DrPete 

Today was a good day.

I didn't realize just how much I'd had my confidence shaken by my last race 2 weeks ago. Suddenly I was questioning my fitness, my tactics, my bike handling, you name it. So today's race was a big chance to get back on track, and I did it. Today's race is an hour around a 1.1 mile loop with 3 90's, a long descent, and a big-ring climb up to the finish.

I warmed up smarter than my last race. I took a couple quick laps around the course at a recovery pace, then kept my warmup on the trainer to control it a bit better. Also, after being one of the last guys to the line at the last race, I was determined not to let that happen again. I lined up in the front row this time...

Right off the line, one of my teammates attacked. Convenient, because I fumbled around with my clip-in and lost some ground. There was a good amount of attacking, but they all got reeled in. With about 10 laps to go, the good stuff starts happening.

Good thing #1: The most viable break I've ever been a part of. I see a guy off the front taking a solo flyer, and take advantage of the post-climb resting and a little momentum through turn 1 to attack the pack. I fly around turn 2 and catch the solo flyer on the descent. I look back and hell, we've actually got a decent gap! So I keep on truckin' trying to get the break to stick. We put a little more time into the pack, but keeping the speed up with a 2-man break up the climb was tough. By the 3rd time up the hill, the pack is fighting for a prime, we're both ready to blow up, and we're caught.

Good thing #2: Enduring the pain. After I got caught, I was in PAIN. I kinda let myself drift to the back of the pack and think "hmm... I'll recover here for a little while." Then I realize I'm having trouble even staying ON the back. Come on, Pete, stay on it. A little pain now saves a lot more than going OTB. So I spend a couple laps with my inner voice screaming at me to hang on, and by the 3rd trip down the descent I got my legs back.

Good thing #3: I managed to work my way back up the pack in the last 5 laps to take a run at the sprint. I didn't do a fantastic job keeping my position on the descent and into turn 3, so I actually ended up in 30th-40th at the base of the climb. I managed to drop the hammer and pick a decent line to finish 19th out of 100 starters and 63 finishers.

All in all, a good day, and most of all I got some good experience in the break, digging deep to get recovered, and staying reasonably competitive to the finish. Time to go look at the Powertap file... Only bummer is that my PT went to sleep at the start line and I didn't notice it till 2-3 laps into the race... Oh well.

Also, great to meet rapidcarbon and MDcatV out there--MDcatV's team put on a great show in the 3's race...

Here's the lowdown from the PT for the race (minus 2 laps)...

Time: 55:17 (again, missing a couple laps)
Average Power: 225 Max: 1212
Normalized power 317W, IF 1.053 (Might be time for another round of testing...)

Treefox

Tysons must be a soulless place to ride...

TheKillerPenguin

excellent.

patentcad

I shopped at T. C. once.

GuitarWizard

I just had the best tuna sandwiches ever.

botto 

OK Pete,

Now that you have your MoJo back, repeat this line before your next race:

My name is Doctorus Pete Maximus, surgeon of the Armies of the North, captain of the BF Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Giovanni Pinarello. Father to an unborn son, husband to a bike-widowed wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.

DrPete 

Has someone been reading quotes from "Gladiator" somewhere?

Welcome back.

Enthalpic

Or the The Princess Bride

bigskymacadam

nice work. nice read. good day, indeed!

DrPete 

It's easy, though--go fast, take a left at the nondescript office building.

DrPete 

Wasn't that Inigo Montoya?

Greg180

Way to go Pete! Now when RoJo drops the hammer on his next race both my inspirations will be back!

Snuffleupagus

Maximus would beat Mr. Tightpants' arse any day of the week, and thrice on Sunday

Keep it up Doc.

DrWJODonnell

Way to go doc! I love your reports because I can see such great progress from when you were ust a little weedhopper cat 5!! Keep it up!

MIN 

DrPete are you really a doctor? What kind?

zimbo

Good work, Doc!

--Steve

DrPete 

General surgeon. Hopefully a vascular surgeon in a couple years.

MIN 

It's just that I got this curious bump on my..



How does a doc post so much?!

DrPete 

I've got the "year off," i.e. working in a research lab until july. Lots of idle computer time, along with other luxuries like weekends, sleeping at night, and the like.

zimbo

I can't believe how high your VI is. It's amazing. You must have a whole lot more anaerobic work capacity than I do. Seriously, in today's race I wasn't pedaling for a whopping 19% of the time and I spent 33% of the time above 375 watts (which is my Anaerobic Zone) yet my VI was still only 1.04.

--Steve

DrPete 

It takes a lot of watts to accelerate my big a$$ up the road...

Really, though, one thing that always surprises me is the fact that just about all of my races are all about anaerobic endurance. I mean, I've never hit a high for 1-minute or 5-minute power in a race--I have to test those specifically on training rides. Maybe it's a style difference or something...

Hey, wait a sec--I didn't post my VI. But it was 1.41...

DreamTheater

Nice ride and report!

zimbo

I posted about this a few days ago. In a crit, I'm definitely limited by AC rather than FTP.

Since I knew your average watts and your normalized watts, I was able to do the math. But seriously, I've never ever seen a VI that high. Not even close. What I'm guessing is that you're able to do a lot of work in the 2x FTP range whereas I'm only able to do anaerobic work in the 1.2 to 1.5 times FTP range.

--Steve

Robobo1

Congrats Dr. Pete! I wanted to make it out there, but with no car, it's a bit of a hike.

Great job!

DrPete 

Well, here's a representative shot of the race... A couple quick, hard efforts, a steady climb, and a long descent.