Road Bike Racing - My Valley of the Sun race report

One down and two more to go. Today was the 22K TT portion of the 3 stage race.

I really wasn't looking forward to today, this was my first TT, hadn't spent much time with the setup, and frankly knew it wasn't my strong suit. I thought I'd do okay though and tried to keep a positive attitude.

Got to the staging area about 8:00 and my start time was 9:36. Plenty of time to get ready so I wasn't stressed but I was surprised that I didn't feel real energetic. :eek: I'd loaded up on carbs the day before, had a good breakfast, ate a power bar and drank a water 1 1/2 hours prior to launch. Started my warm up about 8:45 and felt kind of sluggish but tried to shrug it off. Had another power bar and bottle of water at 9:00 and continued with my warm up. Sucked down a GU at 9:20 and took my final (of 3 :eek: ) pre race wizzes and reported to the start about 9:30.

Staged and ready to go, time to forget everything else and put the power to the road.

5,4,3,2,1 and I'm off...or am I? I don't know if I tried to launch when the starter said one or if my gear was higher than I thought as there was a pause and I started to panick a bit. :o I had just watched someone have chain problems on their launch and that was stuck in my head. Oh no, I knew something was wrong and I was going to go toppling down that ramp :rolleyes: , but as that's going through my mind, I started to roll....thank god! I take off, 4 pedal strokes and into the aero position. It's a slight up hill virtually the entire way out and I knew this would cause me problems but I'd just pace myself and I'd be fine. 23, 24, 25, 26 mph and I start thinking, slow down a bit so you don't blow up. So I slow to 24 until I get about 2 minutes in and feel that I'm starting to work harder and my heart rate is getting elevated quite a bit. Long story short, at the turn around I'm only averaging 21mph , about 3mph slower than I had wanted.

Start heading back and now I'm averaging 25-26 mph, again about 2mph slower than my goal. To make matters worse...I got passed :eek: ....twice :mad: and these guys were 725 and 726..I was 722, that put's me a minimum of 2 minutes back. Passed a couple riders and yelled some encouragement (hope that's okay) and hit the final slight downhill before the last mile or so uphill (slight grade) finish. Pedaling pretty hard at this point and can't believe I'm only able to get 29.5 mph but put my head down and try to block everything else out. Cross the finish line somewhere between 37 and 38 minutes (I think) and just happy it was over.

I have no idea where this will put me but judging by the 2 guys that passed me...not good :( Oh well, just that much more incentive to train a little harder/smarter and practice riding in the areo position.

Tomorrow is the road race and it's 41 miles. Looking forward to it as this will be my first RR but my confidence is much higher!

Sunday will be the Crit but disappointed that it will only be 20 minutes :D :eek: , that should be a brisk pace, it'll be interesting to see how well suited I'll be for that.

Sorry about the long read...hopefully tomorrows will be a little more exciting.

If any of you were are in the VOS race, post up, I'd like to hear how you did.

Steve

Thanks for the report, but you shouldn't be so hard on yourself. Seems to me that you should be guaging your effort against yourself as you have no idea who those people were or if they were peaking for this race. Good luck with the rest of the stages.

Thanks for the report Stevo looking forward the the next two stages! Don't beat yourself up too much about the TT for all you know those guys are TT specialists. Some rider do well in the TT then can't handle the RR or crit. You seem to have a pretty good handle on the crit part so go with your strengths.

Not to beat dead horse but having an HRM would have helped you dose out your effort a bit more. It's always tempting to go out hard right out of the gate. My coach always has me wait about 1.5-2 min before getting my HR up into the high zone 4 low zone 5 range. Also for a tt of this length a good hard warm up is really important, you want to get those legs used to effort before you get on the course.

Ugggg, results are up.

Holy crap, there were 42 TT specialists/guys peaking out there that conspired to beat me :roflmao: :roflmao:

Out of 90 riders....43rd :mad: .....I'm average....oh no...not average, anything but that!

That puts me 3 minutes and 44 seconds back in 5B :o

Bummer thing is that all but one of my team mates are in 5A :rolleyes: maybe I'll be able to sneak up on em ;)

*no need to chase him, I passed him on the TT, he'll blow up* :D

2rodies, where was that advice ....oh I don't know...maybe 24 hours ago ;) I don't know, maybe that was part of it, or, maybe I'm just not a "TT specialist" ...you can bet I'll be working on that though :p

Thanks for the replies, I'll post up tomorrow, I'm off to bed, gotta be up at 4:15 :eek: .

Steve

Steve, hopefully you'll read this before the start of stage two...

3 hours minimum between meal and race, otherwise you're still digesting. GU 10 minutes before is fine. Watch the fluid intake, it's easy to go overboard.

If you didn't do it already (you should try to do it immediately after the race) stretch and throw your legs up on a wall. If you've got a massage stick, use it.

And you should have a bottle of Endurox or other quality recovery drink at hand IMMEDIATELY after the race, but no more than 15 minutes.

Stage races are all about recovery.

Not to beat dead horse but having an HRM would have helped you dose out your effort a bit more.

Beat away, Steve's got a hard head.

Steve, when you do get an HR monitor, keep in mind there's a lag between effort and HR. This is why 2Roadies coach has him ride TT's like that.

We'll get this kid squared away yet.

Steve ... you came in mid pack. For your first TT in a position you're not used to and with no gizmos to help (Pros don't always need them because ... well, they're pros but us mere mortals can use the help) I'd say you did well. I'll raise a beer to you even if you don't! Good job!

Steve, hopefully you'll read this before the start of stage two...

Well, I did as it's 3:30 and I've been up for 45 minutes :rolleyes:





3 hours minimum between meal and race, otherwise you're still digesting. GU 10 minutes before is fine. Watch the fluid intake, it's easy to go overboard.

Will do!






If you didn't do it already (you should try to do it immediately after the race) stretch and throw your legs up on a wall. If you've got a massage stick, use it. And you should have a bottle of Endurox or other quality recovery drink at hand IMMEDIATELY after the race, but no more than 15 minutes.


I didn't stretch too well right after but did do a cool down as well as drink a water, a Vitamin water (revive) and a Zip Fizz. I'm going to stretch here shortly and jump on the eliptical for a bit and will do it again when I get to the race.



Thanks Macman! Kind of in my nature to be competitive I guess so I kind. It's all good, I guess I had somewhat of a false sense of accomplishment with my previous race results. Probably not very realistic but I suppose it's better to think "I can" than "I can't". :D

I'm out......and thanks for the encouragement!

Steve

If you don't want to spend a bunch of money on recovery drinks, do what Joe Freil recommmends (based on a a trial by some doc). 16 oz of skim milk (I use powdered because I can keep it unrefrigerated in the car and just add water when I'm ready to use it.) with 5 tablesspoons of sugar. As stated above, do this within 15 minutes of end of exercise. The PhD says skim milk becuase the fat in regular milk delays the absorbtion of the protein. I add a bit of vanilla flavoring too.

If you see Clayton Barrows from Laramie Wyoming, tell him Kim said hello!

Thanks Rocky, honestly I don't know if I could get over the mental aspect of that, had to drink powdered milk as a kid and hated it :cry:

Well day 2's on the books now :D

Woke up this morning early as I previously mentioned but used the extra time to get ready, get in a short workout, and limber up. Knew it was going to be cold as the heater kept kicking on so I dressed warm and made sure I had plenty of gear. Followed the recommedation for an early breakfast and nothing but GU, water, and sports drink until the start. It was 39 degrees when we pulled up to the staging area and really had to fight the urge to over dress. We showed up at 6:00 but we seemed to have a hard time getting organized so it was a little stressful, not the way I like to start a race but what can you do? I was really hoping and figured that the race would take off slow to spin out a bit more.

Stretched, warmed up some, and reported to the start at 7:45 for my 7:55 start time. The course was 41 miles, 2.5 laps around a 16 mile loop. Whistle blows and we're off. I was a bit chilly for the first half of the first lap but then it happens. I'm running around 10th and somebody stands to stretch their legs for the first mild climb, but they were between 2 other riders and sure enough....CRASH! Crap, here I am again right behind a crash, quick glance out of the corner of my eye to make sure it's clear and I go to the right. Not a good record so far, 3 mass starts, and almost envolved in 2 crashes, I can't get moved to Cat 4 soon enough although they had a crash too. :( Anyway 5 or so guys try to make a break using the crash to seperate, I'm not letting that happen and start communicating to organize and we bridge within few minutes. Now I'm warmed up, and feel pretty good. The rest of the ride was pretty uneventfull. Lot of yo-yoing, tried to get a break going but only had a couple takers as there were team spotters disrupting the flow and I couldn't get people to just go around them. So, no break. We yo-yo for 39 fricken miles. Not wanting to be envolved in a crash I take a position in the front 5 and stay there most of the race. Actually did a fair amount of pulling, but not really pulling, just enough to stay warmed up, 20 pedal strokes, and fall back. No hard pulling by me except to bridge the two break attempts and I had 3 or 4 guys that would work with me but then let up and wouldn't continue. :rolleyes: Worked out good because the front 6 or 8 of us just kept rotating and had no problems getting back in the draft, nor did I use up much energy. If I had an HRM :o I'd almost bet that I was in zone 2 or low 3 two-thirds of the race. :eek:

The finish was on the only real climb (about 400' over 2 miles or so) at the top of the hill. I'm still a bit heavy at 195 and not a great climber or sprinter. 2 miles out and pace finally picks up and we start thinning out. I grab the right side to give myself an out should there be an incident and give it my best. The top 10 or 12 of us sprint across the line and gap the pack so I'm pretty sure our times are all the same. No bonus seconds for me but I'm not confident enough to duke it out, so I'm happy with that. Don't know what my finish was but it was toward the tail end of the top 10. Much better, I'm happy that as this race didn't suit me real well and I finished with no time loss and should have gained some time on some of the others.

Tomorrow's the crit and I'm feeling good so we'll see how it shakes out.

If you made it this far through my babbling...thanks for reading and thanks for the tips and encouragement.

Steve

If you don't want to spend a bunch of money on recovery drinks, do what Joe Freil recommmends (based on a a trial by some doc). 16 oz of skim milk (I use powdered because I can keep it unrefrigerated in the car and just add water when I'm ready to use it.) with 5 tablesspoons of sugar. As stated above, do this within 15 minutes of end of exercise. The PhD says skim milk becuase the fat in regular milk delays the absorbtion of the protein. I add a bit of vanilla flavoring too.


That will work OK, it's pretty much the 4:1 carb/protien ratio that's recommended.

There was a great threat around a while back about how to make Endurox at a discount. Might have been on another website. In any case the good commercial drinks have ingrediants like glutamine that the drink above won't get you.

Most of the important factors you can buy in bulk and mix up yourself.

Nice riding today Steve.

Steve good job! See the TT was no indication on how the rest of the weekend would go. Sounds like you road smart, stayed out of trouble and didn't use up too much engergy taking useless pulls. Well done!

Cool....can't wait to hear about the crit....

Sounds like an awesome weekend! Fun race-reports. I'll definantly check back on your crit results. Good luck. :)

Katrogen! Boise, Idaho huh? My home state and I'll be doing the Wells Fargo crit July 22nd there! I can't wait for this one, those things go off HUGE! Maybe I'll see you there?

2Rodies, you're right but the TT killed me. TT excluded, I'd be top five overall but hey, it's about having the whole package and you can bet I'll be more prepared next year.



Final report!

Today we were to go off at 8:40. Got to bed early last night and got some rest. Woke up at 5:15 and am already getting amped up for the crit. For me this is what the whole weekend was about. I couldn't wait for another crit after competing in my first. Todays was a little short, 20 minutes in a figure eight course of about 1 mile in downtown Phoenix.

Same routine as yesterday but less stress. Then in the middle of my warm up somebody I've never seen before walks up to me calling me by name?????? It's a fellow competitor and BF member :D . I show up to the start line at 8:30 after a good warm up and the preceeding race is just going off :eek: . 20 minutes of standing around :( so I do my best to keep stretching and warm. Previous race finishes and we're up with no warm up lap. :mad:

Whistle blows and I jump into the top ten and proceed to stay between the top 5~15 for the entire race except a brief stint in second :rolleyes: . The course was fun and the pace was pretty fast (didn't have a computer) without much yo-yoing. Primes come and go to which I stay with the lead pack around 5th position in case a team is going to make a break for it but don't give them any special effort as I want results. Last lap and pace picks up on the back stretch, now we're talking, and I'm ready to go. :D Come into the last corner in about 8th at a pretty good clip and shift up to prepare for the sprint. I'm on the outside due to concerns about the inside and squirly riders. Sure enough someone gets pushed out and into my line, now I'm on the brakes :mad: ...CRAP, 100 yards or so to go and I'm braking.... So much for that strategy :eek: Now I'm on it with everything I've got to make up lost ground and get my speed back up. I come up the outside and pass 4 or 5 riders for a 4th place finish. :)

Had a blast with this one, no crashes and a fun course.

Noel, it was good to meet you and thanks for the communication/letting me back in. Sounded as though you did pretty good and had a good time! We'll have to get together and work on our TTing ;) looks like you would have done well as I believe you were right there with me on both the road and the crit. GOOD JOB! Let me know if you want to ride anytime....drop me a PM.

Thanks to all of you for the encouragement, suggestions, and for reading. Good luck in your races!

Steve

Excellent finish! Good weekend of racing Steve looking forward to the next report...and get that HRM!!!!!

Great read! If I keep this up I'm going to want to race one of these days! ;)

Word em up Steve!

i thought for sure someone was gonna go down in those last 2 corners. I didn't like my oods so i went for the flyer comming down that backside straight. clean through though last 2 rights. i saw the banner and put my head down........well lets just say too bad that race wasn't 75m shorter. ;) but 6th was WAAAAY cool with me.
awesome to meet you IRL.

great racing - great weekend.

-N

Hey Noel, great job! I didn't notice where you were after the second to the last corner. Did you end up coming up behind me on the left side on the finish straight or were you on the right side and I *cough* passed you ;) :D

That was a crazy last couple corners. I too thought for sure there would be a wreck and didn't want to take the outside but figured it was for the best. Definitely not what I wanted to do but glad everyone came out of it on two wheels.

When's your next race? I haven't decided on a local one yet.

Steve

I've heard VOS is a very competitive race so to get results like that is awesome. Way to go and great race reports!!.

just thought I'd add a post from the other side. My valley of the sun experience was terrible. not because of the racing, that went very well, but rather because of the officiating. my TT was below average, i didn't really care that much since I haven't done any higher intensity stuff yet, i'm from colorado. in the road race i came in at around 7th place, but since the cat 4 field was passing a group of women at the finish they missed me on camera. later that night i was perplexed not to see myself in the results, so i went down to the crit the next day hours early to assure things be taken care of. i talked to the necessary officials and was told that they would be. raced in the crit that afternoon for a 7th place finish. drive home and decide to check the results...i'm still in neither of the results for the crit or the road race. numerous "final results" have been posted on the wmrc.org website and my name finally showed up in 39th place for the road race and not at all still for the crit. how they can just pick some random placing for the RR (there was a flippin' crash in the road separating the top 15 which i was ahead of and towards the front of that group). After trying to get in touch with the race organizers and even providing the name of the official i talked to who told me things would be set straight, i've been sent two automated e-mails saying that "sorry, things can't be changed now". I'm one pissed off bike racer.

just thought I'd add a post from the other side. My valley of the sun experience was terrible. not because of the racing, that went very well, but rather because of the officiating. my TT was below average, i didn't really care that much since I haven't done any higher intensity stuff yet, i'm from colorado. in the road race i came in at around 7th place, but since the cat 4 field was passing a group of women at the finish they missed me on camera. later that night i was perplexed not to see myself in the results, so i went down to the crit the next day hours early to assure things be taken care of. i talked to the necessary officials and was told that they would be. raced in the crit that afternoon for a 7th place finish. drive home and decide to check the results...i'm still in neither of the results for the crit or the road race. numerous "final results" have been posted on the wmrc.org website and my name finally showed up in 39th place for the road race and not at all still for the crit. how they can just pick some random placing for the RR (there was a flippin' crash in the road separating the top 15 which i was ahead of and towards the front of that group). After trying to get in touch with the race organizers and even providing the name of the official i talked to who told me things would be set straight, i've been sent two automated e-mails saying that "sorry, things can't be changed now". I'm one pissed off bike racer.

For the life of me I don't understand why we don't use chip timing. Especially for these bigger races. AMD makes a very affordable chip timing system that would eliminate all this BS. Last year in the State TT championships my team mate was easily in the top 3 or 4 yet they never got him scored. When they finally got his time they had him down in 12th. We all work hard to prepare for these races and it sucks when you deliver a good ride and the results don't show it.

certainly. and my mishap wasn't the only one I heard about, a lot of people are leaving VOS this year with a sour taste in their mouths.