THIS is how you win a sprint!

.0075 seconds, or the width of a tire.

The image above is from the Mineral Wells Criterium, hosted by promoter Andy Hollinger and his wife, Lauren. The race was held in downtown Mineral Wells, on a short course around the famous derelict hotel, the Baker, which has been unoccupied since 1962 or 72, depending on whom you ask. The course included a short, but steep, 100′ long hill, and a really rumbly back side, before two turns that returned you to the start/finish, on a smooth, descending stretch of road. The locals were quite welcoming, and it was neat to see the local bank highlighting the event on their LCD display. Temps were actually pretty moderate all morning, as there was a slight overcast sky, but it did not diminish from some really good racing.

The Cat 3’s went off at 9:30am, and several familiar faces lined up at the start. As soon as the whistle blew, we jockeyed for position, and I settled in to roughly 3rd or 4th position. The climb was really deceptive, as there was a longer ‘pre-hill’ climb that was long enough to string out the racers, but was still short enough to minimize gaps. An ALS rider led for the first 3 laps or so, and then wiggled his elbow to let someone else take a turn up front. As is my tendency, I pulled and took turns pulling for a couple of laps, staying near the front and trying to challenge for primes. However, the Williams cycling team had two really good riders, and they took almost every prize, including first and second at the end. When my chance came, I kept my hands down in the drops, pedaled as absolutely hard as I could, but was surprised to find a shadow overtaking me on my left as we approached the finish line. With a final burst, I threw my bike across the line, hoping beyond hope that the effort was enough to nip my fellow competitor.

This is the image, captured by the camera at 10,000 frames per second. 3rd place was mine, along with a nice payout and the satisfaction of knowing that I had done everything I could to earn that high placing.

Special thanks to Andy and Lauren Hollinger, and their continuing efforts to make Texas Racing the best in the nation.

2010 Cedar Hills Rally – 2:31 100k!

Head for the Hills of Cedar Hill!

The 2010 Cedar Hills Rally brought a whole host of surprises, and it began with the weather. After a long spring of rain and even snow, we North Texans had begun to enjoy a true spring, with multiple days of good weather, mild-to-warm temps, and breezes finally coming in from the South. Sure, there had been some storms that came in from the South and due West, but at least the Blue Northers were gone. However, on Saturday morning, we woke up to, get this, temps in the high 50’s, and a gusty wind blowing mostly out of the NorthEast, but really just sort of all over about three different directions on the compass. About 2000 people showed up to get their fill of the rolling hills just south of Dallas, and the course did NOT disappoint.

Several top riders from local clubs attended, but it was the Colavita team that really became the major players. From the gun, Brian Reid jumped to the front and set a blistering pace, WITH THE TAIL WIND, for about 3 miles. David Arteaga, a rider who knows these roads like the back of his hand, and had his breakout moment in this rally two years ago, also rode up front, along with several other riders, including a tandem Joe’s Pros/Colavita team, Curtis Palmer from Colavita, another Colavita rider whose name I can’t remember, and a Williams rider, along with a long-time veteran of Texas rallies, Duane Neu. Again, the pace was blistering, and I was truly surprised that the tandem riders were actually really, really good at negotiating the turns, shifting, holding on to momentum, and basically doing their part in the pack. They pulled, they drafted, they rotated through pacelines, everything. I was impressed.

In the first hour alone, we averaged 28.3 miles per hour, and after staying at or near the front for a number of pulls, negotiating the twisty course and the accompanying county roads (medium quality-to-poor quality, so you had to keep your eyes open), I rolled back to see if I could find some of my teammates… and the pack ended at 10 bicycles! Now, I need to tell you – this is REALLY rare. Most of the time, packs don’t split up and breakaways don’t form until well in to the rally, but here, some time around the first 30-45 minutes, we had actually cracked the peloton. It wasn’t an excuse to slow down, but it did make things easier for the riders who were there, and it also made things safer, since we could negotiate the turns better, and regroup after road crossings, etc.

At about 31 miles, we finally left the cracks and chip-seal and began to traverse west-bound toward the eventual turn right and trip home. The wind was howling, but with the Colavita rider on the back of the tandem (a STRONG female cyclist) directing the paceline, we were able to hold things together quite a bit and quite well, losing very little time in the crosswinds and the climbs out and back to the finish line at Cedar Hill High School. Unfortunately, we did lose two of the 10 riders, one to a flat, the other to fatigue, but the rest of us were able to withstand the turn in to the headwind, and get within 8 miles of the finish line before Curtis unfortunately cracked on a long, ever-steeper hill, facing the headwind. This put us down to 7 bikes (8 riders). Duane rode incredibly well, and Brian and David actually came to a detente of respect after they traded barbs earlier in the ride when discussing who was working more.

The finish went basically uncontested, since we were passing hordes of cyclists from other routes who were finishing up their own rides of 25 and 40 miles. At the end, we looked down and noticed that, with the challenging terrain (3000′ of climbing) and the brutal, gusty wind, we still did almost 62 miles in 2 hours and 31 minutes, a new record for myself for sure, and one that everyone else said either was or was close to their overall PR. Stats for the ride (my own) went like this: 2200 Kilojoules of energy expended, Normalized Power for the ride of  279w, IF of .976, which makes me think that either my Threshold is low, or that I need to check calibration (the cold weather necessitated a manual calibration before the start, but the Joule 2.0’s menu system is, well, still vexing me at this time, and I didn’t want to mess with it). MMP60 Normalized was a 297, so I think I WILL raise my FTP to at least 297 from 287, and see what that does for me. Average speed for the ride was 23.3mph.

Overall, it was a fantastic ride, and again, I’m surprising myself as I come in to form, just in time to save the season. Rally riding is de facto racing for many of us, and with this finish, I am confident that I can hold my own among the elite riders of North Texas.

Post-Race notes:

• My supplement strategy involved two items: Extreme Endurance pills (6) (http://xendurance.com/), which keep the blood alkaline for a longer period of time before lactic acid overwhelms the system. I was able to completely avoid cramps and sore legs, and I felt that especially on the hilly portions in the homeward leg, in the headwind, I was able to stomp on the pedals at a higher cadence and with more force, thus matching pulls or pulling through on the group with whom I was riding. I was able to do this over, and over, and over, and after the rally, as tired as I was, I was completely void of soreness. Even descending stairs was no problem.
• The second strategy involves ingestion of 500ml of pure beetroot juice. A study showed that beetroot juice is filled with nitrites, and the supposition is that in the body, the nitrites are converted to Nitric Oxide, which acts as a vasodilator and a blood vessel repair apparatus or elasticity improver or something like that. I won’t divulge the after-effects of said fueling, but suffice it to say that per the effort, you end up with more stamina and more strength as a result of a better blood circulation system.

Photos will be posted as they become available, but this was one rally that this author will never forget, for its’ toughness, its’ speed, and the coordination of the group with whom I was riding. Chapeau, y’all! See you next weekend!

Matrix Crit 2010

Jason Butler workin' it at the front of the pack. Wharton slightly behind him.

Not much to report here, except to say that I felt in control, and even had some fun, even though I was only at the front for maybe one lap, if that. Jason Butler and Sean Daurelio are both riding strong right now, and it wasn’t my job to try and steal a win or anything – crit racing is not my forte, and I was doing well enough to just hang in there.

However, it WAS all about team when, at the right moment in the race, Sean and an OKC Velo rider took off and tried to escape. I immediately went to the front and worked with Jason to block, and we were successful. Sean and Paul took all the primes, and then went 1-2, after a 30 second break held. Jason finished 9th and I took something like 23rd.

I have a little remorse over not trying harder or trying to do more to set up Jason for a better spot, but honestly, that course scares the hell out of me, and there were four wrecks, and, well, I think I know my role now. We’ll see how Memorial Day goes, but honestly, I think I’m kind of done racing now that the crits are back in vogue and the real road racing is over. That’ll resume in the Fall. We’ll see how fit I am then.

Mineral Wells Stage Race – Mirage C3’s Take Team and a Podium Spot!

Climbing a Hill in Palo Pinto County

What a difference a weekend makes!

Awaiting photos (if any of the cameras survived), but this was a wet, wet, wet, wet, WET weekend. The course was awesome, the racing FAR better and smarter and more fun than I could ever have imagined. Andy Hollinger and Team Bicycles, Inc. put together one fantastic event, and it showed, despite the rain.

I’m in the middle of a long essay about this event, but the results this weekend were all about TEAM. Team, and realizing that my role in things is becoming that of domestique. I hate it, but I love it. Domestique or chessmaster, using myself as a Bishop, Knight, or Pawn. I’m starting to realize that, at 6-8 hours a week, I’ll probably never be as powerful as the Queen is on the chessboard. However, I know how to attack, I know how to block, and I know how to pull. Pull like an F’ing drafthorse. The crazy thing is – I’m sort of racing myself in to some level of fitness.

Now, if I could ever get outside for some real riding on a regular basis…

I better go pull the bikes out of the car before they completely rust from the never-ending weekend deluge.

Aggression vs Assertion

Wharton climbing Mt. Locke Stage 1 Ft. Davis Stage Race

Well, it’s over. My A#1 priority race is come and gone, and I can’t be more discouraged. My results were awful. My watts in crucial areas were down significantly. I raced with severe, bald passion and aggression, for naught, and I mean naught. The only good thing to come out of the races was a good time trial, and a resolve to never embarrass myself or my teammates like that again.

Here’s the thing though, I can’t help myself! In the 16 mile uphill, I launched an attack that only one rider was able to match. He held on in the hills. I got caught and finished 3:30 behind him. Today, I soloed off the front, got 1-2 minutes up in a crucial part of the course, but got caught, swallowed, and eventually spit out the back on the one freaking hill that I knew was going to be troublesome.

I was ready. I was prepared. I trained within my limitations for time and intensity, and got nothing, absolutely nothing for it. My teammates helped, they were great, and I just feel like I let them down, as well as myself. So, so frustrating.

I don’t know if I want to continue doing this. The frustration factor is high, the cost is high, and the results are far too fleeting. The intrinsic reward for knowing I ‘did my best’ is now permanently shadowed by the lack of extrinsic results. I’ve never felt so compelled to cheat or bribe my way to a win, though the shame of that would be worse than the crappy results I’ve been earning this calendar year. Last year, I was SO hopeful! This year, just supreme frustration. I pretty much hate racing right now.

Ft. Davis Loometh!

Hill Climb Stage at Ft. Davis

Gawd I love hills! I can’t wait for this event! Look for some tweets and postings about the race soon!

2010 Fair Park Crit – Saturday only

Hangin' on at Fair Park Crit

The 2010 Fair Park Criterium was hosted this weekend, April 3rd and 4th, on a new course that offered more challenges than in previous years. There was a hairpin turn right after the start/finish, then several changes in pavement as the course swept around several different parking lots and islands, then some chicanes, two sweepers, a little pump-up that resembled a mountain bike ramp, and then a 270 back to the finish line. The race directors are getting LAZY, and are merging categories, so we ended up with 75+ racers in the Cat 3/4, on a 60 minute effort.

Despite warnings to stay near the front, I had a poor start and was back maybe 20 riders for the first several laps. It had been an emotional week, and I was sort of spent, even though I hadn’t had any hard workouts or anything like that. Then, about 4 or 5 laps in, at the 270 left hand sweeper, someone next to me scraped their inside pedal and lost control, sending himself and several of my teammates to the pavement. It also created a gap in the race, and I just barely was able to rejoin the leaders. Another problem, the heat and humidity, is just starting up in Texas, and it always takes me a little while to adapt to it. The course was a little too technical for me to reach down and grab a drink with confidence, and the amount really wouldn’t have mattered, but I ended up with a dry mouth and later, a ‘warning’ cramp in my right calf. Finally, in the middle of the race, a rider went down hard after sinking his wheel in to a longitudinal groove, and in the spreading melee, I ended up riding over what I believe was his calf. I really, really hope I didn’t break it. Apparently he was unconscious for a time.

After all the wrecks and the speed and handling of the peloton, we were down to about half the number of original entrants, and there were about four Mirage riders in there – Sean, Jason, Ben, and myself. Sean was bleeding from one of the wrecks, but he’d taken advantage of the free lap and had caught back on. Jason was riding aggressively, and had either been near the front or on it several times. I also took some hard pulls for 3 separate laps to try and reel in some small breakaways. But I never felt 100%, and I never felt that I could launch something hard and spectacular enough to escape or form a breakaway. Maybe it’s something I need to work on, but crits just aren’t my thing, and at the finish, I ended up something like 15th or worse. I felt bad that I couldn’t help my teammates out, but the course was so squirrelly, and my calf kept threatening to cramp on me, and I just, didn’t, have it.

Kudos to the winners, and once again, I’m grateful for my teammates, who remain solid, steady companions in the Texas racing scene. We’ll do better next week guys, I promise.

Wattage values were negligible. Average power was 253 while Pnorm was 277. I burned 885 Kilojoules. I spent 20 minutes of the 58 total in the AC zone, which is typical for a crit. So… I need to work on my AC intervals and Micro-Intervals if I’m going to perform better in the flat races around her. (Sigh). I wish I could get back to the mountains, where my p/w ratio really shines!

Manor 2010

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Not much to say here. I drove down, I raced, I got in to a total of 25 miles of breakaways, some solo, some 2’s, 3’s and 4’s, I got caught, we got lapped by the 1/2’s, and I finished in the Top 20. I got into a verbal match with someone after the race, which was stupid, and it ruined an otherwise great day in great weather. I’m tired of the BS that is Texas racing, however. No one wants to try hard enough, and I didn’t have enough teammates to do anything.

I think I’ll pack it up after the 17th and maybe just focus on rallies. No points, but they play in to my strengths better.

Denton Crit, March 7, 2010

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Sigh – Another race, another finish just outside the money or points. Led from the start, avoided trouble, had a great teammate who tried to lead me out, but we ended up going too wide and let a bunch of other riders slip through and finish ahead. Oh well, still fun, but I’m getting tired of the so-so finishes, especially after I work so hard. But then again, perhaps it’s me that’s the dummy.

Greenville RR review

It’s been a while since I posted about a race, and that’s really because I haven’t been doing much racing. I did do a rally in August, a 100-miler that felt fantastic, even in the heat, and I probably should have written a review about the Texas State Team Time Trials, in which we placed 4th with just 3 riders, but I’ve been focused on writing a book about WKO+ software, and getting the fall program set up for the Cycling Center of Dallas. But this past weekend, myself and 3 other Mirage cat 3’s entered the Cotton Patch Classic, a race AND rally, which was also a stage race, and was ALSO an omnium (points instead of time).

I prepped for the event as best I could, including my now famous need for Sushi the night before the race. For some reason, sushi just does it for me. I’ve always had great results the next day, stayed out of cramping trouble, and generally had that sense of well-being that is so necessary to race. Race gear was the basic Soloist with Aeolus 6.5’s, three water bottles, and my trusty Quarq Saturn.

An Omnium race is a little different in terms of stage racing. Instead of racing for time, you’re racing for points based on finish. Points are given six deep, I think, maybe 8 or 10, but time doesn’t count. As a result, in the past there had been hotspot time bonuses out on the course. This year, there were none.

We rolled out on time, about 50 of us, and it took about half an hour before someone started the fireworks. Shawn Hodges and I communicated really well, and when he attempted a breakaway, I blocked for him. However, it never really went anywhere. About 40 minutes in, I attempted my first attack, and got off the front with one or two other cyclists. However, our break never got more than a minute up the road, and we were reeled in. I tried again at minute 50, and again at minute 56, only to get sucked back in to the pack after a few miles. My teammate Robert Snedden then launched an attack, but it, too, was slowly reeled in. Nothing was sticking.

Finally, at about 2 hours, I launched an attack that ended up becoming a solo effort that lasted roughly 9 miles. After that, though, I was cooked. There wasn’t much left in the tank, and the pack was going to decide the winner at the finish line. I tried to lead out my teammates at 2k, but my speed just wasn’t high enough to keep others from attempting to pass me. Then, there was a ton of confusion in the last kilometer, and we ended up rolling across the finish line sort of without even knowing that it had arrived. None of the Mirage riders got points for the Omnium, and there was the usual finish-line crash.

But I was really, really, really upset about that finish. Notsomuch about my results, or my team’s results, but about the way the finish was set up. The finish line was at the bottom of a rolling hill, on the far side of a low bridge. There were cars obstructing the shoulder, as well as the officials’ tent, and there was a cop car on the left hand side that added to the confusion. We finished at high speed, but there was no way to truly accelerate or lead out or get away, and there was a perceived ‘squeeze’ at the finish line that really left a bad taste in everyone’s mouths. It was really unfortunate, because the course itself was such a great course. But if you want to tie it up with a bow, you have to have a great finish. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, and a good rider went down because of it. I had such a bad taste in my mouth after the race, that I decided to come home instead of contest the TT and Crit over the next two days.

Now, what’s the moral of this story? Hmmm. I could point fingers everywhere, but instead, I think it’s important to make something constructive out of this experience.

• First off, it was, for me, a great race. For 98% of that event, Mirage was at the front, attacking, blocking, counter attacking, and trying to keep the pace high.
• I’m really happy with my fitness right now, and that of my teammates. We rode well together, communicated, and basically played the game. I like this. It’s something I’ve dreamed of for years.
• When you have a complaint, not only do you count to ten, you count to about 1000. You write your complaint down on paper, edit it, rewrite it, and then submit it to the Race Director. For this event, as soon as I was finished, I did everything wrong, and I went after the Finish line officials, the Race Director, the local Gendarmes, and several teams that never bothered to show their noses at the front. It was the WRONG WAY to elicit change or get an audience that would listen. Later, much later, I was able to talk with two or three officials, and two Race Directors, to vent my comments. They listened, they agreed, and they vowed to change. I also posted all the GOOD THINGS about the course and race on the local state racing forum. The thing is, that you’re not going to be able to re-race the race. It’s over. It’s done. You can’t affect the outcome. Move on.
• No matter what, no matter how early or how late you get to an event, SCOUT THE FINISH LINE!!!! Had I KNOWN that there would be a downhill finish, with different road types, different cones, etc. I would have been better prepared. Had I KNOWN where the finish line was (it was definitely confusing, thanks to a million cones and cars in the way), I would have been better prepared and picked a better location to be in, or I would have known where to attack.

There was lots to like about this race, and lots to dislike. However, its’ proximity to Dallas, and its’ time in the season, make it a must-do for next year. Hopefully the promoter will take the lessons to heart, but I also need to show up better prepared. I might GPS this thing next year.

TSS for the race was 229 points, IF was 90.2%, and Pnorm for the event was 259 watts. The attacks were my strong point, though they may have been TOO strong, since I never got enough people to go with me. Lesson learned.