Bike Forums - Masters Misc Race Report Thread

Hi! :D

Figured I'd come back in a thread that I started. :lurker: Actually I haven't been lurking but I did read back a few page of this thread this evening.

I kind of quit the forums cold turkey because there was just too much other stuff going on in life and something had to give. Most of the stuff is okay to good but posting here was below my time waterline. My biggest time sink was continued business travel. After the National Senior Games, I did not have a bike with me during my business trips so my fitness was tenuous and my race schedule was abbreviated, but I kept racing when possible.

Oh, and I left some of you hanging after the National Senior Games and I started a long race report that I promise to finish before the end of the year.

I finished the road season on a relatively bad note. The last Tuesday twilight race of the year attracted a lot of racers due to a relatively large prize list and because more people usually show up for the last race of the year. There were obviously some new racers in the Masters 40+ pack and near the end of the second lap someone panicked when the pack started slowing and started a chain reaction crash. I was about four riders back and tried to avoid it but everything was so tight, I couldn't avoid someone on the ground and went over the bars. Worst of it was a big knot over my right eye. The bike (Serotta) survived. One of my teammates broke his Cannondale SuperSix EVO in half.

Not wanting to end the road season with a crash, I did the last industrial park crit of the season on the following Sunday. Raced Masters 55+ and 50+. Raced reasonably well in the 50+ race but not in the field sprint. Sat in for the 50+ race. At least I was back on the horse, no worse for the crash wear.

When the road season ends, the TT season begins for me (no psychocross, thank you). I guess I missed meeting @Heathpack a few times.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heathpack (Post 18286661)

Well this race was a bit of a disaster for me, but there are some bright spots.

Towards the very end, I look at my time and realize that if I pick up the pace a little, I could actually PR this thing. And I do. By *2* seconds. Despite coming back 15 watts lower than I went out. Sweet!

Overall lower power than my last effort on this course on the TT bike, but essentially the same speed. Of course it was a different day and less wind, but also this time I had the new stuff/position. So the race was a good test of equipment, makes me feel like we're moving in the right direction for sure.

Oh and I managed to win the thing too. Just one other woman in my class, so its not like I had scads of competition, but I'm not complaining. :)

PS I no longer want to sell the bike. That was just a transitory thing.

I was kind of fat (really) and slow for the November Piru TT, but I needed the intensity and I wanted to get some power data from a race. I had my slowest time on this course in a while and my power numbers were quite a bit lower (~40 W!!!) than during my TTs leading up to and at the NSGs. However, I was glad that I was holding threshold heart rate for almost the whole race. Had a good time hanging with my teammate and chatting with Tren a bit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heathpack (Post 18336398)

Well, I didn't finish last as I expected to, so I'm happy enough with it. I guess.

I had specific power targets for the bike path section and the hill and the rollers. I started off right on the money all through the bike path section, then I started to fade on the hill. The thing that usually gets me is the lactic acid burn in my legs but I never felt that today. Instead, I was just winded, very limited aerobically. By the top of the hill, I was substantially behind what I knew would be a good time for the day.

As I came over the top of the hill, I felt like I was riding at a funky angle and then I realized I was in a steady crosswind. I felt totally calm about it and in control but I wasn't really sure what to do. Should I slow down (seemed like the safe thing to do)? Or should I keep riding hard (which actually logically seems like it would result in the crosswind having a lesser impact)? Since we have already established that me in a TT + thinking gets me nowhere, I actually made no decision and the crosswind abated, I came upright and kept going. For the rest of the 2nd half, it was intermittent steady crosswinds like that plus some pretty good gusts that would blow my front end around. I never felt unstable or worried, just unsure what to do. Then there were also casual riders out on the road, which has a steady amount of high speed traffic, and they needing passing from time to time. None of this stuff is automatic for me yet when I'm in TT mode and it was all just distracting.

I wound up feeling like I was riding the whole second half casually and my power way dropped in the second half. I missed my overall power target for the TT by 10 watts. But still, I PRed the thing by two freakin' minutes! That blows my mind. Some of it was undoubtedly that mixed in with the crosswinds were a fair amount of tailwinds. But even so, looking at historical times for other women who rode today vs what they've done in the past, times were on average only better by around 30 seconds. So it wasn't *all* tailwind.

My previous PR on this course (at 1 watt less than today's effort) was 35:24. I said I expected to go sub-34 min and I'd be thrilled with sub-33. My time was 32:31. Happy but not thrilled though. Because its annoying to know you could have done something better. Nemesis took first and Mrs. @Hermes was 3rd. Speaking of which, great to finally meet the @Hermes in person, both Mr. and Mrs. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hermes (Post 18339651)

@Heathpack It was a pleasure meet you and congrats on a great race.

This was my 3rd Santiago ITT I did a 4 second PR riding Merckx. 34:04. Results are not posted by USAC yet but when I glanced at the results, I was 6th of 8 or 9 in the M60+. And I do not know who was Merckx and who was aero other than the faster guys were all aero. For whatever reason, M60+ has the largest field.
This course is one of my favorite TTs and today, we had some of the best weather in which I raced the course. The wind was a little swirly in the canyon but the rest was great - sunny skies and warm temps versus a couple of other times when I raced where the temperature was much cooler for the start. However, high pressure and dry air are not necessarily fast conditions although we had a tail wind for some of the course. I warmed on the road on a long climb.

I rode most of the course in the drops and basically threw VO2 Max or Aerobic Threshold power at anything that was uphill. I knew there would be downhill where I would be going fast and could get a little recovery and focus on aero position. I kept looking for the 1 mile to go sign but did not see one and all of a sudden, boom I saw the finish line so I lost some time not killing the finish.

This was my 5th race in the last couple of months so I felt pretty good on the course. My last race in this fall series will be Thanksgiving hill climb race up Mount Hamilton.

At the finish, I was with Cleave and my wife and we were looking for Heathpack to ride back together but missed her. I got a chance to catch up with Cleave.

The promoters claim to be losing money due to poor rider turnout and previous years did 4 races but this year reduced it to 2. They are going to do one more next year in the spring and see if they can make it work.

We tried to recruit racers for the event. Two time trialists from my wife’s team wanted to do the Amber Neben team ride. One felt obligated and the other was in “base” mode. In fact, all Amber would have to do is say that she is racing Santiago Canyon and others should do it also and several women would participate. At the track, one woman said she is too heavy and goes too fast on the downhill and another who was visiting did not have her TT bike. I suggested she ride Merckx but no go.

So unless the promoters figure a better way to promote the race or partner with a larger team, it looks like it is doomed to failure.

Many TTs in NorCal have been abandoned or canceled due to poor racer turnout and or permitting problems.

Oddly enough, our Low Key Hill Climb series has been getting 150 riders and full fields for the more popular climbs. And the other time trial training series run on the local TT course gets 100 riders. However, neither event is a sanctioned race but still attract strong riders.

Maybe there are just too many races and not enough racers to make the numbers.

It was great catching up with Hermes and getting beat by Velo Diva. :D It was bad missing Heathpack again.

Fat really hurt me going up the hill. I tried spinning instead of standing but the bottom line is that I was SLOW. Not sure if the wind was more favorable for me, but I was flying on the downhill section so my time wasn't terrible. I saw the last mile marker and I thought that I had more than two minutes before hitting the finish. Per my data, I averaged 35 MPH over the last mile. :eek: My NP was up about 15 W from Piru but still way down from the summer. My weight wasn't lower either. :notamused: I guess I should be happy going just under 32 minutes. (Still don't have my official time because I got distracted after riding back to the start and missed seeing my official result.) Still way slower than my PR for Santiago Canyon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Racer Ex (Post 18354656)

I wimped out with the ribs and fingers being dinged up. Now I feel bad. Maybe I need to go south for a TT.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heathpack (Post 18354851)

Piru on Sunday. ;)

Unless something goes really wrong, I'll be at Piru on Sunday. My excuse for Sunday is that my club's annual Holiday Party is the night before. :p