Tour de Gaslight

This past weekend I raced in my first Tour de Gaslight State Criterium Championship.  Since the season is winding down this race was a kind of a welcoming sign,  soon I will be able to sit around and watch college football.  The season has been long and hard, but I have learned a lot about racing and myself. Leading up to this race my training had been giving me some good feedback, so I was ready.   However this race was going to come down to a sprint, my weakness.  So I knew my goal for the day was 100% breakaway all or nothing, that was my shot.

The warm summer had yielded to some cooler days, so that was to my advantage.  The circuit was near a mile long around Gaslight Village and East Grand Rapids High School.  The course was flat and somewhat technical with a sharp left hander after a long back stretch leading into a head wind.  Positioning into that corner was key for the finish. This circuit was set up to be fast.  Unlike many races prior, today I made and effort to line up on the front row.  I wanted to get and early jump and position myself on the front.

We were maybe a little to tightly packed on the line, I was sure someone was going to hook handlebars and wreck.  However the start was clean and I took off as planned quickly slotting in line at the front.  At the end of the first lap there was a small push by three to get off the front of the pack.  I didn't want this to happen so I drove the pace of the pack to bridge the gap back.  However though, that also meant I was leading the pack into the first corner at speed for my first time.  I horribly miss gauged the corner and nearly went wide into the curb.  After the gap was closed I decided to relax a little and wait for my chance at a break.   At around 15 minutes into the 50 minute race the bell was rung for the first prime prize lap.   This is generally a good time to make a move so I got myself ready.  Sure enough as we went to the line 3 guys had driven away from the pack, so I quickly jumped the gap and joined them.

We were a strong group of four, I thought for sure we had a chance at being that break.  The one that got away for the race.  We stayed off the front for 3 laps I believe, but the pack was having nothing of us getting away.  I think they saw the danger and strength of us four and they worked hard to bring us back in.   Once caught I decided I best relax for a bit.  I had been on or off the front far to much, a better strategy would have been to save energy for the inevitable sprint.   That didn't mean things were easy though, fending for position in the pack is cut throat.  At one point I was run wide up onto a curb and another time bumped elbows with a fellow rider.   After the curb incident I moved to the back of the pack, mostly cause I wasn't sure if I had cut my tire or not when the carbon rim hit the concrete.  Luckily I hadn't, but not being able to trust your tire for a few laps makes things very interesting.  As time ran out, I knew my chances were feeble.  I had played my cards, and the field ate me up.  All that was left was to give it what I had and try to fight with the sprinters.  I only got 29th out of 42.  I wasn't let down by the day though.  I knew my strategy was break,  I tried and failed.  Some days the breakaway works, but not on a day were the race pace averages near 26.5 miles per hour.

Gaslight Full Results

Time Trial Weekend

Saturday was the makeup date for the 4k State track time trial.  Unlike the previous weekend the forecast was clear and there would be nothing to stop the event.  I had thought the 3k sucked and was already hard enough,  the 4k wasn't going to be much better.  I am still not much of a track rider, my peddle stroke is not smooth enough to be fast on a fixed gear bike.  I think this winter I will have to buy a used track bike to do velodrome workouts next year.  Maybe try a few scratch races. The benefits from track workouts can greatly increase your sprinting speed, and peddling speed in general.  The track will make you a faster bike racer, just take Mark Cavendish for example. 

Since the velodrome is 200 meters around I would be doing 20 laps today.  The main goal is to keep the bike on or below the black line, to ensure you are doing the shortest route possible.  This is the one thing I am actually good at on the track.  The hardest part about doing these events is I am using a borrowed bike.  All setup is done at the track and it always tends to be different from one day to the next.  Also your gearing selection is very limited.  For today's event I was using at 48/15 T combination.  If I build a track bike I am going to put a crank bigger then 48T on it.

Maybe the hardest part of this time trial is the standing start.  In a regular TT you can start in a easier gear and slowly shift up.  On the track you are stuck spinning the big gear.  The first lap can cost you tons of time if you have a slow start.  So when you stat the first few peddle strokes require a ton of muscle.   After that you can settle down and get into a rhythm.  20 laps is a long time.  My run wasn't to bad,  my lap times stayed fairly consistent.  The problem was I just wasn't fast enough.  I finished 7th/8 in category.   The funny thing is I can do a 20k time trail with a faster average speed then a 4k on the track.  Hopefully after some more track work next year I can master this skill.

State Track Results @ Bloomer

Sunday was the big event for me.  The Hines Park Time Trial.  Two years ago I had raced my first bike racing event here.  Seems like a long time ago but since then I have had a lot of fun.  I have also been able to push my fitness to new levels.   The race is a 20k out and back race against the clock.  Seams easy right?  Well Hines runs East to West and has a bad habit of being a wind tunnel.  Time trials hurt, and to add insult to injury this race starts heading East with the tailwind.  So, the last 6 miles can be summed up by how much pain your able to withstand. 

Luckily my start time was 8:47 am, meaning I could race in the cool morning air for a change.  My previous times were 34:49 and 30:13 last year.  My training had indicated that I was on fitness to run around 29 minutes flat, so I was hoping I could break into the upper 28's.  Being the engineer I am I had my splits planned out on how fast I needed to reach the turnaround to meet my goal.  However there was one small glitch in my plans, the wind was light and not heavy.  On a bike your biggest enemy is air resistance.  This force increases exponentially once you reach speeds over 20 mph.  So bike position becomes everything.  I had worked a lot on my aero position and felt confident that I could slice through the head wind.

Back to the race though, so how is a light wind bad?  Even with a light wind at your back it still feels like a headwind because your going so fast.  Also it would mean my pace estimates were are worthless.  So I started out smashing my pedals turning them over at an average rate of 95 rpm.  Everything felt awful, my speed wasn't what it should have been and I was falling off pace.  So I just kept gunning it.  I reached the turn around point well off my mark.  In fact it caused me to panic some because I didn't want to miss my goal.

First off I will say biking into a head or cross wind is never fun, there is no coasting.  You have to constantly maintain momentum and just power through it.  That's were the pain element factors in,  as the lactic acid builds the legs just burn and hurt.  Cause of the wind I had started to hard, I was actually ahead of my pace based on the wind.  Halfway through the return trip the pain finally caught up with me.  To make matters worse I hit a pothole and almost crashed.  Its at this point a sane person gives up, there is no point in deliberately making your body hurt.  However I just kept turning over those pedals at 95 rpm.  I think the grimace on my face showed it all coming down the finish chute.  However I stopped the clock at 29:02 and some change.  Right on pace after all, funny how that works out.  My time was good enough to grab me 6th/15 in category and 31st overall.  Not to bad considering I do not have a real time trial bike and rear disc wheel.  Those items alone could make me more aerodynamic and save me an extra 10-90 seconds over this distance.  Next year I will have to break into the 28's.

Hines Park TT Full Results

Milford Criterium

The Milford Criterium was one of the events I was really looking forward to this year, I had missed it the previous year because I was camping in Oregon.  I had spent the previous day at the velodrome for the State events.  I showed up too late for the 200m and then the 4k got rained out.  So I spent 5 hours at the track to get a little over an hour of practice.  That aside I was still feeling good to race.  Other then the Hines TT and Kensington Valley road race this is the closest thing to a home race I have out here.

The course was set in downtown Milford with a loop that was near 1 mile.  This course however was somewhat technical with lots of elevation change.  The hardest part was the near 120° corner that lead into an uphill segment to the finish line.  Throughout the day this corner had been the scene of many wrecks.   Including a few in my race. In fact all the photographers seamed to congregate in this corner to capture the crashes.

My race was scheduled for 50 minutes.  I had heard in the parking lot before the race that several teams were going to hammer the pace at the start.  Mostly to try and weed out some sprinters and drop them off the back.   The rumor was true because as soon as we started the pace was harsh.  I had a bit of a slow start, but I settled in and started to work my way from the back to mid pack.  Eventually I was going to go to the front, but as I got nestled in the middle of the pack my rear tire started to feel really funny.  Due to this I went to the back of the pack to look at it.  Riders agreed it looked low.  So I went in the pits to change my rear wheel. 

In most circumstances they will give you a free lap to rejoin the race and be on the lead lap.  Such as a crash or some sort of mechanical.  The referee quickly looked over my wheel and denied my free lap.  The tires pressure was not low enough.  After the race I found a cut in the center of the tread, the sealant I put in though sealed it before it went flat.  Anyhow I rejoined the pack, a lap down.  Since I was no longer in contention I just sat on the back and rode out the rest of the time.  The rest of the race though was filled with several attacks.  Eventually 4 riders slipped off the front to stay clear to the end.  The harsh pace had took its toll on the field, also given the lack of teamwork by the field the gap was never closed.

Overall the race was a bit of a big letdown for me.  Not only had I had a bad day, but almost everyone of my team had.  One of my teammates crashed and hurt his shoulder badly.  However I did the right thing changing my tire, its to bad the referee didn't side with my decision to change tires for precautionary reasons.  Oh well, that's racing.

Milford Full Results

A Message to Triathletes

Sigh, so I am out riding at Island Lake park and a triathlete passes me. Since my goal for the night was an easy ride I kept a nice steady pace, no racing him. It just so happens my pace kept me 100 to 200 meters behind him.  Well then I decide to do a few intervals.  Once again my goal was just to loosen my legs up to race this weekend. My first interval I never caught him, but my second interval was a steady 6 min medium effort. Well I end up passing him.  I look back and can see he is trying really hard to stay with me. A few minutes later at the end of my interval he tries to follow me through a 90 bend I took at over 25 mph.  I hear an awful noise...carbon meeting road.  He had blown the corner and laid the bike down skidding off the road into a ditch breaking the fork and top tube of his Cervelo P2.  I kind of feel like an ass now, then again it was his fault for trying to follow me.    I turned around though to make sure he was ok and offer help. I feel like I indirectly caused him to crash by pushing him harder then he should have been going.  I guess I should have stopped for a few minutes to make sure I had a clear road to do my intervals.

So my questions are, why do people treat training like a competition and why do triathletes have this grudge against roadies?  I mean I would never take unnecessary risks training just to keep up with someone.  There is no shame in getting passed training, not every ride is a race. Oh well...

Racing the Pave of Fenton and Flint

Saturday July 24th I raced in the Maillot Jaune road race in Fenton, MI.  On tap for the day was 53 miles, or 4 laps at just over 13 miles.  For a change the weather was cool and wet, it even rained during the race.  While the weather was great, my body wasn't feeling so hot.  Monday I had hurt my knee, it was still swollen and healing. The course featured several nice climbs, so it suited me well. The first lap of the race went off in a very lazy fashion.  Nobody really wanted to take a run off the front, given the conditions and the length of the race.

The second lap things got a little more boring, our field was passed by two other fields.  In the process one person slipped off the front.  I didn't notice and I think most the field didn't notice.  Instead of chasing the guy we all decided to just let him go.  He was from Kentucky and supposedly very strong.   I was in no shape to help set up a chase, my goal for the day was just to make it to the finish.  So I just sat in the field doing anything to not make my knee swell.  Nothing much happened on the next few laps besides a few small accidents caused by pedestrians in town.  For the most part the pact made it to the final climb all intact.  A few attacks were quickly launched and I was quickly falling off the back.  Accelerations on a climb were just something I couldn't handle this day.  I stayed my tempo and made it to the top within arms reach of the pack.  So I quickly latched back on and now it was an easy downhill to the finish line.  Going around the final corner I was still in the back of the pack, this was okay though because I quickly began my slingshot move towards the front.  I think I topped out near 44 MPH in my sprint for the line.  However I dipped out of the draft to quick and burnt up a little, but I still got 9th.  I lost 8th place by a fraction of a tire width, a real photo finish.  All and all it was a good day given my expectations going into the day.

Maillot Jaune Full Results

Sunday July 25th I was off to Flint, MI to race Le Champion Pave.  I have to admit I was a little concerned with racing in Flint.  Its not really known as a very nice place.  In fact, its about as scary as Detroit.   However though the race was to be put on in dead center downtown running through the University of Michigan Flint campus and down the bricks of Flints main street.  It was a longer circuit for a criterium, but the only thing that mattered was the bricks.  They are a beast of there own to race on.  Luckily carbon dampens the bone jarring vibrations some.  When I arrived downtown I was quiet surprised to find the city deserted.  It really is almost a snap shot from another decade.  There were a few spectators, but beyond that an empty town.  However I have to say I enjoyed the setup, I hope this race just gets bigger and bigger in the future.

My fields crit was scheduled for 50 minutes plus a lap. The race started out hard,  as usual with a race like this everyone wanted to attack where it hurts.   That being on the stretch of bricks.  I kind of knew at the start I lacked the explosiveness to do good in a sprint finish, the legs hadn't fully recovered from racing the day before.  So when the attacks started and the field was being lazy with bringing them back, I quickly went to the front to do some pace work.   I wanted to make sure no breaks got free this day.  I even enjoyed a few turns at hammering the pace through the bricks.  I'm not sure how to pin it, but it brings a smile to your face to just hammer it, then look back at the suffering you had caused. For the day it was mission accomplished for me, no breakaways succeeded and everyone was grouped for a bunch sprint finish.   So I sat up and let my rested teammate contest the sprint in which he ended up with 6th.  All and all it was a solid weekend of racing for me.  My strength really surprised me in Flint, I had great power endurance.  Fenton also gave me a lot of confidence for the races to come.  It hopefully should make for a very interesting last month of the season.

 Le Champion Pave Full Results

Catching Up!

So, the past few weekends having been action packed.  I still have a lot of catching up to do.

July 10th I raced in the USAC NRC Meijer Grand Cycling Classic.  Being part of the National Racing Calendar series meant the field would be tough.   To make matters worse the race was held on the bricks of downtown Grand Rapids.  The most challenging part of the weekend though was I would have to compete with the Category 2 field.  For me this race was going to be a huge test.  Could I hang with the Cat 2's, and could I handle the brutal heat and humidity that this year Michigan summer is dishing out.   Lining up at the start I knew I wouldn't have much of a shot after I saw the quality of the riders in the field.  So my motive of the day was survival.  The field was 83 riders, not the biggest I have been in.  The race started out in a fury, the pace quickly went up to around 28 MPH average.  I felt good for the first few laps so I tried to move my way up the field.  Big mistake...I put my heart rate to high.  The pace never slacked and my heart rate never went down.  So after 30 minutes of racing I pulled the plug and left the pack.  I had been red lining over 190 bpm for over 10 minutes.  While I didn't finish I learned a fair amount.  Next year I will be ready.

July 11th I raced in the Terry Reisch Memorial Charity Road Race.  Recovering from the heat stroke I suffered the day before I was ready to go again.  I wasn't to excited that this day would be even warmer, and the race would be much...much longer.  Since this was a charity race in the middle of nowhere the field was small.  The course was a 4 mile loop that we would race 8 laps.  It had a few short hills that would suit me well.  The race started very relaxed and lazy, nobody was to thrilled to race in the heat.  

On the end of the second lap two riders attacked.   I was feeling fairly good so I decided to bridge the gap and make it a 4 man break.  However, the pack wasn't going to let this break go and we were quickly brought in.  Shortly after that 4 more riders went off the front.  This is when the race got frustrating, none of the other teams would share the load of chasing the breakaway.  So 3 men were doing the work of chasing 4,  if you do the math its easy to tell who would win.  I was one of those 3, after a half hour of hell I gave up.  I was spent and starting to suffer heat stroke.  The rest of the race I spent recovering unhappy.  On the final lap I wanted to let my anger go, so the last 3 miles of the race I decided to go to the front of the pack again and drive the pace.  I didn't care where I would finish, I just wanted to make people hurt since they were all to lazy to help bring back the break.   So I just sat on the front and pounded the pedals, in the end I gave my teammate a very good lead out that snagged him second in the field sprint.  So even though the race sucked, I was happy with being in a break shortly.  Then putting on the hurt at the end.

 Terry Reisch Full Results

 July 17th I raced in the BTR Criterium.  Held on the campus of Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo this was a home race for a few of my teammates.  Luckily for me I was on vacation in Sawyer, MI on the west side of the state so the drive to the race was short.  Once again though the heat and humidity was nuts.  The race was slated for 70 minutes on a short circuit.  The heat has not been treating me well so my goal was survival.  For a change the pace was fast and the group stayed bunched.  My day was eventful though, about half way through the race I hit a crack in a corner and about crashed when my wheel skipped.  Later in that same corner I would drop a chain.  Despite all that I was still sitting comfortable in the pack.  However lady luck just wasn't with me, and with two laps to go my rear tire went flat.  Turns out my valve stem developed a slow leak, my guess is when I hit the crack it got knocked loose.   Anyways since there was only two laps to go I couldn't take a free lap and rejoin the race.  Two flats in less then a month is horrible luck.

 BTR Full Results

Superior Bike Fest!

June 25th through 27th I was on vacation in Marquette, MI.  Well, not so much a vacation but participating in Superior Bike Fest.  Which also is the official state road racing championship for 2010.  Marquette is about 8 hours from Detroit and is part of Michigan's upper peninsula.  Superior Bike Fest consisted of 3 races, a downtown criterium, a road race, and a circuit race.  

Friday was the criterium, it was a very stormy day so I decided I was going to race my new Damocles if I decided to enter the race.  Rain poored down most of the day and wrecking the Noah was not a risk I wanted to take.  So I departed the hotel on bike to the race.  Quickly, I found out that something was not right with my new bike.  Turns out later I would find I put my headset together wrong.  Needless to say with the crappy weather I decided to just sit on the sidelines and watch the race.  Smart idea I thought.

Saturday was the state road race championship.  The course was a 55 mile out and back.  At about mile 2 you had to climb Marquette Mountain, which is a punishing hill.  After that the course is mostly rolling hills, a few of them fairly tough.  The weather was cool, damp, misty and very foggy.  Nice weather for a race in my opinion.  My day started a little slow up the first hill, but after I was warmed up I took no time in trying to make a move off the front.  After a mile or two I was brought back in.  I patiently waited in the field for a time to make a second move.  Then there was an attack, and one of my team mates went with it.  So I played it cool, and sat in the pack.  Turns out 8 riders went off the front, with most teams represented the race was basically over.  However there was still a chance the break away could fall apart so I kept on trucking.  However at mile 25 for some reason the support vehicle with all our spare wheels left for the break...against policy.  Turns out lucky me got a flat a few miles later, so with no replacement tire I spent the next few hours sitting on the side of the road freezing waiting for a sag vehicle.  Luckily for me this old lady felt bad for me and gave me a blanket to keep warm.  So after an extra 2.5 hours I finally made it to the finish line...cold and very angry.  I just walked away, no good would have come from me blowing up in the race directors face.  Bad luck I guess, always next year.

Sunday was the final race, a quick but challenging circuit race.  With the race being only less then 20 minutes it was going to be a hard effort.  The circuit was a small loop around this park on a small peninsula outside of Marquette.  The race was only 4 laps.  The course consisted of a very narrow road with a nasty hill and a technical decent.  To win this race you needed to be able to climb, so I thought I had a decent shot.  As the race started the first 2 laps for me were hard, my body just wasn't warmed up enough.  Lap 3 proved to be much better and I started to work my way back into the race.  Lap 4 was all or nothing, I gunned it up the hill moving into the top 15, maybe to hard though cause I blew up a little.  Coming down the hill I slipped to 17th place.  I figure if the race would have been 2-4 laps longer I could have worked myself up into the top 5.  Oh well, a somewhat disappointing racing weekend.   I had a good time up north and I guess that's what matters the most. Now becomes the fun part of sending some nasty emails trying to get my money refunded for the race!  By no means what happened in the road race was acceptable, there should have been a car to give me a wheel...bottom line.

SBF State Road Race Results 

SBF Circuit Race Results