2012 Snelling

Snelling Road Race, E4. 11 mile loop, closed to traffic, no center line. Full field of 100. Windy, rolling, sections of really bad pavement.



Brutal.

First two laps, I stayed up near the front and avoided whatever splits occurred in those nasty head and cross winds.

Going through the finishing climb at the end of the second lap, start of the third lap, pushed me over the edge though. Went right out the back. Couldn't catch back on. Looked back, saw a small chase group behind me. Sat up, rested and let them catch me.

The eight of us then worked together to produce the most beautifully executed rotating echelon ever to occur in a Elite 4 race. It was way pro.

Probably thought about quitting the race 100 times in the 11 minutes and 20 seconds it took us to latch back on. Glad I persevered though. Catching back up was extremely satisfying.

Managed to stay with the pack for another 18 miles, until the start of the last lap. Got dropped again on that damn little finishing climb.

Anyway, overall happy with the race. Thought I played it fairly smart and it was a hell of a training effort. I'm only a month into doing mostly FTP, little or no VO2 max, so I'm not too worried about my fitness being a little sub par for the race. I started my season too early last year and got burnt out early. Trying to avoid that again.

Here is a random photo of the race that I snagged off FB:



That's coming down from the finishing climb.

2012 Cantua Creek and Pine Flat road races

This was the highlight of my first weekend of real racing in 2012:



Yeah, dinner the night before Cantua Creek RR.



Fun course and I thought the rolling climb finish suited me. Was feeling great. Awesome weather. Like eight teammates plus a couple other friends out there.

Felt good and was racing smart but hit a rock, hard, half way through the race. Pinch flatted my front tubular. Vittoria Pitstop fail. Had to wait for a ride back.

Issac, who I know from racing last season, absolutely killed it. Timed a perfect breakaway and took first in E4. Awesome. Unfortunately, that gives him his upgrade to E3 so I won't have his wheel to follow anymore. Bummer.



Pine Flat road race is not flat. Race started with a rolling out and back climb. Pack was surging hard on the climbs. I was hurting a little, being 8lbs over weight right now and with my FTP a bit lower then it should be, but I was hanging in.

Unfortunately, I got stuck behind a crash on the way down. Was boxed in and locked up my rear wheel trying to stop in time. I avoided joining the pileup, but put a huge hole in my tire. Couldn't even boot it and ride back to the parking lot.

Fail.



Overall, had a fun weekend but am a bit bummed I spent over 10 hours driving for less then 3 hours of actual racing! Hopefully I've gotten all my bad luck for the season out of the way.

Oh and here is a photo of my Scott Addict R1 w/ race wheels a Quarq. It's a sweet setup. Now I just need to make some better luck with it.



Loving having a power meter again. Now I just need to work on getting it to output good numbers.

SportVelo 2012 Winter Training Camp

Finished a four day training camp yesterday. SportVelo Winter Training Camp, lead by coach Dan Smith.

Had 45 minute lectures every morning. Dietitian talking about nutrition. Physical therapist going over a few stretches and strength training exercises. Doctor talking about some cycling specific stuff. Etc.

Then a ~four hour sagged ride.

Followed by hot food and a 30 minute massages.

Totals:
15:50 moving time
230 miles
22,000 ft elevation gain.

Day 1





Dan talked a bit about how to pace yourself for a time trail. We then went out and did two time trials on Canada Rd, Beat the Clock course. First was individual threshold effort. Second was four person team time trial. No drop. So, you had to work together to keep the weakest person on.

And then massages outside because the weather was awesome.



Day 2



Goal here was five laps up Old La Honda and down 84. Start at low tempo on your first climb up OLH then try and improve your time on the subsequent ones. I only did four laps because I didn't dress appropriately. Roughly, 29 min, 30 min, 28 min, 27 min. Could have climbed a fifth time but not descend again. Was soaked and shivering!

Day 3



Another cold and wet day of climbing, but this time I dressed appropriately!



Climbed Kings, descended W 84, climbed W Alpine, descended Page Mill, climbed OLH, descended E 84. Lots of good miles in the bank at tempo!



Day 4



More tempo miles in the bank! OLH, out to Pesky then Stage road over to Tunitas. We really hammered it at the top 1/3 of Tunitas, were it flattens out a bit. Had a bit of a race going. Burnt the few matches I had left!



Total ride time for the week was almost 20 hours. Hopefully this will give me the endurance I need for the next four weekend of racing. Have two long road races followed by two weekend stage races.