I have to admit that I have not been keeping up on my blog lately. My biggest cycling accomplishment this week was working with my 6-year-old riding without training wheels. She is hell on wheels. Following her around the neighborhood on my bike is good training for crits - lots of crashes and crazy, unpredictable turns.
I have to thank fellow blogger Alex (Dessa's days) for posting pictures of the road race results. The organizers for the Wenatchee Omnium have been a little over-extended for a while and need a break. I pulled into Wenatchee last Friday (technically Saturday AM) just after midnight and the race organizers were in the lower level of the Red Lion busy working on the TT start times and printing. Fortunately they were there because I had changed my entry from cat 4 to masters c and they issued me a number: 633.
After I left the Red Lion with race number in hand, knowing that I would be the last masters c to start the TT - yeah, I drove around Wenatchee for a while and headed out to the race course for a little after hours recon. I parked in a field with concrete rubble across from the Raven Ranch and climbed into the back of my canopy for some shut-eye. The moon was out, the wind was howling and the critters were chirping - the best night's sleep I had in weeks. I got 5 solid hours and woke up refreshed.
I drove down to ALCOA and set up in the corner of the parking lot with two hours to spare. I opted for my old Specialized Allez 9-spd with Bontrager Race Lite Aero wheels and Vision clip TT bars. The clip-ons and the Bontrager TT saddle mounted onto a Thompson Elite seat post flipped 180 degrees rounds out my awesome TT machine. Someday, I will get a real TT bike, maybe next year. I will say that I am happy with my Giro Advantage II helmet that my wife gave me for Christmas - I think that's why I placed top 10 in the TT.
Officially, I placed 7th with a time under 23 min. I forgot to hit stop on my cyclocomputer right away. I did not pass anyone until the way back, then I reeled in three other riders. I felt strong and wished that I had a little water on the course. I spent energy evenly over the course. I was aiming for 23 minutes because that was a respectable time last year with similar conditions. It worked this time.
The Motion Based link is something new for me. I thought that I would give it a try and see how things work.
Saturday night at the crit is was unbearable. Hot. Delays with the start. Less than optimal road conditions. I got to the line and ended up second row back. The guy in front of me kept fidgeting with his shoes, straps and rear wheel. Basically, I was set up for a shitty start and I followed through with that failing to clip in and ending up in the third group. I just rode my race, passing on the hill and finally using my sprint to catch the lead group with 5 laps to go. Wow is it easy just coasting around behind the lead group. I could have conserved a lot of energy up here. Better start next time. I held back until the last lap. I should have opened it up with two to go. I ended up 13th. This brought my GC down to 10th. Here is the data scoop on the Crit:
Yeah it was hot and I was suffering, the pic shows it
Too bad there were no photos of the road race on Sunday. That was the best part of the Omnium! I think that I would have been better off doing two laps on the climb rather than the TT course then the climb.
I was irrational Sunday morning. I got a decent warm-up but got to the start after everyone else. I knew that there were delays and did not want to stand around waiting, so I circled around and kept busy until I saw the juniors start then the cat 4 and finally the cat 5. I was content to stay at the back of the pack - I told myself "stay invisible and out of the wind". This did not work. The ref asked the masters c's to come to the front - so I did. I lined up all the way up front next to all the coffee guys and a rider from Walla Walla (L'Ecole 41). The ref called roll in order of GC, so I was 10th - I felt like I belonged on the front.
Not the way for me to start a race - I went off the front immediately without effort after the neutral roll-out. I watched my HR and kept under LT (HR 176). I was motivated to stay out front and not get mixed up in any crashes around the turn-around cone. I was so far ahead by that point, I was drunk. Now back into the wind for the last half of the TT leg and onto the climb. When I passed the finish line solo, I threw my empty water bottle under the table and told the official that I would be back for it. i kept expecting the pack to overtake me anytime, after all I was still just spinning along under my LT.
Before the turn to go up the climb, the pack finally caught me. Two riders from Excel swooped from my left cut over to the far right to angle back to the turn - dumb asses. Then, these two guys realize that we are on a fucking climb and basically drop back through the pack. These guys are built like linebackers, not climbers. Things started to sort themselves out already, but shit if you cannot climb, stay in the back of the pack. The road is narrow enough. I looked over at Don (Cucina) and asked if he knew where the Joe Miller turn was - I got a blank look in return, so I led the pack up Joe Miller.
I never really pushed myself too hard because I knew that the course would take its toll on me over the next ten miles, so I rode my own pace and let the lead pack go without chase - overconfidence? Seriously, I just wanted to survive. My computer did not. It turned off at the top of the climb. I should have re-charged it after the Crit last night.
Here's the data I have:http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/email/accept.mb?senderPk.pkValue=158823&unitSystemPkValue=2&episodePk.pkValue=5766004
At about this point, two riders from WAR got past me. I looked at Rocky and thought "there's no way he is going to beat me". I was wrong. I lost it at that point. I would have done better grabbing his wheel and drafting him all the way back.
On the descent, I kept seeing a front wheel overlapping me. Enough of this half wheel bullshit after a couple of miles so I motioned the rider to go by. There were three Fanatik riders. It was a lot easier in their draft, but I took my turns up front. I knew the course, fortunately. On the stretch back to the finish line, I could have used my HR data and speedo, but I paid for my stupid mistake and just rotated through a pace line with the three Fanatik riders. They were tired, I was tired and we were all out of water at this point. I wanted to reel in Rocky from WAR and nearly got him at the line. I should have been more aggressive on the last couple of miles.
Bottom line: 10th on the road race, 10th GC and still no official results posted.
No comments:
Post a Comment