Hermes

Great result. Cancel the rings!

Allegheny Jet

"Just call me the "Ex-Emulator".

Way to go AZTR!!! What ya gonna do with the wad of dough?

tony2v

WooHoo AzT, congrats on the podium! Next race they'll be on to you.........

shovelhd

Good job on the steak knives, AZT.

AzTallRider

I think I'll stuff it in a coffee can and see how much I can collect.

Cleave

Hi AzTR,

Great job! Now I know who to watch the next time I race in AZ.

sarals 

I bow to you, oh vaunted Ex-Emulator!

Way to go, AzT!!!! I'm proud of you!!!

sarals 

Okay.

I'm up, I'm ready, I've even remembered to put my bicycle in the car. Good thing! I have my license. I think....

Remembering the bike is good, right??

Dudelsack 

And both wheels! Riding unicycle style gets weird fast.

sarals 

Oh. yes...that's right!

AzTallRider

Fast 40' 50+ crit today, and I'm skipping the cat 4 that's later, in favor of time at home. I worked a bit trying to protect our main man, and you can translate that to my getting in his way leading for a lap or so. I hadn't recognized a crosswind, and he directed me to where we could gutter the pack with only him protected. He rides so effortlessly it hardly seems worth giving him cover! The race shape was decided when I took the initiative to chase down a solo break when we got to 6 left (.6m course). Of course, as soon as I did that, the real break developed. I saw it happening, but couldn't do a thing about it, as I was spent right then. For awhile I thought we would end with three groups, but hard work and folks resting up brought it back together (except for the 5 man break) with two to go. It became your basic accelerate to the line, and I was just one of the many there.

Fun and fast. I just should have been in that break! Our guy didn't get the win... he said he basically played lead out to the winner.

Can't wait to hear the Sara report!

Hermes

The temps were cool this weekend and my nose ran like a spigot. I needed the setup they had in Dune. Saturday TT race practice and Sunday endurance.

Allegheny Jet

Sat was my TT practice with 4 x 8' intervals on the TT machine. Another season and I still am a TT baby. Did much better on today's 106 mile ride. I had 2 five minute sections where my watts exceeded yesterday's target.

Great weather today. Low 40's at the start then into the mid-60's at the end. My jersey pockets were stuffed with tights, vest, skull cap, Under Armor heat shirt and gloves in addition to an IPhone and GU flask.

N+ 1 time for a TT frame? The road frame with cobbled parts ain't cutting it.

Hermes

A'Jet, I have to ride my TT bike a lot to get similar power production as I do on the road bike. I do not think the TT bike per se is secret sauce to better power production. In fact, the TT setup allows one to get a better more rotated lower position. My power is lower in a lower position but may be offset by better aerodynamics.

The last time I was at the Velo Sports Center track in LA, I was talking with KK a mutual friend of Racer Ex's, about going to the wind tunnel for testing. He said that Hincappee was at the track in LA doing some power testing and timing. He then went to the SD wind tunnel and had them tweak his position for best aerodynamics. He returned to LA for more power testing and time checks. KK's point was that to get the TT set up perfect for both power and aero, one needs to do controlled testing on an indoor track along with the use of the tunnel. One may find that the best aero setup reduces power production too much.

AzTallRider

Our shop tries to accomplish this by tracking power (and metabolic data!), during wind tunnel testing, looking for the position that has the optimum balance between power and resistance. Still not quite the same as the real world, but it's a step closer than a more static wind tunnel test. The bike platform also rotates a full 360 degrees, something they seem really proud of. I think they're still tweaking the setup and calibration, but they've started providing services. When I swung by to get my wrench friend to look at my FD before the weekend, the place was mobbed by a crowd of 'campers' from NorCal, getting tastes of the aero Koolaid that is always being served there.

AzTallRider

AJ, with us both desperately needing TT frames, we could have taken advantage of the recent Cervelo two-fer sale. IIRC it was "buy two and get $1K off each"? The shop was pairing people up, and a lot of Cervelos went out the door here.

sarals 

This is the Racing Thread, right? With that question out there, I'd really hate to post a "race report". I wouldn't couch what I did yesterday as "racing". Here's another question. Did anyone here actually expect me to do very well on my first attempt? Well, I didn't disappoint. I did very poorly. In fact, because I was up against a commitment that I stupidly agreed to last week, I had to abandon the race with lap left to go because I would have missed the commitment. It didn't matter, the front of the field (two riders) had already lapped me. The good part was they had "just" lapped me. I feel like anything I say would be tantamount to an excuse, at least I think so. I have a long way to go before I can really "race", I'm so far off the hunt that it's silly.

So, should I bother writing about my embarrassment yesterday?

shovelhd

Do tell. We'll be nice.

I understand the time commitment thing. I'd pull out of a race if I had to be somewhere.

AzTallRider

I, for one, would have been shocked... happily shocked... but shocked nonetheless... if you made it through your first race, a tough race with a climb each lap, and weren't lapped. Never would have said that up front, because there is such a mental aspect to what we do, but I can say it now. The fact that you pushed being lapped back a lot is a triumph. Just getting out there was a major accomplishment.

To put things into perspective, in Saturday's 55+ Circuit Race, which was only 5 laps of 2 miles each, My Breakaway lapped people. People who have been racing a long time. I almost didn't believe it was happening, but it was... that's what climbs can do.

So give us all the gory details, and relish every one of them. Bathe in them. It's how you learn. It's how you get stronger, both physically and mentally. They are triumphs, Sara, that will lead to others sorts of triumphs.

sarals 

Well, okay...

But first...AzT, you could have told me that, either on here or in a PM. I'm a big girl, I can face the music. Shovelhd, this falls right in with what I just said to AzT. There's no reason to be nice. I need to know what is truth and what is fantasy.

AzTallRider

I hear you, Sara. But I know how much it messes up my head when I hear someone tell me my strategy is whacked, or that I'm being unrealistic in my expectations. That happened Friday night at home, and I was really pissed that night and heading into the races Saturday. It's part of why I was so discombobulated, though I'd never blame that on anyone else. But I finally got my head squared away and did what I hoped I could do. What works, at least for me, is to jump in with both feet, set high goals, and then be just fine with it if I fall a bit short. Reaching for the high goals gets you higher than setting lower goals that are more 'realistic' to achieve. I mean, what good/fun is it to go out with weaker riders and look impressive? I'd rather get dropped on an A ride, because I know when I've ridden well, and done what I am capable of, regardless of the published results. If you know you rode well, that is what you care about! The only time I feel bad after a ride, is when I feel I should have held onto a wheel and didn't. Heck, even doing something totally stupid is okay, because we all need to do stupid stuff as we learn.

So I'll never tell you you will get dropped, because that is bad thinking, and I absolutely don't believe you were over-reaching by doing that race. Being a big girl means putting it out there on the line and seeing what happens, then being mature enough to accept whatever that is, learn from it, and most importantly, use it to increase rather than decrease your motivation.

You raced. You accomplished your goal! Do you realize how many people never take that step, even when they want to? You are no longer a race virgin, and your next race will be a little bit easier, especially mentally. Do a season of races, and you will be amazed at what you can do next season. Understand, fully and completely, that you have now already taken the hardest step. Now, just put the next foot forward, and keep going.

sarals 

AzT....what can I say, other than thank you, and mean it from all those great places. I'm not daunted, I know where I'm weak, I realistically expected this kind of result, but I had to do this. I'd talked long enough. I had to know. I do now. I also know, that yes, this was the FIRST. That means only this - there will be more. Many more. I don't know that I'll get faster, become a better climber, odds are I won't. However, there have been lot of things in my life that I was TOLD I COULD NOT do - and I did them. I want to race. I will.

Thank you again!

AzTallRider

Okay, I guess I wasn't finished. I need to say more about Saturday, since there were such radical swings in fortunes.

For the hill climb, I had been painting mental images of me riding away from folks up that climb. It's a climb I know, so I had good accurate imagery. My mental approach was swept away by doing stupid things in the morning, and by not warming up. The other guys rode away from me. DFL. Did it hurt me to have believed I could ride away from them? No, it did not. Did it hurt more to be DFL because I envisioned myself winning. Surprisingly... No. If we do that again, will I believe I will ride away from them? Yes, I will. And again, if I get whacked the next time. Does that fit the definition of insanity (repeatedly doing the same thing with the expectation of getting different results)? Perhaps it does. If so, I'm okay with that. One of these times, if I believe I can, I will get different results. We bike racers are whacked to begin with, so we shold use that.

We get to the circuit race. Had I not fixated on my strategy for days, and publicly announced it, I likely would have given myself an excuse to abandon it. I had plenty of excuses by then. But I finally have my head on straight. I'm committed to my strategy, and watching the race before ours finish has confirmed its appropriateness. So I launch, and it works out.

I doubt I'm being very clear, but what I'm trying to say is that, just like we learn to dig into and through pain to get our body to do things it doesn't want to do, we also learn to use the psychological trauma of being dropped to get stronger. Being dropped in a race is training. It may be the worst training, the training we hate the most, but it is training that we absolutely have to do before we can win races. The only people who have never been dropped, are the people that have been unwilling to put themselves out there where they can be dropped. So that's what I mean when I say to relish it. You have been dropped in a bike race. That makes you a bike racer, Sara. Be proud of that. And know that we have all been lapped. It sucks. It makes you work hard, so that at some point you can ride past someone, thinking about how he/she feels because you just lapped him/her. That feels much better, and you are on track to get there.

AzTallRider

That's the Sara we know and love. And trust me, you will get faster.

Dudelsack 

Ave, Imperator, lappedituri te salutant!

Aut non.

Heck, we non-racers stand in awe of what you guys/folks/ladies do, even when you don't think you do it very well. When I think about racing I feel like I might vomit.

Then I lie down until the feeling passes.

Anyway, kudos on a valiant effort.