The Peter Teeuwen Memorial Omnium 23 Mile Time Trial #2

Posted by Dan on 27. July 2009 18:30

Sunday was the PLT TT #2 and having just got in from Mathias, WV, I was ready to go. Now that Chris McMillan has upgraded to Cat 3, my main rival is Matt Keane of Fat Frogs. I've come in 30 seconds or so behind him a few times now, with my 8 second lead in last weekend's TNP TT the one exception. Today I'd try to do that again.

My time from PLT #1 was 0:51:48. I was shooting for less than 51 minutes. I arrived with plenty of time to warm up and make a few attempts at pinning my number on the skinsuit. Start time was 10:09 AM and it was already getting hot. Winds were from the southwest at about 10 mph. That worked out well as the direction favored the return portion of the course.

As an added bonus, we had a starting ramp and Gerald Teeuwen held starters to give us that extra boost. I'm a huge fan of this and hope they keep it. I always wondered why the PLT was the only TT that required starters to clip in after the start.

I hit the ground running and tried to keep my power output about 10 watts above FTP, knowing it'd average out to be right at FTP and I could build from there as time went on. I felt very good and kept the pace high all through the headwind portion of the ride. After the third turn, the wind was less of a factor and I picked it up a little more. I didn't pass a single rider until after the fourth turn, where I scooped up five of them before making the next turn. Then another before making the final turn onto the final 6.1 mile straight. This was the fun part, as my speed didn't drop below 28 the whole way home. When I crossed the line, I was going 32.

After a few moments recovering and fighting the urge to hurl, I checked my watch. It APPEARED as though my time would be 0:49:something. Unfortunately, it turns out my watch was a minute and a half off of the official's and my final time was 0:51:39 - a mere 9 seconds faster than last time. Coincidentally, Matt's time was 0:51:11 - 4 seconds faster than HIS last time. That time got me second place.

PLT TT #3 is next Sunday. I'm shooting for a sub-50 minute time, though at this point I think shaving 20 seconds off my last time is a more realistic goal. My average power says I could have gone harder, but my lungs tend to disagree. Being a man of science and believer in numbers, I side with the PowerTap.

Lost River Classic

Posted by Dan on 27. July 2009 05:01

Photo poached from Joseph Breenskag

After a hectic few weeks, I was looking forward to an easy weekend with only one TT on Sunday. Maybe I'd finally get the "lawn" manicured so the neighbors can sell the house they've been earnestly trying to offload for quite some time. Then Wick calls and says, "Hey, let's do Lost River." And with that we were off to Mathias, WV for more fun in the sun.

We departed Friday afternoon with Wick feeling a like he got in a fight with a Budweiser truck. We stayed at the Lost River Grill and Motel. I chose it because a) it was cheap and b) it read TERRIBLE reviews so I wouldn't be disappointed. Turns out it was fine except our room smelled like it had been submerged in pond water for the two or three months immediately preceding our arrival.

Saturday morning we woke up and grabbed breakfast at the Grill part of the Lost River Grill and Motel. Good food, but it made it to the table about an hour and a half before the start of our race. Probably too late to be eating a heavy meal just before doing a morning of high-speed climbing.

Registration and parking were about 5 miles down the road. We had plenty of time to change, setup the bikes, get our numbers and phone in a warm-up before lining up for our start. I even bought the gamjams socks just in case I won. The extra $100 would have covered the motel and most of the gas. The masters race rolled off down the road and we made a hole for a sweet red Porsche Cayman pace car. The boys in France may have helicopters, but they don't have Porsche pace cars. A few minutes and a "get out the vote" announcement later and our Cat 4 race commenced with a neutral roll-out.

The first quarter-lap was done at a nice 18 mph. We made a right turn over a little bridge and the first climb began. The pace picked up, but not too high. We still had 20-some miles to go and no one wanted to blow up on the first lap. That climb was a fairly good one with a couple kicks that incited heavy breathing. The descent following the summit was flat out breathtaking. Imagine a road barely a lane and a half wide composed of pressed gravel, full of potholes and maybe a little roadkill. The road conditions left a bit to be desired, but that didn't stop us for charging off down the hill as fast as gravity would pull us. At the bottom was a right turn followed soon by another right turn where the second climb began immediately.



The second climb was worse. It went on forever and was much steeper. When the grade gets up around 15%, your front wheel starts lifting off the ground with each downstroke. The descent following that climb was perfect for eating and drinking and gapping. Unfortunately, that's what happened to Wick - the gapping part. The wheel he was on allowed a gap to open up and by the time Wick realized the rider couldn't close it, it was too late for him. And with that we have lap 1.

On lap two, the lead grouped shelled out all other non-contenders. There were 12 of us left when we started the climb to start/finish and we'd remain intact until the end. The rest were strung out all over West Virginia and assumed pulled.

On the final climb of the final lap, the group got restless. An attack with 200+ meters to go was answered by a few and the rest of us held on for dear life. I finished 9th with the same time as the top 3 - roughly 1:19:00 for 33.5 miles. Not too shabby.

Later that night, I watched stage 20 of le Tour and thought I was experiencing deja vu, except our climb was probably longer. A few less spectators, though.

This was another great race. I couldn't be happier with the quality of road races I've seen this summer. The quantity, on the other hand...

Thanks to National Capital Velo Club, all the sponsors, including gamjams.net, and all of the officials and volunteers for providing an exciting and safe race.

I'll add more pictures if I can poach some.

2009 Team Nature's Path Time Trial

Posted by Dan on 20. July 2009 03:53

This should be a short(er) post. Team Nature's Path put on a time trial in Midlothian covering a little more than 15.5 miles over some nice rolling terrain. Here's the profile:



A little backstory first. Friday morning at 4:00 AM, my alarm went off so I'd make it to the airport for a 6:05 AM departure for Providence, RI. I had a funeral to attend in New London and did not want to spend the middle of the day rushing around New England. My return flight departed Providence at 8:30 PM, so I left the reception and drove to the airport, dropped off the rental car and made my way through security by 7:30. After getting a bite to eat, I learned big storms in Philly had delayed my plane and we wouldn't be taking off until 9:10, which meant I'd miss my connecting flight. After some suave negotations, I managed to get on the Newport News flight landing at midnight-ish. A taxi cab to Norfolk Intl got me to my car and I walked in my front door at 1 AM. I'm pretty sure this is how the top 10 time trialists spend the night before an event.

But wait! There's more!

So I set the alarm for 6 AM, which gives time for me and the family to eat breakfast, drive to Midlothian, setup the bike, get dressed and still leave half an hour for warming up. Of course none of that can happen if I don't wake up at 6. One simple smack of the snooze button would mean no warm-up. Two would be catastrophic. So I woke up at 6:44 AM. In a record setting attempt, we all made it into the car with all gear and a bag of food by 7:00. I ate whatever Lydia handed me as we sped to Richmond. Watching the clock and getting nervous, I was mildly amused to look down and see the 'RUNNING ON FUMES' light come on. So we pull off the parkway and got gas. Returning to the Powhite Parkway I learned I could not get back on and had to backtrack to look for another route.

Eventually we made it and set to getting dressed and the bike ready. I had exactly enough time to swap the wheels, put on a bottle, change into a skinsuit and get my number pinned on. As Lydia was pinning me, my name was being broadcast through a bullhorn, telling me it was time to line up. Warm-up shwarm-up.

The rest is your typical time trial. Lots of riding, heavy breathing and sweating. Being only 15 miles, there was no need to drink so that wasn't an issue. There were several hills and a couple hairy corners, but overall it was uneventful. I felt as well as can be expected given the circumstances.

After a very long wait for results, during which time we made a trip to the local Arby's, results were posted. I got 1st place with a time of 0:34:49. The next rider was 8 seconds behind that and third place was only 1 second behind him. The top 5 were all within 32 seconds of each other. And everyone laughed when I put on my shiny silver David Bowie Spaceman shoe covers. Well who's laughing now?

Renfrew Rás Road Race

Posted by Dan on 20. July 2009 03:52

On Sunday, hot off a triumphant ride in Emlenton, Lydia and I went down to Butler, PA for the Renfrew Rás, a new road race run around the Butler County Airport and the small borough of Renfrew. Butler was roughly 45 minutes away so it was yet another early morning. Today's race promised to be an interesting one. First, I was doing the Cat 4/5 race. Apparently, they don't have the numbers in PA to do separate 4 and 5 races so they frequently combine them. When I asked about this, I got a lot of confused stares. Second, the course had a nice descent starting right at the start/finish line and gentle rollers over most of the course. The killer was the climb starting immediately after a left turn and lasting about 1 km. The grade was oh-steep percent. A climb like this would quickly separate the field into neat little pockets of riders categorized by their willingness to vomit on their handlebars.



So the whistle blows and 37 or so riders take the course. An immediate descent leaves everyone feeling like this could be a good race. There was a lot of working to go downhill, which I found to be a bit curious, but whatever. I'm not from around here. I tucked in and began recovering from my killer warm-up. Heh. We make it to the first corner and suddenly we have to pedal to keep up. So far so good. The pack remains tight and only the slightest bit sketchy. This section of the road will go down a mile or so and end with a left turn in the middle of Renfrew. We've been warned to be sure to downshift before making that turn. Not being one ignore advice like that, I did. Good thing, too.

The pack immediately stood up and began working. You could FEEL the heart rates skyrocket and breathing become very audible. As predicted, the pack was strung out quite a bit. There's no telling how many fell off at this point. I stayed as close to the front as I could without actually being on it. I figured worse case scenario, I'll drift to the back and hang on until the top. This strategy works for the sprinters in France, right? Turns out I didn't need to drift at all. Decent pace going up and we made our way through the remaining turns and rollers to do it all over again. One (unattached) rider (in a plain white jersey) went off the front on climb #1 and Lydia reported he had 16 seconds on us when we made it to the KOM point. I replied that "he's got nuthin" but with a lot more spit. It was a hard climb.

The climb did its job very well. The lead group consisted of 12 riders. What was behind us is anyone's guess, but other race reports lead me to believe it was a lot of singles. They were also pulling riders that were about to be lapped.

The leader was left out there for the rest of the course until someone pointed out that he does have a good lead and he is a good climber. Yeah, yeah. Good point and all. Well, we're cat 4s and we don't let anything get away, right? So on to the front I go to bring him back. We caught him on the descent and setup for the next climb.

This time, another (unattached) rider (in a plain red jersey) went off the front. Again, we didn't let him get far. The climbs actually felt good. Maybe it was the shortened length as compared to Tucker County, WV or maybe the grade was shy of 20%. I don't know, but it they were getting to be fun.

The twelve of us worked through the rollers and made our third climb. Still intact after the final climb, we worked our double pace line until about 2.5 km to go. At that point, the organization began to crumble. Clearly the riders were trying to conserve for the big finish that was just a s-turn, a hard left and a small hill away. Seeing them yammering on about who was going to pull, I decided to go. I jumped out of the saddle and heard someone behind me grunt something that probably meant, "Hey, fellas! That guy is making a break for it! We should get our act together right quick and give chase before he crosses the line and takes our victory!" or something dumb like that.

So here's my story: I hit it hard, putting out roughly 1200 watts for 5 seconds, 1000+ for 15 seconds. A great leap for a 4/5 race. I then settled down to about 400 watts, not quite sure how much of an effort I should be putting out. I did the s-turn and looked back. Nice gap. Sweet. I approached the left turn and looked back. Still had a decent gap, but they were closing. Made the turn - fast - and went for the hill making sure I did not go too hard before I got there, knowing I'd need it to climb. I made it onto the hill and was immediately overtaken by the group. By the time I made it to the line, 9 of them had already passed me. I got 10th and that was that.



In retrospect, I could have taken two different approaches, both of which might have produced a better result. I could have sat in and attempted to sprint. I was not having a hard time getting to the front, but I had previously identified at least two riders that were looking very strong, even at the top of the third climb. I liked my chances taking a flyer better than waiting for the sprint. As Wick says, no one likes a sprinter. The other thing I could have done would have been to not hold back. Instead of trying to guess how many watts higher than my FTP I could go, I should have went all out and stood when I got to the hill. I'm fairly sure I'd have done much better, maybe even won.

I want to thank Pa. Elite Velo Club/Hershey Cancer institute/GPOA/Cannondale Cycling Team for promoting and organizing this event. This was one of the best run races I've been to. They even had a shuttle bus to take spectators from the start/finish line to the KOM point. I was initially annoyed that Cat 4s didn't get their own race, but in the end, it didn't matter. The first climb took care of slower and sketchier riders. Plus the purse would have been limited if there weren't enough riders (not that it made a difference in MY wallet). I also would have liked to see our race at least as long as the women's race and I think we should have had our own KOM competition. There were no points for the 4/5s at the top of that hill, but there were for nearly all other races.

Those issues aside, it was a great race and I will make it a point to attend next year's. I highly recommend you do the same, if only so I can get more prize money.

2009 Emlenton Festival Duathlon

Posted by Dan on 15. July 2009 07:17

Each summer, my wife and kids head to rural Pennsylvania for several weeks of country life. She's been putting in some serious miles in the hilly terrain and thought the Emlenton Summer Festival's duathlon might be a good idea.

She decided the bike portion would be fun if she could find a runner. A quick call to the event organizer put her in contact with 14 year-old Mara White who was billed as a "high school track star from Ohio". How could she lose? All the pieces were in place. The next step was to do what any good cyclist does - drive the course, which she did. Immediately afterwards, she called me and asked if I'd do the bike part, citing the hills rivaled the Pyrenees or even the Alps. Me, being the chump that I am, said "Sure, OK."



We got to the event about an hour early to facilitate a good warm-up on the trainer. As I warmed up, I remembered the Thorlo ads from years ago where some guy ran a marathon in his Thorlo socks. I suppose I was thinking of worse case scenarios, e.g. my partner didn't show up and I was forced to actually run. With my feet. My fears subsided when Mara and her family pulled up and made their way to the registration table.



Around 9:00 AM or so, all individuals and run-only participants lined up. With a blast of the air horn, they were off, most like gazelles. Some not so much. I cleaned up, grabbed a fresh bottle and began nervously pacing up and down the street waiting for the first runners to crest the hill. Around the 20 minute mark, the first runner came over the hill and made his way to the bikes. Thinking last year's record run time was 25 minutes, I must admit I thought maybe this guy was going to clean our clock. If Mara could get in within 25 minutes, we'd still stand a good chance, but it'd require some work. Two minutes later, a string of five runners made their way over the hill. Mara was the fourth over the line and tagged me with what appeared to be her last bit of strength. She looked completely exhausted. Word is she had a bottle of water and sat for 5 minutes and popped up, ready to go again! If only I could recover like that...



My ride started with four riders ahead of me. From the line, I had a nice downhill with an immediate right turn in loose gravel. Having not ridden the course, I was just discovering all of these "neat" features at a frantically high speed. From the corner, the climbing began in earnest. Another right turn two blocks up put me on the main outward bound stretch. The next turn was just after the 3 mile mark. I had passed each of the four riders that started before me before making the turn. A slight descent and then... can you guess? RIGHT! More climbing. In theory, the ascending should equal the descending considering I'm doing a loop. I can tell you it did not feel like that. Gun to my head, I'd estimate the average grade of the climbs to be 3-5% with kicks up to 12% in quite a few locations.



Meanwhile, back at the start/finish line, my wife was arming my partner with weaponry in the event I didn't make it back within 30 minutes.

Just after the last turn, I shifted into my little ring in preparation for a serious wall that loomed before me. That was the moment I dropped my chain. No problem. I'll just shift to the big ring and it'll fix itself. Wrong! Nothing I did got that lousy chain back on. So I had to stop and put it on the old fashioned way - with my finger. Now I'm riding with white bar tape and a greasy finger. Could I climb the Wall with only nine fingers? We'd soon find out.



As it turns out, I could climb with one greasy finger sticking off the front of the bike. I checked behind me periodically but saw no one. Good sign. The line came and went. Our elapsed time was 0:52:04 which got us 1st place overall for a team and the fastest time of the day. Very satisfying.

Next year, I guess our goal will be to break 0:50:00. Who knows? Maybe if my chain stays on and I have use of all ten fingers, we can break 45 minutes. At any rate, Mara put in a stellar effort and we had a great time. As long as I'm not the one running, I might do more of these multi sport things.

ID3: East Coasters Criterium (Race #3)

Posted by Dan on 6. July 2009 06:56

The final day of the ID3 races was cold, wet and downright inhospitable. It was drizzling rain when I woke up and continued throughout the day. Temperatures hovered in the low 60s. Winds were predicted to be 5-10 mph from the west, but I'm fairly sure they were from the east providing a headwind on the back straight.

I arrived early enough to catch the two races prior to the 3/4 race. Corners were being handled very gingerly and the security of the course seemed to be questionable as a black pick-up truck slowly made its way backwards down the course towards the oncoming riders in the Masters race. Warming up under an awning, it occurred to me that if the drive had been 100 miles shorter, I probably would have bailed. Alas, it wasn't and I didn't.

19 Cat 3s and 4s lined up about 15 minutes past our start time. We got the standard briefing and took off. Immediately, I was caught behind a rider in the front row unable to clip in. He came to a complete stop while looking at his pedal which caused me to employ my masterful bike handling skills a bit earlier than anticipated. We both quickly caught the pack, but it didn't last long. The first and second turns were spaced about 40 feet apart and required a great deal of braking to navigate safely. My understanding was most crashes happened in turn 2. Eventually, the accordion effect created a gap a few wheels in front of me and just like that we were on our own.

In the span of 30 laps, a lot of those riders disappeared. I didn't witness a single crash, so they may have pulled off or were yanked. When the dust settled, there were three groups: a lead group of 6, the remnants of the main field consisting of 3 riders and finally me and one other rider. We spent the better part of the race working to catch the 3 and did so with three laps to go. It was a fairly spectacular catch - I blew by the lead rider milliseconds after he won a jersey prime, providing a little drama to the spectators. With only a few laps left and no danger of being lapped, the pace slowed a tad until the final sprint. In the interest of providing a good show for the crowd, we gave it our best Cat 4 dropped riders sprint, which I won. Had there not been an Omnium point on the line, who knows?

Overall, I finished 7th - redeemable for 1 Omnium Point. With my 1 point from the previous day's 8th place finish, I earned a total of 2 Omnium Points. Not quite what I had in mind, but I had a great time in that race, which surprised me. I wasn't looking forward to a 45 minute cold shower, but the thrill of the chase was overwhelming. Maybe I need a phantom break to keep me motivated enough to go off the front and stay away.

Many thanks to Ron Glowczynski and Roanoake Cycling Organziation and all of the officials and volunteers that made this a fantastic weekend of racing.

ID3: SkyPix Criterium (Race #2)

Posted by Dan on 5. July 2009 02:22

Another great day of racing! Today's event was a crit in downtown Roanoke. The 0.7 mile course had 5 left turns and a right turn going up a short hill. This hill proved to be quite a speed bump and a perfect place to wear down the field. Once atop the hill, two left turns took you back down and another put you on the finishing straight. High speed corners and lots of manholes. Fortunately it didn't rain.

I entered the Cat 3/4 as part of the omnium. The pace started off pretty fast - like 29+ fast. That's Fitchburg fast. It slowed after 2 or 3 laps to a more manageable pace, but a break of two wanted to keep it going. Lucas Harville and Dominik Meier went off the front and were joined later by two more. Half-way through the race, the perfect opportunity to form a chase group formed immediately after a prime so go I went. Eventually there were about six or so in the chase group. The workload was a bit lopsided, but it worked (pun intended). Based on the times being called out on the back stretch, it seemed the lead group of 4 was working very well together and keeping their lead fairly consistent despite our greater numbers. Long story short, I led with 2 to go, dropped back and got 4th in the sprint, 8th overall.

There you have it. I'm sure there will be some good pics up later, but I didn't take any of them. You'll have to use your imagination. When you do, I'm the one in blue.

Tomorrow is the East Coasters Criterium (Race #3).