1. Oh, I thought you were implying you thought you were too low on power in the first lap. What % FTP is 7 watts for you? Interesting dilemna what you should have done in that first lap, given it was the first lap (where you're supposed to be conservative) but you also had a decent headwind (so maybe it's ok to be over your power target). I'm sure there's a smart answer to this, I have no idea what it is though, total newby. But if 7 watts over is something like 105% FTP for you and you know from experience that you can ride a couple of 20 min 105% FTP intervals in a workout (say), then maybe you rode that first part right? But don't listen to me, I literally know almost nothing.

2. I agree that 2nd 10k was too low but it seems to me 3rd wasn't too bad really, especially if you'd been over in the 1st 10k anyway. 4th you could have maybe ramped it up a little more evenly. Did you have a tailwind for this leg.

3. Good to know about the Garmin laps. I'll have to consider doing that. I do think though that those split numbers could get into your head and make you think you're doing "bad" or "good". I wonder how helpful those feelings are during a race, whether you're better off just focusing on what you need to do in each moment, executing that and then moving on. I really don't know, just thinking out loud. Normally I just display ave power and instant power and I'm focused on slowly dragging ave power upward. I do that during various long interval workouts and I have a pretty good sense now for what it's going to take to drag the ave power up given the duration of the interval & remaining time left. I'm going to try your Garmin autolap method though and see how it works for me.

4. I assumed road bike because you have no TT bikes listed near your avatar. I love my fitter and am a huge believer. I see zero reason not to do that now if youre at all uncertain about your fit. Maximize all the time you spend on your bike, right? Especially if you're going to do it anyway. Lol but don't mind me, I know almost nothing. ;)

Nice racing valygrl. Sounds like a long weekend!


Lime Rock 40+, 3rd. Long report, sorry :)

Race track crit with a hill, exposed, windy and outrageously hot day. Garmin said 101. I was suffering while we were standing in the sun staging. It was a relief to actually start moving, but once we got out onto the wide black tarmac it felt like my tires were melting. Another racer saw 108 on his Garmin.

I was watching a couple of guys, a strong cat 1 who I know as a sprinter, and a sort of well known cyclocross coach guy. The sprinter didn't have any teammates there; when I've raced him in the past he's always been shepherded around and led out, so I mostly wanted to make sure I didn't come to the line with him in the group.

The race was attack, attack, attack. A couple of teams kept sending guys but they would wither out there in the heat. I had an insulated bottle (thanks for the tip @carpediemracing) and was pouring ice water on my neck at the top of the hill each lap but I could hardly even feel it.

The coach guy made a couple of very strong moves which I covered, one of which cost me 15 seconds @ 800w just to hang on to him. We were well clear and he waved me through at the base of the hill but the race was less than half over and there was just no way I was going the distance after that effort so I just sat on him and had to settle for ruining his race, sorry.

With 20 minutes to go the sprinter made a hard move and I let him go figuring there was no way he would last. After a couple of laps one of the teams organized a chase but we never got him. Goes to show, you shouldn't stereotype people.

I was sitting in behind the chasing team with 2 to go and they blew up one by one. When the last one waved me through I sat up, then looked back and realized we had a gap. 5 minutes to the line is well outside of my wheelhouse but opportunity was knocking, so I put my head down and went. The last chaser grabbed my wheel.

There was a strong left-headwind on the finishing straight; as I came through that turn before the bell I went wide to let the other guy come underneath so I could get on his right. He wasn't managing the wind well and scolded me for not taking the shortest line through the corner. Whatever buddy, he fell off right afterwards.

I hit the hill as hard as I could which wasn't very hard, gasping in the superheated air. Almost went off the road through the chicane because my head was down and I was half blind. I saw one guy chasing me as I came through the last turn before the finish, stood up to sprint but my legs were jelly and he came around me at the line. We were 7 seconds behind the solo guy OTF and 7 seconds ahead of the field.

7W over is more like 103% and since I've not been 'training' just riding I can't tell you if I could complete a 20 min effort at 105%. I doubt that I could.
I absolutely know nothing nor would I be considered smart. I'm about as bright as the Crayola color 35,35,35

That low bit could have been the difference between the top step and second step although I lost no sleep over it.

The only screen I have displayed during a race is power, HR, and cadence.
The lap times and numbers for me are a fleeting thing. Its a beep and a flash on the Garmin screen. I look at them, ponder, then back to what number it should be. Maybe I'm just not smart enough to have it matter :roflmao2:

My fit is, I believe, close. I'm also trying to shed some more weight which may change the fit so I'm not sure the fit would be good to do right now. It's not like I'll lose a paycheck if I don't win eh?

1. Personally, I think 103% for the first 10k was totally fine, given the headwind. Sounds about right to me (lol keeping in mind that I know nothing).
2. I may have the wrong attitude but doing it right is my first priority and doing it better than someone else is my second priority. Worth looking at it after the fact and thinking it through, but of course not losing any sleep over.
3. Oh yeah, I know exactly what you mean about that brief lap flash with the lap summary displayed, I never manage to catch what that actually says, it goes by too fast. I'd have to train myself to be ready for it, I guess, if I went the autolap route. I like to display elapsed time, instant power, ave power, HR and cadence. But I have an Edge 1000 and the screen is big, so I can see all that very easily. You are only displaying instant power?
4. I'd do the fit now and then again later. But I'd only pay once, that's how it works with my fitter. Plus I like him and he seems to always have something interesting to say. Lol, I totally agree with the paycheck comment, my version of that is "As far as I know, there is no penalty for not doing well." Actually my version is really "there's no penalty for not finishing". But I didn't want to give the impression that I'm not trying, I don't really know you. ;)

Anyway, props on your 2nd place finish. IMO just riding your bike is enough, doing well is even better. :)

I use 10 second power. Instant and even 3 second power has me chasin' the number far to much. Maybe that's wrong?

It was explained to me that it you use 10 second power you are looking at what just happened rather than what is happening now. Three second or instant power is better. Instant obviously jumps around a lot but it would behoove me to be more smooth and its way more challenging to make things smooth with instant power, so that's what I use. Smart, experienced people I know would argue for 3 second power, so I think that is a very correct choice as well.

You don't display average lap power? That's what makes the whole game interesting to me, trying to manipulate the instant (or instant-ish, ie 3 second) power while watching the average power and trying to get the whole thing to work out to the right number after 20 or 30 or 90 minutes. Love it, it is a huge focus for me. Interesting to hear what other people are thinking/doing during these efforts, I never really considered anyone was doing anything different than me.

Each to their own, but I also 10 second power. Instant power is all over the place and very difficult to follow. I don't use the lap function because I just don't - yet. I'm not terribly analytical!

So, @IBOHUNT - just awesome. Coach had me doing a 105% of FTP 20 minute practice TT the other day, and I know full well just how hard that is to do. Heat is another thing, it just wilts me, but you dealt with it beautifully. By the way @Heathpack and I have the same coach ;)
@valygrl. Wow. I just love the way you read a race. Your last crit was just plain awesome. I am so impressed! Congratulations on that well deserved podium!!!
@globecanvas. 108 degrees? Really??? I'd have died - literally! Incredible job under just awful conditions. Smart racing, strong racing. Fantastic!!
@Heathpack. I can't wait to start reading race reports from you! ;)

Raced the P123 crit today, managed to be there for the end, but was completely out sprinted. 7th/8. Satisfied with it.

Wow, little field, always hard! It's a win a being there at the end, VG - great work!

Shenandoah 37K TT
 

This is a 37K (23 mi) "hilly" TT with between 1100 and 1500 feet of elevation gain depending on which Garmin or ride with GPS file you want to believe.

Shenandoah TT '15 - A bike ride in Shenandoah, VA
I took the new to me Slice out for this race since I did well on it last weekend. Made a change to the saddle height from last week. Didn't seem to go bad.

Getting out of town consists of 6 turns with one being a tight left hander at speed. Difficult to hold a power number when taking 90 degree corners.
I got balked by a car headed out. We were on a downhill gradient going 35 or so and I was waving to try and get her to go faster so she puts on the brakes. I can't pass because of a car coming the other direction. We'll just call that a 6 second 0 power 'recovery'. The joys of a non closed course eh?

Mile 4 you turn left onto a long 7 mile 1% false flat. I love this section of the course since it allows you to just focus on the pedals and power number. I managed to do some decent pacing right at my FTP number and, it turns out at what must be my feel good cadence.

The turn around was tight and I end up doing some agricultural racing in a persons front yard; oh well, I'm not the first to do that I reckon. Head back down the false flat, where I managed to not(!) put out the power number I needed.

At mile 16 you turn right and do a .7 mile at 5% avg gradient climb on a loop that brings you back out onto the road you just left. This downhill bit I run out of gears on. I'd do a different crankset but my fat arse needs the mid-compact :mad:

After coming down the hill and making a right I could see a slow car up ahead and I knew I'd catch it before the next right hand turn. I did and it was because the car didn't want to pass another bike.
I put my bike on the yellow line and passed both the car and the other bike shortly before the next turn. Burnt a match there with a 10 second 125% effort.

A right turn and it's 2+ miles pretty much all uphill to the finish.

The last 1K I averaged 113% with a peak of 155% at the finish line. Didn't get the @sarals coveted stem sticker though :eek:

Finished in 7th place of 16. Happy with the data (Power, pacing and cadence) except the bits through town and the long 7 mile 1% downhill bit where I dropped 13W from my FTP number. Ack!

My average speed was the same as last years shortened race with lower power numbers; a delta of ~5%. Not sure why I have about the same amount of fatness. Different bike? Medium SHIV vs small Cannondale Slice.

My recovery ride consisted of 5 hours of bailing and stacking hay...:thumb:

2 more races left this year. :notamused:
The good thing is there are only 7 weeks until hunting season opens I can can drop this distraction.:thumb: and maybe a half dozen deer.

This year had lower power but was faster?

I had the same average speed. Last years course was shorter by 2 miles out on the flat end at the turn around so the race times wouldn't be the same.
Average power was down this year by ~5% (Avg Power of 278 vs 263)

If I just look at the data for 6 miles of false flat uphill bit I was down 17 Watts but was 15 seconds faster
17:46 with 281W vs 17:31 at 264W)

To quote a friend of mine from the UK.... "I dunno why mate."

Its actually good news. You have a better position on the new bike or just a better bike or otherwise better equipment. :)

Or possibly more favorable winds.

Heathie was right, IBO - you were more aero, therefore as fast/fast-ER with a lower power output. You put in a fantastic ride! Steady improvement, and what I see above everything else is your understanding of the race has improved a lot. I'm sure you have a target on your back these days - people mark you!

Yes, there is nothing like mixing with cars, is there? Like the Mustang that blew by us Pen Velo girls on our TTT at Sattley. It took him going over 100 MPH to get around us, though ;)

Great job, IBO!

Cool beans, Ex! Wish my good days were as good as your bad days.

@Racer Ex, nice week considering your expectations. Hopefully you enjoyed it. Welcome back to the west Coast where the weather is fine and the watts are bigger.

:)

FWIW Thursday's Match Sprints 185 TSS.

There is nothing easy about what you did, valygrl. Those gals are fast, and you can consider yourself pretty speedy if you hung with that bunch. Very nice.

Nice, IBOHUNT. Nice job on the improvement! Equipment and/or position, it's good it's working out.

http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/...psv1rtqdm6.jpg

Pulling through:

http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/...psmzinf2cx.jpg

Giggling is good, Racer Ex. Great stuff!

That's a great shot, Ex. Welcome back. Nice work. Now check on my PC8, willya? :)

Looks like you had fun at Nationals. Nice pics. BTW, did you notice the 65-69 pursuit times? What is in the Rock Hill water? Are you bringing any home?

The track went from fast to slow depending on conditions. Sunday was slow. Mid week was fast. So it goes.

Finally got a chance to catch up and read the race reports.

Valyg: just hanging in a 1/2 crit, especially in a small field gets you a big pat on the back. No where to hide.

IBO: If you think cars on an open course are a PIA, imagine finding yourself with a car coming head on into a fast crit field on a closed course. Had that happen twice. Very exciting.

Globe: Sometimes you just have to put your head down and go. 5 minutes was apparently in your wheelhouse after all ;) Great job
@Cleave: NSG report (echo) NSG report (echo) NSG report (echo)