"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Tysons Corner Cat 4--DrPete gets his confidence back

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...)

Tysons must be a soulless place to ride...

excellent.

I shopped at T. C. once.

I just had the best tuna sandwiches ever.

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.

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.

:roflmao:

Has someone been reading quotes from "Gladiator" somewhere? :D

Welcome back. :beer: :beer:

:roflmao:

Has someone been reading quotes from "Gladiator" somewhere? :D

Welcome back. :beer: :beer:

http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/steinn/wes-sword.jpg

Or the The Princess Bride

nice work. nice read. good day, indeed!

Tysons must be a soulless place to ride...

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

Or the The Princess Bride

Wasn't that Inigo Montoya? ;)


Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.

http://anthonybradley.worldmagblog.com/anthonybradley/inigomontoya.jpg

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

http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/steinn/wes-sword.jpg

Or the The Princess Bride

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

Keep it up Doc.

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!

DrPete are you really a doctor? What kind?

Good work, Doc!

--Steve

DrPete are you really a doctor? What kind?

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

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

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

:D

How does a doc post so much?!

How does a doc post so much?!

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. :D

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

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

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

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...

Nice ride and report!
:beer:

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...

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


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

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

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

Great job!

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

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

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p85/dr_pete177/MyScreenHunter-2.jpg

great report! Thanks for sharing :D

VI? FTP? AC?
Please share.
Some of us never got out of the 'no pain, no gain' school of training.
well...any school, for that matter.

VI: Variability index. It's a way of looking at power data and judging the consistency of an effort. 1.0 is like a TT, hilly crits can go as high as 1.5.

FTP: Functional Threshold Power, or the power output you can sustain for a 1-hour TT effort.

AC: Anaerobic Capacity, one of the Allen/Coggan power training zones.

Clear as mud?

all good.
FTP= the hurt zone
AC= how long you can stay there
VI= see above

way to go, Pete! I bet those lightwieghts helped on those climbs!

especially good you got your groove back

way to go, Pete! I bet those lightwieghts helped on those climbs!
especially good you got your groove back

I think DrPete had a special set spelled ei - I'll need to go back and check

I think DrPete had a special set spelled ei - I'll need to go back and check

No, that was slvoid... I merely lust for a pair of the real ones. :D

good job dude. im glad you are out of the funk. training ride next sunday?

I saw a couple pairs of lightweights at my race yesterday. i was in awe.

good job dude. im glad you are out of the funk. training ride next sunday?

Thanks...

Yeah, I'll probably do the shop ride. Might need to go with the Arlington variation... The cat 4 part of the 4/5 field for the Carl Dolan crit filled up in 6 minutes, so I'm doing the 3/4. I have a feeling there will be much pain, because that's a pretty big race.

the more difficult the better for me. i should be there

Way to go Pete! Getting to the start line first is key, especially with a field that big.
Good work.

Good work. That attack, the catch, and the fall to the back has hit me at my last two Tuesday Nighters. Great job finding the fight to stay on. I've missed that recently, though I had it way back at Pace Bend.

That wading through the suffering is a great skill to have.

:beer:

Great report Doc. Way to attack and hang on. Don't blow a vein though.

Which vein should I be worried about? ;)

VI: Variability index. It's a way of looking at power data and judging the consistency of an effort. 1.0 is like a TT, hilly crits can go as high as 1.5.

FTP: Functional Threshold Power, or the power output you can sustain for a 1-hour TT effort.

AC: Anaerobic Capacity, one of the Allen/Coggan power training zones.

Clear as mud?

which one did you have a lot of?

which one did you have a lot of?

D. none of the above. :D

This race was basically a hill repeat workout. Turns 1 and 2 didn't require much acceleration and the descent was almost all coasting, but turn 3 at the base of the climb was seeing some harder acceleration (I hit neat 1200W several times there), followed by an above-threshold hammer up the hill. Repeat x22. So yeah, it was a HIGHLY variable race in terms of power output.

Looking at the data, though, it's clear that surviving in a break is more related to FTP. In the laps where I was off the front, those big spikes went away and the effort was more consistent. Consistently high enough to make me blow up, but definitely consistent. :D

D. none of the above. :D

This race was basically a hill repeat workout. Turns 1 and 2 didn't require much acceleration and the descent was almost all coasting, but turn 3 at the base of the climb was seeing some harder acceleration (I hit neat 1200W several times there), followed by an above-threshold hammer up the hill. Repeat x22. So yeah, it was a HIGHLY variable race in terms of power output.

Looking at the data, though, it's clear that surviving in a break is more related to FTP. In the laps where I was off the front, those big spikes went away and the effort was more consistent. Consistently high enough to make me blow up, but definitely consistent. :D

correction: surviving in a break is more related to how much you're willing to suffer. ;)

just listen to what Oscar Friere said when asked if he used an SRM when training: “Are you trying to turn me into one of those crazy riders or what?”

correction: surviving in a break is more related to how much you're willing to suffer. ;)

just listen to what Oscar Friere said when asked if he used an SRM when training: “Are you trying to turn me into one of those crazy riders or what?”

I definitely learned that lesson at my last race. Totally ignoring the powertap during the race is the way to go. I just left it set on Max Watts (a totally irrelevant number), Cadence, and elapsed time during the race. Otherwise I just let my legs do the talking and let the powertap document the suffering.

I'll definitely add a little FTP work into the mix for this week's training, though... I do think that reviewing the data afterward is helpful.

Good to read after how you felt on your last race.
Good to see you get your strenght and confidence back Dr Pete!

Good to read after how you felt on your last race.
Good to see you get your strenght and confidence back Dr Pete!

Thanks... It was a much more important victory than winning the race. ;)

I'm a day late again, but I have a good excuse this time since I was in Atlanta over the weekend for the Final Four (I'm a Georgetown grad, so it could have gone better for me, but we had a lot of fun anyway). Congratulations, Pete. It's good to get that confidence level back up!