sandw1

Participated in my first road race this past Sunday in Clermont, FL (west of Orlando). My only previous racing experience was a criterium about 2 months ago (posted a race report for that event on this forum as well).

Made the 4 hour car trip from South FL up to Clermont, and though I had heard Clermont had a reputation for being hilly, seeing it in person was still a shock. This isn't mountain country by any means, but compared to the 0% grades in the Ft Lauderdale area, seeing the rolling hills was definitely something new. Weather was nice, mid 70s, overcast, though fairly windy (15 mph, or so).

Several races were planned over the weekend. I participated in the CAT 5 race, which was 42 miles (6 laps). There were about 60 participants. Total elevation gain over the 42 miles was 2,750 feet according to my powertap. I started towards the back of the peloton for the first lap, just getting settled in. In the criterium I was way too aggressive, this time I wasn't trying to do too much and respected the competition. After the 2nd lap, I was in 17th position and was still feeling comfortable. Going up the hills I was alternating between sitting and standing (shifting gears while doing so) which seemed to work well. Going downhill was both exhilarating and nerve-wracking, especially with the cross winds. I have to say, my Enve 6.7 wheels held up remarkably in the conditions. My top speed downhill was 44 mph (never hit 38 mph prior to this race).

In lap 3, the field quickly started dividing. About a 1/3 of the group separated from the rest. I was riding towards the end of the first group. About 4 miles later, the lead group was losing some riders and further divided into a group of 4 at the front. I decided to attack a hill and make contact with the lead group of 4. I held on with them through the 3rd lap, but a couple miles later got dropped. After riding a mile or so by myself, feeling exhausted, a group of 5 riders caught up with me and I jumped on the back of this group. I was able to recover a bit, and we all worked together taking turns pulling. Through lap 4, the lead group of 4 were pretty far ahead but in our sight. In the hilly section we started making ground on them, and managed to catch them about half way into lap 5. At this point we all slowed the pace a bit, hydrated, and recovered. Nobody was particularly interested in pulling. I spent some time in the front on the downhill and flat sections, and intentionally slowed the pace on the climb, and settled in towards the rear to conserve energy. I think my goal at this point was just to try and not get dropped in this lead group of 10.

About 2/3 through the final lap, one rider made a move and nobody responded. I think everyone was tired. The attack was not even particularly aggressive. The last section includes the biggest climb and I was really starting to run out of gas. Before the final turn some space started opening between the group and myself - I was starting to fall back. On the final turn I was expecting everyone to take off on the gradual climb for a sprint to the finish line, but there was really no major move. I gave it all I had, which was only 450 watts the final 40 seconds and managed to cross the finish line in 4th place. It was a sprint finish, but not a very fast one. According to "chip time" I finished in 6th place. Totally exhausted, but very satisfied with the result and effort. Especially considering it was my first road race and I was not used to the hills.

Stats:
Miles: 42
Time: 1:52:25
Avg Watts: 242
Normalized Watts: 287
Avg HR: 167
Elevation Gain: 2,752 ft
Variability Index: 1.19
Intensity Factor: 0.956
Peak 5s: 817w
Peak 30s: 533w
Peak 1min: 448w
Peak 5 min: 350w
Body Weight: 74 kg

Virten

Very nice! Can't wait for next year and start racing again.

arelyt

I made it out to this race which was my first race as well. I live in orlando which is completely flat too and clermonts hills were basically mountains to me. unfortunately i didn't warm up prior to riding and decided to try and stay at the front and pull for the first lap which destroyed me, and i got dropped and eventually rode with the cat 4's til the refs kicked me out, hah. i road the rest of the 3 laps by myself which was torture with that wind. it was a fun race though, i barely finished, but i finished, ended up coming in 27th which was better than i anticipated. next time i'll take your approach and take it easy for the first few miles/laps, and maybe finish the group. but glad to see you did really well though. fourth is great for you first race! maybe i'll see you out at some more of the races.

sandw1

Cool.. Yeah, riding alone on that course is not fun under the conditions. I plan to do this event again next year. I wish there were more road races in South/Central FL. Good luck to you in the future!

carpediemracing 

Congrats. It sounds like you rode a very sensible race, kept in the correct half of things, made conscious decisions to either try and bridge or not, and finished a very, very good position.

Your average watts for 2 hours is very good, maybe even too good. If there were times you could ease a bit more you'd have more gas at the finish. Just to give you some comparison I have never hit that high an average wattage for an hour in my (power meter) life, forget about sustaining it for 2 hours, and I weigh (right now) about 80 kg (minimum in my power meter life 70 kg, max about 95 kg).

For future (self-)review you might consider putting a camera on your helmet or bike. I find it very helpful when analyzing my own races, and I learned that I do various things in races that I had no idea I did until I started reviewing clips of races. Until 2010, when I started recording races and rides literally every time I got on the bike, I'd been racing for regularly and consistently for 28 years. I thought I knew exactly what I was doing in races but the video clips showed me in detail some of the things I did without realizing it (good things mainly and some bad things).

Great second race and a great way to fight through a 2 hour long race.

sandw1

Thanks! Hopefully you weren't too impacted by Sandy over there in CT (I used to live in Trumbull as a kid).

As far as the watts, does it seem high relative to the average speed (roughly 22.4 mph)? I know speed is subject to many external factors. The different between actual average watts (242) and normalized watts (287) seems pretty reasonable for a relatively hilly course. My FTP is about 305 so that's a big effort for me. The variability index of 1.19 seems about right as well. The only thing I can think of is when I tend to pick a rider to follow in the pack and will brake/accelerate depending on what that rider does.

Can you give me an idea of what sort of things you learn from recording the race on the camera, that you don't pick up with the race data?

waterrockets 

FWIW: slower races require more power most of the time. The factors that slow down the race are impacting everyone. A 30mph 4-corner crit is a pretty easy pack to ride because they are going so fast that there is very little surging, and the draft benefit is enormous.

sandw1

Any idea what the typical avg power would be for a CAT 5 road race for the top 10% finishers?

johnybutts

Depends on their weight.

rkwaki

+1 unless the stupid riders have no idea how to corner.

sandw1

w/kg then

himespau 

Congrats on finishing and finishing well.

waterrockets 

That's going to depend on a lot of things too. The best racers will have much lower power than the others if the race ends in a sprint. If the local tri-king shows up to a Cat 5 race and solos away, he'll have a lot higher power than everyone else.

Don't focus on other people's power. It's great to see your rows climbing the power profiling chart, but it's just another tool in your kit. Work on everything from fitness to strategy to handling skills to tire selection. Hone your strengths and manage your weaknesses.

carpediemracing 

We made it through fine - for us it was a non-event. I have three generators out on loan though - lots of people I know are out of power still.

As for what I learn it's mainly positioning, pack dynamics, etc. So a few things that were significant:
1. I broadcast my moves. You can see in this clip, in the sprint, how I "reserve" a lane before I jump:

2. I tend to follow the same rider around (as you said you do). I really discovered this when I kept seeing the same "scene" in front of me when reviewing clips. The video under #3 has some of this (including one guy that didn't like me following him around).

3. If you make some sharp moves you can move around quite a bit (from 7:30 or so on, below):

4. With a low sun you can see shadows and how things unfold a little behind you. I was semi-conscious towards the end of this race and didn't realize that we'd gapped the field:


5. I am much smoother when I use low gears. In this case my front cable lost tension and the chain dropped into the 39. I raced the rest of the race in the 39 and won the sprint out of the 3rd group. You can see how much smoother I am.


6. In this race I didn't realize until after the race that the break was long gone. Also it's painfully obvious I attacked for no good reason, I should have linked up with the 3 guys I blew by, and I missed the race winning break because of my supreme overconfidence. It's also an example of how NOT to chase - plodding along, no real speed. I mention in other clips you have to bridge gaps quickly, and here we don't and the break simply rides away from us.


And those are videos I edited. The ones where I get shelled in the first lap or three, or try and break away with 3 to go, etc, it's another kind of painful lesson when I review the clips.

kindablue

And thats how its done. #passiveaggressiveattack

kmill23

Please tell me you have your computer set to not include 0s in your average wattage calculation . . . otherwise you are not a Cat 5 with that kind of average power for 2 hours.

And if that's the case, please fix it. You should include the 0s.

ETA:

Wow, sir. Impressive. Ignore my earlier comments.

Yep

That sh*t wouldn't fly with me. Was the chip timing what they used to place everyone? Was your 4th a guess?

tetonrider

nice work! soon, you will be "racing" in races, not "participating" in them.

what if he's 100kg?

kmill23

I'd be less impressed for sure. However, at 74kg, 305W FTP is pretty legit. I'm a little heavier by a kg or two and I'd kill for that kind of power.