aaronmcd

Cantua Creek Road Race yesterday.
Cat 3. Out 12 miles, and back 3 times.

Felt amazing, highest TSB since Christmas vacation (+4) and CTL at 100. Was sitting in conserving and a guy goes off solo first lap. At the end of lap 1, there is a stair step VO2 climb. My perfect climb. Hit it hard on the steeps, make em chase, pretend to be tired on the flat, then hit it hard next steep. Thinned the field a bit, but they caught back on in the next several miles

Turn around, second lap. Field kinda maybe chasing the guy OTF. Eases up, I power forward and take off. I get too much of a gap too fast and get no help. Bee stings me in the leg, whatever. More bees bouncing off me. Closing on solo guy, but look back and field is rotating nicely and closing on me. I drift in and immediately decide to help catch solo guy, but the pack stops working once I was caught. Get in a small break before the climb but basically go just hard enough that we can get caught and have an easy climb.

Lap 3 still feeling good, realistically probably get top 5. Then I hit a damn pothole and flatted. Teammate was just off the back from the climb and gave me his wheel, but crap. He had 25s which don't fit my frame. Replaced the tube and "chased" for a lap.

Really bummed. The fitness is there. The luck wasn't. First 2 hours 214/270, last hour 255/270

shovelhd

Nice job Doge, Mattm, Hack.

mattm

Thx shovel; it's too bad I didn't have the GoPro on for the 35+ race.. I really wish I did!

Report from the Folsom 35+ 1/2/3 race I won: Was just doing it for training really, trying to focus on the p/1/2. But it's really hard to do a race and not race!

So I pretty much sat in the whole time. I didn't have any team mates, and the big masters teams (Peet's, Mike's) had 8+ guys.

There were a bunch of guys who randomly swerved around potholes/sticks/whatever while in the middle of the pack - is that always a thing in 35+ races?!

In the last lap some trains were setting up coming in to the final corner, I jumped them in the gutter early and got in to the corner 1st and held it. Always wanted to do that attack on that course and finally had the legs/luck to do so.

No victory salute since I was a) really tired when I crossed the line and b) afraid I would crash. Nobody remembers the guy who didn't celebrate his win, but everyone remembers the guy who crash while trying!!

In the p1/2 race later I was tired, didn't have the legs to really race, got 10th. Two races in a day is hard (if you want to do well in both).

shovelhd

It's even better when you beat the teams with representation, all by yourself.

Ygduf

I am happy for @mattm but wth, racing masters now without telling me...

mattm

The element of surprise is my only hope against you!!

TMonk

bad-ass Matt! You seem to excel in these types of sprints.

mattm

Thanks!

Indeed, that is my type of sprint - going a bit early. I don't have the watts for a drag race, but getting the early jump is generally how I've won.

In fact, looking back at my wins - I think all of them involved going from 400+m, not 200m/after the last corner.

Ygduf

@mattm can always beat me in a masters crit because the teams want to keep it together 99% of the time. I just want the carpool! Too far for me to drive alone!

TMonk

Roger Milikan cat3: somewhere in top20, teammate earned 5th.

We rolled out with four guys, no real goal today except to get the mind and body back into racing again, and communicate as much as possible. The course is mildly difficult with a hill before the last corner, and one of our guys got dropped, so it was really just three.

The three of us stayed active and near the front for the entire race, which was good. At 1.5 to go a teammate and I found ourselves at the front unwillingly. I was on the front for the first 1/2-2/3 of the last lap, not really sure what to do. I wasn't going so fast either, maybe 380-400w, I really expected people to come around me fairly quickly.

Fast forward till two corners to go before the hill and I get swarmed (of course) and just roll in the with pack. I wish that I would have been looking over more so that I could have responded quicker. A little frustrating because I had plenty of legs left, but I kind of felt like I was under-utilized. I wish my guy would have barked some orders at me: "Go NOW!", "Mark left!", "Go hard till corner 3!" or something.

Oh well, you live and learn. At least our guy got an upgrade point and a little cash, so that's cool.

rideaz

Nice racing this weekend guys!!

Ygduf

I raced today, almost wish I hadn't. Rough/bumpy road, big pack, meh. I don't have the nerve. I named 2 guys to watch in my team emailing and they got clear and went 1-2 while I was like 40 guys back white-knuckling my bars. Legs >>>> skill out there for me today.

caloso

Snelling 45+. It seemed unusually fast. We caught 3 or 4 of the fields that started before us, and I'm going to have to revise my FTP based on the first lap, which was bonkers. There were some dangerous-ish breaks, including one with a lap and a half left. We had a teammate in it but we were powerless to stop Specialized from pulling it back. Still, we regrouped and got two guys in the top 10. I did my share of work covering stuff, so I am pretty pleased with my 25th.

scheibo

UCSC 'Slugapalooza' circuit race - 4/5's. 10x2.6mi laps with 350ft elevation per lap , 10th/23.

was bummed to miss a race 2 weeks ago because i was having knee problems, so when i saw this on the calendar i took it as an excuse to punt on a track workout (though i still ended up running 10mi beforehand which probably wasn't wise...) and get my feet wet with bike racing again. there's a longer version of this race in late august that i'd like to do well in so i figured i'd at least get to scout out the course.

race starts mid climb, was near the front of the pack until we started climbing again in the last quarter of the lap when it became very clear that i had made a mistake thinking this race would be a nice introduction to 2016. 400W was not sustainable given the shape i am in so i had to let a pack of 10 go up to road and just hunkered down into a pace i figured would be sustainable for the race, hoping others would pop and i'd be able to catch some stragglers. ended up pulling back 3 over the course of the race (as well as lapping most of the people behind us), but no one really worked so i basically just tempoed for 1h20 with some tag-alongs. i figured the points were up to road and i'd at least get a workout out of it. my chasing group narrowly avoided getting lapped at the bell (that probably would have been desirable though, as we wouldn't have had to do the last lap...), 2 of the guys with me decided to sprint on the last kicker.

overall, probably the happiest i've been with a mass start road race given i had fun flogging myself the whole way. 250W/280NP for 1:20 means I probably need to boost my guesstimated FTP which i'd had pegged at 280W because I figured i was about 10-15% off the shape i was in last fall. was pretty surprised to get so thoroughly manhandled by the competition, but i guess college kids and juniors are pretty fast. liked the course (not technical in the least!), and i look forward to coming back in august with less weight, more power and my 'fancy' bike

Doge

The kids went out today and did CBR P12. The new Cylance/Incycle team and a few others (1-2 from UHC) were there. Team got Brandon off and he lapped the field. The kids pretty much controlled anyone getting away.

rideaz

Avondale Crit

Women P123: 2nd place. Small field so I chatted to another rider/friend and we decided to try for a break at about 20 min to go. She went hard for a prime and I chased, we got a gap and decided to try to keep it. I look down and we're only 10 min into the race lol. We stuck it though, ended up lapping the field, lapped a couple of riders twice (short laps) but 2 of them jumped on and we all got tangled in the final corner before the sprint. I took a crappy line and came in 2nd. Still happy with a solid effort, HR and Power were high! Also won money and primes.

Men 3/4 pack finish: this was really fun, especially because I had teammates in this race. I'm getting more confident in bigger groups and was able to get up to the front several times. One of our teammates got in the small break so we tried to control the pace. Teammate got 2nd :-)

aaronmcd

UCSC crits

Cat 3/4 crazy hard for a 3/4 race. Hit 341 for 10 minutes near the start (FTP set at 300) and 292/327 for the 50 minute race. Sprinted for 7th.

P1/2/3 right afterwards. Got my teammate into a 4 man move and we let them go. Laurens ten Dam and one other bridged up. Then I followed all moves until everyone but 4 of us were dropped. I was hurting by then, took 3/4 of my pulls but made them short and was able to respond to surges. The break lapped us and pace picked up with 3 to go. I fell off at 2 to go and rolled in 10th.

284/302 for that race.

So basically got in 110 minutes of threshold work. Legs are dead. 265 TSS with warm up/cool down


Snelling road race yesterday, huge field let nothing stay away. Field cut off an emergency vehicle with 3k to go, they neutralized and restarted us for a 4 minute, 30 mph drag race to the finish. Final sprint after sharp corner and rough roads, very tough but somehow managed top 20

canuckbelle

Greenville Spring Series #3 . Women 123. 30 of us (which is pretty huge, especially for a training series). 4 laps of an 11.5km course with a couple hills and some rollers. Super windy.

5th place in the bunch sprint.
1hr20min, NP221w

I didn't know what to expect, since it was still only a week from being hospitalized for food poisoning, and I couldn't even get through Tue's and Wed's workouts. Happily, I was never under serious threat. I was a little active, bridging to a couple breaks, but the breaks always gave up immediately. Since a surprise break worked in the Saturday race, it was pretty clear that the peleton wasn't going to let a break get away...which was WEIRD since a couple breaks had good representation by the top teams. ...and it was the teams chasing down the breaks.

Anyway, I was mid-pack when the wind-up for the sprint started about 2km out. I had to work hard to get past a lot of people up to the forward bunch. And even though I had a few seconds to recover before the real sprint, I just didn't have anything in my legs. I somewhat expected this: even in Thursday's workout, my peak sprint was 900w (down from 1300+). So I think that power just hasn't come back from the illness yet. Watching the GoPro (I'll upload a vid), I was really perfectly positioned for the final sprint, and I think I could have won if I had my usual legs.

All the same, 5th is a happy result, considering, and I get upgrade points. Also, some domestic pro teams were there, and this showed that I could hang with them when it mattered, even when I wasn't 100%.

shovelhd

Rideaz, a big thumbs down for the officials that let lapped riders jump into your break and mess up your sprint. Nice work making lemonade.

mattm

Yeah saw that on FB - awesome win for Brandon!!

Did you get video of it?

mattm

Snelling p/1/2 - Rally pro team (was Optum) came out, along with some Astellas guys, Axeon, and other people way stronger than me.

They got away on the first lap or near the beginning of the 2nd lap - I told our breakaway guy to get in when they were like 10s up the road, but he was all "nah too early, they'll come back."

They never came back.

Our team tried a few bridges, but never organized a chase, and basically gave up. Riding around on bumpy roads sucks when you've already given up!!

mattm

Merced p/1/2 - smallish field of 40, with six Rally guys.

My plan was to do the opposite of Snelling; get in a break or blow up trying.

Unfortunately it was the latter for me, I came off the back after like 15 minutes of racing!! Ugh.

Went with the first-lap move, then two other moves within 5 minutes. Dropped, damn - it's been a while..

Racing is weird like that - one week you win, the next week you get dropped. So it goes.

Watching the race unfold from the sidelines was fun though; break of 3 w/ the big teams were up the road, but the Mike's guy crashed out of it. Mike's chased down the break, and beat Rally's sprinter in the 'field' sprint of the 15 guys that didn't get popped or pulled.

hack

that's pretty cool

Doge

No, I was visiting kid 1 in the mid-west enjoying the cool weather.

Doge

Cool racing with the guys. I raced with Connie Carpenter and Twigg and well, learned were my future was not. Sorry we didn't meet in AZ.