ldesfor1@ithaca

Battenkill cat3 green.

just the numbers for now, but I had a great race and finished maybe 40" off the leaders... 20th?

BKR:
Duration: 2:48:42
Work: 2548 kJ
TSS: 245.8 (intensity factor 0.935)
Norm Power: 339
VI: 1.35
Distance: 61.35 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1077 252 watts
Cadence: 35 141 96 rpm
Speed: 4 48.7 21.8 mph

ldesfor1@ithaca

+1!

mattm

Volunteer Park Cat 4 Crit - 77 Starters, 36 finishers. 7th place. 0 points..

Lined up at the back on accident, had both feet on the ground when the whistle blew... off to a bad start. And the first 50m lead to a big sweeping right turn followed by a quick left, which strung out the pack. So I decided I needed to put in some work and get up to the top 20 in the next few laps. Done. The announcer said something about primes but I ignored all of them.

5 laps or so to go sitting in the top 20 when I see a gap on the left open on the 5% uphill and I take it. At the same time in the middle of the pack someone's rear derailleur gets caught up in some spokes... not a good sound! Then I hear people crashing, and someone yelling "don't look back!"

Never did look back, since this put me in 3rd wheel with just a few laps to go. Pretty much perfect, at least it felt that way. Lost a few spots in the next few laps but coming out of the last turn I was way up in the top 10, and in good position for the slightly uphill 2-3% grade sprint.

Thing is, I can't sprint... ugh that seemed like a long 200m, and though I passed a few I was just about coasting when we hit the line. Gave it a throw but to no avail - was 2/3rds of a wheel away from 6th! (saw the official photo finish afterwards)

Jordan took the win, nice job man... now get to the 3's! =]

volunteer park crit cat 4 2010:
Duration: 41:05
Work: 579 kJ
TSS: 68.4 (intensity factor 0.999)
Norm Power: 290
VI: 1.23
Distance: 16.827 mi
Elevation Gain: 1806 ft
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 895 235 watts
Heart Rate: 121 197 174 bpm
Cadence: 22 145 82 rpm
Speed: 2.9 49.4 24.6 mph
Crank Torque: 0 1772 238 lb-in

ridethecliche

You. Are. Inhuman.

Beast!

mike868y

Nice - great race! One of my buddies who races for Colavita was in the same race (I think) and said he got dropped from the lead group at Meetinghouse Rd. The course was actually surprisingly good. The dirt roads were really wet on Friday, but dried up nicely for the race.

ridethecliche

Subby, kick ass man!

You did great.

Mike. Good on ya for getting out there. Many will never dare. Myself included.

queerpunk

I spent 32 miles on the front, chasing chases and confusing the field, because my teammate was busy soloing from 32miles out for the win.

Battenkilled.

ZeCanon

Collegiate: bridged to 10 man break, worked ass off for teammate, 6th.

P/1/2: bridged to 3 man break (Garmin guy, two strong locals). Cat and mouse, two locals know me and worked me over pretty good, and Garmin must not have wanted to sprint either - attacked early and often. Ended up 2nd, Shriver got off the front. Outsprinted Garmin, dropped other local on the last lap.

tspek

2 lap 60 mile road race

1st lap: Slow, Sketchy, Boring for the most part. Pulled in a guy. Worked too much at the front.

2nd lap: I see a 3 man break go off the front. I look at the front of the peloton where 3-4 teammates are riding like grandmas are and realize one of the guys is theirs. I look closer and realize another one is a TT monster. I look to my teammate and say "That's trouble".

We ride to the front casually, I stomp on it and bridge. My teammate falls back.

4 man break, looks iffy for a while but slowly the gap gains.
4 man break turns into a 3 man break.
We reel in the 3rd guy a few times since he had the teammates.
3 man break turns into 2 man break.

The guy is a horse. He very likely could have done it without me. We continue to rotate, his pulls are substantially longer. It's worth noting that me and him got 1st and 2nd in a an end of the year omnium last year in which we went into the final race tied and I beat him at the line by about half a wheel.

I look at him and make it clear that I'm riding on the edge, I'll pull through whenever he wants, and if we make it, the race is his.

Did I mention that he's a horse?

We climb into town, and he goes off, we had more than a couple minutes on the main pack.

Awesome day.

2nd place.
A brick.
$75
8 points.

waterrockets 

Nice racing Ze and tspek

ldesfor1@ithaca, looks like the form is coming around nicely

queerpunk, I know the feeling. Lots of work back there, but lots of fun too.

tspek

It was all the PSIMET Carbons I got to use today

waterrockets 

Awesome. I've got a PSIMET build-it-yourself kit coming soon. Can't hardly wait.

tspek

They are hot. Had to give up the powertap, but the girlfriend's brother flatted 6 miles into his race on my wheel/tire/tube...whoops

tbrown524

Welcome to Eldo... I remember crashing three times in the same 4/5 race. Careful with turn three!!!

kensuf

Good onya!

ldesfor1@ithaca

Battenkill Cat3 Green Report, long version:

Couse description: Hilly 62 mile loop through upstate NY. 25% of the course is on dirt roads (which were in great condition this year, minus a few hellacious, bottle ejecting pot holes/craters) and the other 75 % is on crappy pavement that had seen better days.

Weather: low 50's sunny and very windy. I recall 18-20 mph out of the west with gusts around 30 mph. But over all aver nice day to race bikes.

Time to see what the race, the course and my body had instore for me,

The first 10 miles are pretty uneventful and we all sit in as a nice, friendly group. I worry little about my position and enjoy the day, until someone hits pothole and stops moving. As I'm behind said pothole hitter, I too stop moving, fast. Crashed on left side of body and luckily got up post haste and chased back on to group. whew! (left brifter is wonky but still functioning. rear wheel is a bit bit out of true and rubbing brake... i though i'd adjusted brake enough to prevent rub, but at the finish, I realised I had a TINY wbit of brake rub for final 55 miles of the race.) All in all, lucky! So, back to the racing:
At around 10 miles in we hit the first hill of any consequence and for 3:30 I averaged 5.1 w/kg (440w) and stayed firmly attached to the main group. Good start, body!
A mile later we hit the first steep dirt road climb which lasts for a painful 2 minutes (6.1 w/kg. 530w).
Good, still on. A little bit of time to hurlt a little less as we churn through more dirt roads and I try to draft a bit but it's a bit of a crapshoot as potholed roads make holding wheels a confidence destroying experience. My teammates were both back on now too, yeah!
Time to chill a bit before the steadiest climb of the day @ mile 29.
Mile 29 hits and we start a nasty 3 step dirt road climb.
Body does well and I do 6:20" @ 4.9 w/kg (424w) followed by a gentle dry heave (tastes like raisins) and a short bridge to stay attached, still! wow, pretty happy with Body's performance.
The next 25 miles are not too bad. Pack slows, we doa couple of 90" - 2 minute climbs up around 5 w/kg and I become sliglty detached again but expend little effort to catch back on. A very smart and efficient race, for me. Yeah, Brain!
Around mile 50 i got detached again but a 3' bridge in the IABs @ tempo pace was plenty to catch back on. Still feeling ready for the carnage to come over the final 5 miles where the steepest and longest dirt climb punches you in your race-fatigued soul. I was feeling ready.
4 miles from the finish, the carnage begins as what's left of the main field breaks apart like a fine porcelain vase dropped off the empire state building. kaBOOOOOOm!!! Ha! Carnage, I love it!
I average 4.7 w/kg (410w) for the next 6:20" and get nicely detached from the lead group. Dang. Recover really quickly, punch over the last uphill section and know that we have about 3 miles of flats into the finsh.
TT mode. I wasn't done. I wanted more sufferring! the last 3 miles were on the rivet as I tried to bridge to the leaders and accomplish my goal of finishing with the lead group.
It looked like this (note speed, IAB's go fast)
race to the line, a TT story::
Duration: 8:05
TSS: 10.5 (intensity factor 0.885)
Norm Power: 321
VI: 1.02
Distance: 3.515 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 771 315 watts
Cadence: 64 141 106 rpm
Speed: 20.9 36.8 26.1 mph

but alas, not enough. Oh well. Another mile and we may have re attached. Either way a valiant effort! the final 17 miuntes I was @ 370 NP. good legs that deep into a race. I was very pleased with how I felt and the race was a ton of fun.
I had a super day with great friends (terammates) and thoroughly enjoyed this years Tour of the Battenkil.

Other numericals of interest:
7.8% of this race was spent in my VO2 max zone (380-438w) and
15.7%/ 30'! was spent in my AWC zone (439watts or above!)

totals for the race:
BKR:
Duration: 2:48:42
Work: 2548 kJ
TSS: 245.8 (intensity factor 0.935)
Norm Power: 339
VI: 1.35
Distance: 61.35 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1077 252 watts
Cadence: 35 141 96 rpm
Speed: 4 48.7 21.8 mph

substructure

Thanks Ken.
Not sure when/if I'm coming to Florida this year. But possibly. Hopefully I get to see my Florida buds again.

ZeCanon

Killer race Leo! Nicely done.

slim_77

dude, that is bad ass! congrats!!

tspek

According to the official results, the gap was about 90 seconds. I guess time moves slower when you can't see straight.

myclem

My first official crit yesterday.
Volunteer Park, Seattle.

Did the Masters4/5,Open50+ instead of the Cat5 earlier in the morning.

Pass/Fail = Fail.
Simple goal was to finish with the pack. 20 mins in, I started to lose contact with the field, OTB, eventually lapped, then yanked (out of contention). DNF.

I started at the very back of the line-up and could never seem to make my way up more than 5-7 spots before losing them again on the little hill before the tight corner and a false flat before the finish line. Gaps around that corner were painful at the back with fewer to no wheels to latch onto, sometimes having to go around other guys that were blowing up here. Same pattern here every lap eventually took it's toll.


Although disappointed, I think my main lessons here were:
- Not only are old dudes fast, but also smooth and tight.
- I need plenty of work/confidence to improve maneuvering up through the pack. Getting a better starting position might help a little.
- More crit-targeted interval work. (What would you guys suggest?)
- Get healthy--lingering cold and stomach bug had me at less than 10hrs training for the last couple of weeks (incl. racing).

slynkie

Bethel Cat 5s (second field)
First race with my new team, I wanted to do something good for them (since I can't sprint). Bounced from front to back to front for 12 laps, bell lap the break had been pulled back and I found myself at the front. Decided to pick up the pace - theoretically, for the good of the team. I did, for maybe 500m, then promptly blew up. Field blows by me, I slug up the hill at 150w. Teammates got 6th, 7th and 8th places.

I have no idea of my pull was of any worth to the team. But hey, it's cat 5 right. Lots to learn... (and it's probably a good thing my 4s upgrade hasn't been processed yet..)

tspek

Probably not, but you get an A for not being a virginia.

ridethecliche

haha.

queerpunk

My main plan is usually to stay hidden. I'm small so I'm scared of the wind. But going hard and stringing things out in a long line on dirt roads at 35mph feels ****ing great... especially when I realize that it's hard enough that nobody wants to go fast on the flats. And my teammate is out of sight...