ZeCanon

Three 60min+ crits in 2 days. Two collegiate A races and one pro/1/2 race.

Saturday:
We were hosting the races on saturday so I was out on course around 5:30am getting everything ready to go. The A's started at 11:00.
I lined up on the front line because I wanted to get in something early, just to test the legs. From the gun I saw a CU guy (one of my trade team teammates) jump and hopped on his wheel, with one other CSU guy following. We had 10 seconds by the end of the first lap and continued to rotate well for the next 15-20 minutes, bringing out gap up to about 23 seconds at one point. Eventually Fort Lewis realized that if they didn't do something the race was over, so they put everyone on the front and started chasing us back.

The break:

We were caught with about 30 minutes to go. I hadn't been killing myself in the break so I stayed up front and covered some attacks for a while. The race still felt really slow but apparently we were popping people off the back so it must have been faster than I thought. I was never back more than 10 wheels or so but I imagine that whip at the back of the field was pretty horrible.
At 3 to go I tried to find some teammates to get a leadout going for our sprinters but nobody was there. I ended up on the front and pulled for about half a lap before moving back to 4th wheel or so. With one to go I was second wheel, but had no idea where our sprinters were. The FLC guy who was pulling through the finish with one to go got confused somehow and put his hands up, thinking he had won, so I ended up on the front. I kept it as fast as I could for the next 3/4 of a lap before blowing up pretty hard. I pulled off then jumped back in around 12th wheel, and hung on for dear life for the remainder of the lap. I ended up somewhere in the 15 but had zero sprint (for obvious reasons). Teammates took 2nd, 4th and 6th I think.

1.5 laps to go:



I was more than a little bit pissed about being the only guys from CSU there for the leadout, especially since I had already spent a bunch of time up the road and the whole middle of the race covering attacks, with very little help.

After a few hours of rest I had to kit up again for the P/1/2 race. First race with my new team so I was looking forward to it.
The beginning of the race was relatively easy. Fast, smooth, none of the dumb ***** that goes down in the 3's. Nobody yelling "inside" on every corner. No stupid and dangerous slow-downs. I spent most of my time in the top 10 marking moves from those we had deemed dangerous. Eventually a group of 5 got up the road, with one of our guys in it. I just kept my eye out for a bridge attempt that looked promising and eventually found one. Jumped with 3 others, got about half way across the gap when I clipped a pedal and came down hard on the nose of my saddle. Dumb specialized seatpost clamp slid so the saddle was pointing straight down... needless to say I couldn't ride. Tried to get a free lap but they wouldn't give it to me, apparently I hadn't "broken" anything. I argued that my seat was pretty broken. No luck, my race was over, with only 12 minutes to go.

Sunday's crits were hosted by Colorado College. It's a fun course with a 180˚ turn followed by a long straight stretch, then a little downhill followed by a short but steep kicker, then a left turn and 300m to the finish. Once again I found myself up front in the collegiate race with no teammates in sight, chasing down everything that looked dangerous. Every once in a while someone else from CSU would come up and throw in a counter attack or something so I would get a little rest, but I still felt like I was doing way too much work. We had enough guys in the race that I shouldn't have had to follow break after break after break.
With 3 to go we tried to get things organized for our designated sprinter again, but it was pandemonium. Garrison hit the front and strung it out as best he could but with no other teammates behind him there was no way he could keep it fast for long. Coming up the climb with two to go everybody was swarming the front and the 4 of us setting up the train got swept back to 10th wheel or so. We spent the next lap working our way back up. Coming up the hill right before getting the bell everything swarmed again but we stayed near the front. On the flat at the top I looked around and realized that there were only two guys in front of our sprinter, not nearly enough horsepower for a full lap. I was supposed to sweep but knew I we wouldn't have a chance if I didn't move up and get on the front of the train. I moved up right behind Trevor and put my hand up real quick so that my teammates could find me. Did a quick check to make sure we were on the same wavelength, and saw that we were. Trevor hit it out of the 180 and kept it really fast halfway down the straight stretch, with me second wheel, Dan Lionberg behind me and Zack (our sprinter) behind him. Finally, a good train! When Trevor started to slow I came around and gave it everything, and kept it fast enough to prevent anyone from trying anything at the last minute. I pulled from halfway down the straight to the base of the kicker as hard as I could, dropping Lionberg and Zack off at the bottom. Lionberg led all the way up and around the corner, with Zack on his wheel, dropping him off perfectly. He hit the afterburners and took it by well over a bike length, and Lionberg held on for 6th. I hit the bottom of the climb and went straight backwards, having just done a Kilo as hard as I could, and ended up 29th or something, basically only beating the people who had already fallen off the group.
I was happier with how the team worked, and really please with the result, but still a bit peeved that I had to do so much work, AGAIN. We have a strong enough team that I shouldn't have to do that.

Overall, a very successful first weekend of racing. I still feel a little flat for the high power stuff, but I can motor all day long at the front of the group, which is encouraging. I basically finished base last week so I can't really expect to be going much better than I am right now. Plus, we won 4 out of 5 races on Saturday and the Men's A (arguably the hardest to win) on Sunday.

substructure

I got to the part where you blew up then I saw too much more reading. Sorry, I'm kind of lazy today. Is there Cliff Notes?

Actually sounds like you had a good weekend.

ZeCanon

ha, sorry, I just grabbed it from my blog where I'm quite a bit more long-winded

Cliff notes:
I did more work than the rest of my team combined followed by suicidal leadouts both days, and we won on sunday. I was pissed off and really pleased at the same time

substructure

Phew... Thanks.

snoboard2

glad to hear the last crit went your way.

My non-cycling friends have trouble understanding situations like this where you sacrifice yourself for the team. A win for the team is every bit as good as a win for you.

Thanks for the report!

palookabutt

Saturday we went out to watch the last couple of races at the CSU oval. The Pro/1/2 was a fun race to watch. Kudos on the bridge -- I think we had the lead group ~20 seconds up before you took off. Then it looked like the main field simply gave up.

Out on the course we overheard someone say there were recent ToC veterans in the lineup?

From your report, it sounds like the CSU team will be fun to watch this year. I should get a cowbell before the collegiate championships in May.

Doggus

Who's the locked elbows? That's exactly what I look like when I'm beat. Locked elbows and droopy.

VosBike

He always looks like that, and, from the breaks he starts at the beginning of almost every race, he's got a monster motor. He is also not the op.

ZeCanon

Yeah that's not me, and he does ride like that all the time. He's very strong, but wasn't doing a whole lot of pulling since we had two guys. I should have had the other CSU guy drop back, we might have made it...

Vos, how was your weekend?

VosBike

Nasty sickness and too much time spent sweeping the course, moving traffic barriers, haybales, etc. and I couldn't go to CSU on sat. because of a practice MCAT...blah blah...bag of excuses.

I didn't race. Was rested for a badass mtb ride today that kicked ass.

Good racing man, I got to say hi at the next race.

ZeCanon

Yeah, come say hi. I'll be at both DU and Metro next weekend. I have no idea what you look like though so unless you post a photo up expect a very confused look

fly:yes/land:no

moster weekend. sucks about the results, but at least you know your fitness is there. did you have a powermeter?

PhillyRoadie

Yeah, as an aspiring collegiate racer (ECCC season opens this weekend) I'd be curious to see some numbers from an A race, if you're interested in sharing.

Also, nice pics. I'm staring out the window at the mess that is the East Coast right now (makes next weekend seem soooo far away) so it's nice to see some clean roads

Duke of Kent

Did you happen to see a teammate of mine in the winning break in the Pro/1/2 race?

He would have been on an older Colnago with an SRM. He took 2nd after he and Caleb Fairly dragged the other two around the entire time.

umd

I tend to have that problem too

ZeCanon

I think I remember seeing him. I was more worried about the guys who just got back from ToC though (Kiel already won the collegiate race that morning)
My collegiate teammate won the race. Pissed me off, because I train with him all the time and can get him in the sprints pretty often.


As for power numbers, I don't have any from the race on saturday but I do have them for the race on sunday. I did about equal work both days and spent time in early breaks on both days, so I bet they are similar. Only difference was the small climb on sunday which gave a good 800w spike every lap, and I was a bit more tired from two races on saturday. I would be willing to bet that I did more work than almost anyone else in the field both days. Actually I can almost guarantee it.

anyway -
Current weight: 62.7kg
Tot time: 59:06
Av watts: 246
Normalized: 289 (thanks again WR for that excel file )
peak 5s: 1214
peak 1m: 612 <-- in the beginning of my 1.1k leadout, ~38 mph
peak 5m: 332

I always put up way bigger numbers racing than training, this day was no exception.

VosBike

For anyone waiting for USAC results from the CC race, well no reason not to be blunt, it is not our(CC's) fault they're not in, USAC is just incompetent.

What's your first name, ZeCannon? easier to go looking for you if I've got a name.

ZeCanon

Ditto for the CSU race

USAC brings incompetency to a whole new level.