Wylde06

If there was a race around here with hill in the name...you better believe I would stay home and drink beer instead.

grolby

Hilltowns 3 for me as well. Got a so-so warm-up in but still felt pretty blah as we started. Went ok up the first two climbs, considering that it was balls-to-wall out there. Got a little unhitched at the top of the second one, but it wasn't too hard to chase back on on the (very fast) descent. Tried to recover in the wheels for a while, I had a bit of a side stitch from two VO2 max efforts in quick succession. I also didn't quite make the front group over the top of the climb, but I was at the pointy end of the chase group and after chasing hard for about 10 minutes we actually made the front group. Unfortunately, that was pretty much when I came apart. It was bad enough that I was cracking, but it was about that time that my back, still injured from crashing three weeks ago, pretty much seized on me. It all but locked up my right hip for a while, I basically had no power from that leg. Doing anything over Z2 was basically impossible because of the pain. So I ended up watching a lot of chasers go by me, with plenty in the tank but no way to get it onto the road. Pretty frustrating and uncomfortable.

This was a crazy-hard race. My NP for that first hour before I cracked was 263W. For reference, my 20-minute power is 248. What's interesting is that my performance was basically dead on my testing from a week and a half earlier. My best 5' and 20' efforts were within one watt of where I tested them. So yeah, back problems definitely made my eventual crack that much worse. And I guess it's possible that the injury had me down on power from where I otherwise would be, though it mostly didn't bother me until it pretty much blew up. But the bigger take-away is: dude, this race is really hard and you need to get stronger and faster if you're going to take it on as an actual contender. No surprise there.

It was cool to see TKP and longe and shovelhd, of course. At one point longe came by me in a group along with one of my teammates and I could only hang on the back pedaling with 1.5 legs for a few minutes until they were gone again. They were flying. And I have to say, definitely don't beat yourself up, man. Smarts aren't a whole lot of use on a course like that. It was pretty much one big W/kg festival out there today.

mike868y

"It was cool to see TKP and longe and shovelhd, of course."

oh...oh, I see how it is.

grolby

You're on my team, man! That means you get taken for granted now!

Just kidding, of course. It was awesome to have such a big squad in this race - seven! And mikey rode really strong. That was easily the most bad-ass chase I've ever done in a bike race.

hubcyclist

I stunk, that's all I have to say about that (although I technically had my best result of the year which isn't saying much)

mike868y

i kid, i kid. good work out there. i'm really surprised we clawed our way back on.

TheKillerPenguin

5.95w/kg NP for 5min and 6min, and 5.7w/kg NP for the whole 10min stretch before, up, and over those climbs. Going OTF before those things was not a wise choice, I entirely underestimated how hard we would be hitting them.

These are all records for me, btw.

shovelhd

Mikey, it's a tough race. I was behind the M40+ field behind yours. 10 minutes in 3 of 4 drop off, all Cat1's. 10 minutes later, half are left. It was a short but hard course. You did well.

shovelhd

Great to see all of the BF contingent. Thanks to longe and TKP for letting me bend your ear.

grolby

Not sure NP really applies for durations that short? I can tell you I did the first climb (according to Strava) in 3:54 at 6.18w/kg, second in 3:05 at 5.22w/kg (cause I was pretty toasted from the first one, but the whole 7:18 shebang was at 5.54w/kg which seems like... a lot. That's all AP; my normalized power for those durations is basically off the charts and I'm more or less discounting it. All of that, and I had to chase over the top of the second climb.

I was wondering WTF anyone off the front was thinking in those first 3.5 miles or so, because I figured we were going to be climbing insanely fast. Especially after the rocket-launch start. And we did climb insanely fast.

TheKillerPenguin

5min AP was 5.62, 6min was 5.68 (somehow this is...higher...), 10min was 5.25. It was a lot haha

What I was thinking otf: Eh, why not.

mike868y

thanks, I'm actually coming aware very happy with how I rode. I honestly did not expect to make it over the first two bumps with the group.

Ygduf

Raced smart today. Had one teammate who was capable and willing to mark the national champions duel that was certain to happen. Sure enough, 5 or 6 minutes into the race Scott Giles starts pushing the pace. My teammate did as instructed and waited. Scott and a strong sprinter, Mark, were up the road maybe 15 seconds and we were all seemingly content to do nothing. Eventually Matt Carinio raced across, with my teammate in toe, and the break was made. We're not yet 10 minutes into the race, but I'm happy. My teammate has instructions to do nothing in the break. Be smart, conserve, and let them duke it out.

It took me 2 or 3 tries, but I finally got clear of the pack to bridge across. The false starts meant the break was 20ish seconds up the road, and with strong headwind/tailwind I wasn't certain I could make it if they didn't want to let me. But, the risk paid off as Scott Giles was the only rider there who could keep me off, my teammate isn't working, Mark is a sprinter, and Carinio/Giles aren't really committed to working if the other will just beat them for the effort.

It takes me 5 or more minutes, but I finally get there. As I get there, we hit one of the 180s and I just about lose contact. It was... difficult for a moment, but I refused to let up and got back on for the 2nd time. Now we're 5, far ahead of the pack, and Giles, my teammate and I take turns making Carinio work. On one of the counters I get clear and put my head down. They're going to chase for a while and my teammate can win.

Hit one of the turn arounds and I see that Carinio is somehow clear of the other 3 and about halfway to my wheel. I redouble my efforts and tell myself that I will crack him before he catches me or I will die trying. I considered letting him catch, but the temptation to beat 2 standing national champions is too much and I nixed that idea. Head down, power down. Spin spin spin. He gets closer each turnaround, and then at one turn the 3 are nearest to me and Carinio is OTB of the break.

Huge adrenaline for the last 2 laps/5 miles. Make the 2nd to last 180 and my teammate gives me a thumbs up. Make the final 180, count to 10 before I pass the chase. Never look back and power through the line. Maybe 15 seconds clear.

Going to Denver tomorrow. Will be my first totally-off-the-bike days in I dunno, 20 months. Am pretty happy to have this result today.

(In the 2nd 35+ open race I played DS and got my 3 guys up the road in a 5-man move. I took the field so we had 4 guys in the top 6. very fun day!)


https://www.strava.com/activities/348916388

longe

i agree it wasn't prudent. what I was thinking otf: hey, it happens on TV.

shovelhd

Fudgy wins. Dude. You gotta go to Nats. You could be in stripes.

shovelhd

You could not outthink this course. I saw many try. Most failed.

grolby

Holy smokes, Fudgy. Good ride.

Ygduf

I'm looking at the calendar. 12 hour drive from here, but could go early and make a trip of it with my wife. Expectations would be zero for the first go at it, but if you all find me insufferable now, imagine if I won!

shovelhd

Do it. No matter how it ends up, you will never forget the experience. When I lined up there were 30 riders on the two front rows, and me and this other dude from TN were the only ones without stripes of any kind. You are on form. Now is the time. Go get it.

And no matter how much I bust your ass, I have mucho respect for anyone that lines up at Nats.

revchuck 

Hell yeah!

furiousferret

Good work fudgy!

tetonrider

technically they say that 5' is the minimum duration, but in practice those in the know believe that NP for anything <20' is not terribly relevant.

tetonrider

it's worth it.

my take:
(a) even though it is 12h, it is drivable. that doesn't happen so often. that drive is boring but easy.
(b) while you could win in your 1st go, just going gives a bunch of valuable experience. it's fun to race in a large field of riders where so many have a shot to win....AND you won't know the majority of them.
(c) you could have a shot in the TT. 35-39 field--for whatever reason--tends to have a bit less participation. 40-44 or 45-49 usually throws down the fastest time of the day. the fast guys in every field are still blazing, but the 35-39 just hasn't had as much depth. podium-potential, if not outright win potential.
(d) the RR is ALWAYS a crapshoot, but if you don't go you have zero chance of winning. that you won this race (congrats by the way!) means that you will at least have a non-zero chance of winning in UT in september. in some ways the course sucks, but in others it is great. IMO it is way too short for a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP (i'm not that upset about it as i have to get in the car and race 200 miles 15h later).

if you need any course insight, let me know.

tetonrider

you have these great #s . this is a sincere question--do you think they make you overconfident? do you think that your ability to hit the #s has been developed at the expense of race craft?

i mean NO disrespect at all, and i don't know your history, but as i fly by here i generally see 2 things: (a) you KILLING it in training and (b) something going wrong in racing. i'm sure i miss a TON by not being on here all the time.

this popped into my head when you said you are still a 3. i figured you had the points but were waiting for a goal race...but at some point i think you said you can't upgrade. just kind of amazed me with the #s , the way you train, the amount you race, etc.

mattm

Boom!

So awesome man.

I think Giles was pretty pissed about losing, and went pretty much from the gun in the p/1/2 race to make up for it.. or maybe he just always does that.

Anyways I almost made the bridge but suffered enough in the wind I eventually dropped out. At least one of us did well!!