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06-09-07, 04:12 PM
I wasn't sure if I was going to actually make it to this race (the web directions were, uh, wrong) but I showed up just in time to get in line. No warmup--but it was hot enough outside that no warmup was necessary.
Did I mention it was hot? Holy hannah it was hot! With my "A" event of the year on Monday I just sat in toward the mid-to-back of the pack for nearly the entire race and tried to avoid pedaling at all costs. It was Masters 4/5 so it was only 33 miles. I had two water bottles for race and thought that would be enough. It wasn't.
Anyway, it was clear that the whole race was going to come down to the last 2K before the finish. There was a nice 200-foot climb over 1K (just long enough and steep enough that I had to go into the small chainring) and then a final 1000 meters of flat-to-slightly-uphill coming to the line. I could tell things were going to spread out a bit by the top of the climb so my goal was to be near the front.
With 2.25 kilometers to go, I made my way up the right hand side of the pack, went to the front as we worked our way up the hill, and kept trying to go hard without blowing up. At the top, there were two guys behind me and we had some separation on the field but there was still a long way to go. I let another guy come around me and he pulled for a bit and then slowed to play cat-and-mouse. I was worried the field would catch us so I went to the front and headed toward the line. I knew the two guys would try to sprint around me when we got to the 200 meter mark so I saved just enough in the tank that I would be able to manage at least a meager sprint.
My sprint is pretty weak anyway, and after 2K of VO2Max effort I wasn't hopeful. Sure enough, one guy came around and with about 150 meters to go I jumped up out of the saddle with just enough ooomph to pass him and hold it to the line.
Average power for the entire race: 179 watts (29% of time spent not pedaling)
Average power for last 4.2 minutes: 420 watts
Average power for the last 10 seconds: a meager 882 watts--but just enough
Now I gotta rehydrate, keep the legs up, eat, and rest. Monday's gonna be a ball buster.
--Steve
Did I mention it was hot? Holy hannah it was hot! With my "A" event of the year on Monday I just sat in toward the mid-to-back of the pack for nearly the entire race and tried to avoid pedaling at all costs. It was Masters 4/5 so it was only 33 miles. I had two water bottles for race and thought that would be enough. It wasn't.
Anyway, it was clear that the whole race was going to come down to the last 2K before the finish. There was a nice 200-foot climb over 1K (just long enough and steep enough that I had to go into the small chainring) and then a final 1000 meters of flat-to-slightly-uphill coming to the line. I could tell things were going to spread out a bit by the top of the climb so my goal was to be near the front.
With 2.25 kilometers to go, I made my way up the right hand side of the pack, went to the front as we worked our way up the hill, and kept trying to go hard without blowing up. At the top, there were two guys behind me and we had some separation on the field but there was still a long way to go. I let another guy come around me and he pulled for a bit and then slowed to play cat-and-mouse. I was worried the field would catch us so I went to the front and headed toward the line. I knew the two guys would try to sprint around me when we got to the 200 meter mark so I saved just enough in the tank that I would be able to manage at least a meager sprint.
My sprint is pretty weak anyway, and after 2K of VO2Max effort I wasn't hopeful. Sure enough, one guy came around and with about 150 meters to go I jumped up out of the saddle with just enough ooomph to pass him and hold it to the line.
Average power for the entire race: 179 watts (29% of time spent not pedaling)
Average power for last 4.2 minutes: 420 watts
Average power for the last 10 seconds: a meager 882 watts--but just enough
Now I gotta rehydrate, keep the legs up, eat, and rest. Monday's gonna be a ball buster.
--Steve