 12-25
this gearing was perfect
Zipp 404 wheels (first race of the year with light wheels!)
Clothing bib shorts, Craft short sleeve undershirt, short sleeve jersey, arm warmers, cap

Our goals was just to get one of us in the break and we blew it. Twice.

In the first lap Dan M (Safeway) goes off the front but Brad K covers it. Then Todd G counters the bunch and Dave H goes with him. Nice! Greg and I are simply patrolling now.

But then Brad flats out of the winning move. When Dave catches him (both groups were not very far up the road at this point) he stops to give Brad his wheel. Unfortunately this takes so long that we catch them both and now the two groups that are up the road don’t contain anyone from our team.

There are a few attempts to counter and bridge but Westend had two riders away so weren’t contributing (and are a strong team) and Dan is one of the strongest riders period so we quickly realized it was fruitless. by the finish two riders were dropped from the second break but Dan simply soloed in for the win always increasing his gap. Impressive for sure.

The first time up the hill I felt like dirt. My breathing was not right and I could not spin my low gears. The second time up I felt a little better. The third time up we were pushing 400 watts most of the way according to Brad but it felt the best of all three. The shorter, steeper hill felt okay to me every time interestingly enough. I followed an attack on the first lap and a huge surge by Karsten H on the third lap and it was okay.

I did go with a couple of moves and even instigated one myself on the second descent and the flats of the second lap but both efforts were short lived and the pack closed me down quickly.

Rolling into the finish I was in about 6th spot and next to the center line so thought it was perfect. No one was going to be able to come around me on the left and I was near the front. With about 1.5 km to go Dave Z goes to the front and speeds up the pace and then with about 1 km to go he swings ALL the way over to the left and quits. We were not supposed to have the whole road until about 300 m to go but of course now everyone is encroaching on the yellow line and my position is no longer so strategic. As we get near to the corner some guy rides into another and two people go down pretty much in front of me. I am able to avoid it but have to slow way down and go super wide around the corner and up the hill. I give it my best sprint and do pass some people but I get pack time.

At least I felt much better on the hills than in the other races I have done so far this year. I hope I can suck it up on Sunday.

Props to Brad for getting into the early move and to Dave for getting into the chase group.

2 comments:

  1. DUDE, you CRUSHED it this weekend. Nice Job!

    ReplyDelete
  2. @Bosalyn - wow, thanks for the kind words. In all caps even. :) I think you were doing some crushing of your own in the criterium. And 5th place overall? Not too shabby.

    ReplyDelete

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