Road Bike Racing - The odd rhythms of racing

Actually, this wasn't a race, but on today's Nyack Ride here's how I felt on the three short climbs (1 mile, .5 mile, .75 mile):

First 1 mile climb: got gapped by the main bunch, didn't feel good, I was at the front of a smaller group that got dropped; we were close enough to quickly regain the group once we got over the top. That part is mid ride on a 50 mile route.

Second steeper, somewhat technical (amazingly crappy road) .5 mile climb/ 3-4 miles from the end: felt better than I have all year, tempo'd right to the front of the group I was in (from behind, I had bridged up to them), passed them all on the climb, nobody passed me.


Final .75 mile finishing climb: Ditto, tempo'd to the front, nobody in my group passed me. (It's a long story, ride got all shattered by a road block that forced the group to dismount and walk around it just before that second climb).

My point is this: I find it odd that I struggled so much on the first climb, but felt better than I have all year on the last two. I mean the difference was rather startling, I was riding a good tempo in a bigger gear more comfortably on those last two climbs, felt better going up those grades than I think I have on climbs all year.

I also experience that in races: I often feel better in the last 10 miles than in the middle of the race. Go figure.

At any rate, I've had that happen a couple of times before: I can struggle mid-ride but feel much stronger at the end. Can't quite figure that one out. Anybody else ever get that in competitive riding or racing?

yep... older guys especially tend to say that.

and if you've been putting in big miles you tend to do that.

yep... older guys especially tend to say that.

and if you've been putting in big miles you tend to do that.

But why would you feel better at the END of the ride?? I find that I consistently suffer the most mid ride, and often feel better at the end. That's not a bad thing most of the time.

Long miles = longer to "open up." Took my legs over 2 hours to really open up today after a long week of riding. If you're still putting in the your traditional long miles, I'd bet that is the case.

I do 1½-2 hrs of endurance riding before getting to the group rides on Tues or Thurs nights here, and feel like my legs are open right away. I rarely do any intensity with less than 30-45 min of riding before hand.

I have the same observation. I sometimes get dropped at the middle but if I can catch back on or just hang without getting dropped I end up pulling a lot at the end. I think we just need to warm up for longer.

-soma5

How much warm-up did you have? I typically need 45-70 minutes of warm-up before a race. And my highest effort for the day is actually near the end of my warm-up. Race usually doesn't hurt as much.

Warm-up? My spot of bother was an HOUR into this ride. I was warmed up alright. It wasn't that bad, as I related I didn't get dropped all together, just relegated to an entire group that got gapped, I actually towed them back up to the leaders half a mile over the top, so I was essentially the strongest of the stragglers. That happens often on that ride, some people get gapped on that mile long climb, but it usually comes back together within 1-2 miles after the top. The gap is typically 100-200 meters, not an un-closeable distance, even if you only have a couple of guys to help you. If you're alone it's often curtains, but that's not how it typically unfolds.

Stranger still is I felt better immediately at the top of this section, I looked up, saw the group ahead had slowed, and was able to accelerate. The rest of the boys jumped on my wheel and we were back on within half a mile, nobody else took a pull. That's great, but it really makes me wonder why I couldn't stay with the group ahead in the first place. Concentration on the climb perhaps? I did let them slip away. I have to focus a bit harder at the bottom and pay attention to who's moving up the hill ahead of me. I think that's where I lost the plot. I started the climb near the back, a couple of guys in from of me let wheels slip away, and suddenly there's a gap to close on the hardest part of the climb. I should have focused harder at getting to the front at the start of the climb.

Yeah, maybe you weren't paying attention on the 1st climb? The front of the group hit the hill first and sped up while the rear kinda plodded along at the same pace? Kinda like a big crit-accordion? Then you were on your guard and hit the next two hills near the front of the group?

I'm not a strong climber, but I find if I hit the hills first at a good clip off the front, I can make it to the top of short up to 1-mile hills with the climbers. If I was in the pack, I'd be well behind the climbers by the top and get gapped.

It's kinda like drag-racing cars. The guy who gets off the line first has the advantage. The other guy actually has to accelerate faster just to catch up and be even.

It sounds like the front group eased after they crested - you saw that they slowed and you got back on. I have a feeling that if the front group kept up the pressure it would have been much more difficult to bridge back to the front group.

It's not clear if you were with the front group the rest of the time, i.e. the second and third climbs. By definition if you're dropped by the main/first group you'll be in a weaker group. Being good in a weaker group is easier than being good in the front/main group - I know because I can contribute a lot to a group when I'm off the back of a road race, but when I'm in field I'm dying. By definition the ones off the back are just as bad as I am at climbing (I haven't ridden with guys who punctured or whatnot) so we all suck together on the hills and then I drill it on the descents and pull my fair share or more on the flats. I feel good but we're finishing 15 minutes down too.

As far as your question on feeling better at the end of a long day, my highest wattage reading ever came at the end of a really long hot day, a few hours of really hard riding through some hilly terrain that just cooked me. I wasn't even thinking of going hard but something happened, I think a UPS truck cruised by at about 35 mph right before a sign that we sometimes sprint for. Did a big jump to go after it, killed it to the sign, never hit that number ever again. I have no idea why this is the case but I've gone out and done sprints and swore that I did just as hard a jump but it's off by a lot, 100-150 watts. I can't explain it. Incidentally I hit my second highest number at the end of a 4 or 5 hour ride in blazing heat, running out of water, cramping, chills, but I had some excess energy and cranked out a few jumps. They were higher than the jumps I did the day before during my actual "sprint workout" day where I purposely saved myself to do max efforts in various locations around where I rode.

cdr

When I'm climbing in a ride or race, I can assure you, there is no resemblance to drag racing cars.