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Masters Misc Race Report Thread

Old 03-20-17, 10:30 AM
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Good for you, @sarals, doing the mentoring!
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Old 03-20-17, 11:22 AM
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Originally Posted by Heathpack
Good for you, @sarals, doing the mentoring!
HP, thanks! It's hard work, but rewarding. Like riding along with another pilot during a check flight, it's amazing what you can see when you're out of the trees!
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Old 04-02-17, 05:16 PM
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April 2017 Fiesta Island 20K TT, Women's Open, 2nd of 3, PR by 20 seconds

Well, I've not really been able to get in a consistent groove this TT season, with everything going on and I haven't done any TT intervals longer than 10 min in many months now. So I never know what to expect of myself lately. But I had a really good race today. Sweet!


I got the start list emailed yesterday and saw a new-to-me name in my race field. Looked her up on USAC and she's a woman, 5 years my junior, who's been racing since at least 2009. Lots of serious stuff, stage races and the like. Her most recent Fiesta Island results were from 2014 and her times were similar to what I've been doing. So would she be faster and more experienced? Or older and slower? Hard to know. But she seemed beatable, if I came up with a decent plan and executed well.


Oddly, I never really focus on time with these TTs, I figure the speed will be what it will be and mostly I focus on how I parcel out my effort and on being well-prepared. But this time, I worked out what I wanted my split times to be for each of the three laps. And of course, the usual power targets for each- I figured I'd go for something like 105% for lap 1, 107% for lap 2, and 108% for lap 3 and modify as I went. And maybe try to keep the cadence high, if possible.


Warm up went fine except for some issues with the touch screen of a new Garmin I got. Didn't get too frazzled by it though, that's an achievement.


Good start and really nice conditions today. I rode my splits almost exactly to plan, just a little over- 106%, 107%, then 109%. Interestingly, my ave HR came down a beat on lap 3 vs lap 2, I think I could've gone a little harder. Passed New-to-Me, who was my 30 second woman, at the end of the first lap after getting caught up behind her and nearly having her run me off the road when I went to pass.


A little confusion at the end because two men passed me on my right in a sharp curve just before the final straightaway to the finish. They still had more laps though, which meant after passing me on the right they had to cross in front of me to get over to the left side of the road to stay on course whereas I had to move to the right to get to the finish. Nothing really too dicey actually, they passed me quickly and one gave me a heads up but there were lots of people on that final straightaway to keep track of- those two guys still racing and three people besides me finishing. Sweet I passed two of them! But then a little more confusion- this happens to me on this course- because the finish lane is really narrow, maybe just a 18" wide on the far right side of the road. It always looks to me like the cones are too far over and I consider staying left instead of moving into that right finish lane like I'm supposed to. Gotta get that straight in my head.


But overall, I'm very happy with it. Well-executed and I felt pretty good. PRed it by 20 sec with an ave HR 5 bpm lower than my previous best. Power PR for this course and my tied-for-best power in a TT. Wound up 52 seconds behind Nemesis and 59 seconds ahead of New-To-Me. Racing in another category was the woman who took 2nd place to my 3rd last year in the SoCal State TT Championship, I was only 7 seconds behind her today vs 54 second back at States last year.


Great to see @Hermes and Mr. Hermes. But sad to report that SDBC (who puts on this race) told us today that the city of San Diego has plans to turn Fiesta Island's road into a bike path and once they do that, they will no longer be willing to close the island for racing. Not sure how long we have left, but the Fiesta Island TT's days may be numbered. So I seriously have to come up with a plan B for bike racing, we're going to be down to just one regular TT venue in SoCal within the next few years. I'm going to have to see what other kind of racing I can get into.
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Old 04-02-17, 05:28 PM
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@Heathpack - Sounds like a great day racing! I hope a solution comes up for the TT venue issue down there, since it sounds like you've found your niche. On the 33 I've seen references to hill climbs in SoCal that seem to be TTs with a lot of vertical, might that be a possibility?
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Old 04-02-17, 05:41 PM
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Originally Posted by revchuck
@Heathpack - Sounds like a great day racing! I hope a solution comes up for the TT venue issue down there, since it sounds like you've found your niche. On the 33 I've seen references to hill climbs in SoCal that seem to be TTs with a lot of vertical, might that be a possibility?

OMG become a Strava KOM stalker? No thanks! The funny thing is that what Phil Gaimon is doing is (IMO) ironic. Taking him seriously- kind of makes me cringe a little...


So sad about Fiesta, though. Its a super-safe closed course, technically easy because there's no turns. And very well-run. Hopefully the City of San Diego takes their time with this project, it really will be a big fat huge shame to see this one go.
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Old 04-02-17, 06:16 PM
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Not KOM stalking, but real USAC races. I'm pretty sure that @Hermes has written about doing them.

Re: Phil Gaimon, I see him as an actively self-promoting entrepreneur in bike kit. Much of his online activity appears to be click-bait to keep him in beans and rice...and cookies and bike gear. I've got his Bike Racing on $10 a Day book and a recurring theme in that book is the other stuff he did to make money (like write books) while he raced his bike for peanuts. He does get a little overbearing occasionally.
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Old 04-02-17, 06:38 PM
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Originally Posted by revchuck
Not KOM stalking, but real USAC races. I'm pretty sure that @Hermes has written about doing them.

Re: Phil Gaimon, I see him as an actively self-promoting entrepreneur in bike kit. Much of his online activity appears to be click-bait to keep him in beans and rice...and cookies and bike gear. I've got his Bike Racing on $10 a Day book and a recurring theme in that book is the other stuff he did to make money (like write books) while he raced his bike for peanuts. He does get a little overbearing occasionally.
Quite obviously that's what he's doing- trying to be a social media cycling celebrity. Which is fine if you want to watch him steal KOMs back from a known doper. That's funny. What's kind of sad is getting into some kind of pissing contest over this with him, as if what Phil Gaimon does for publicity somehow is something you should start to take seriously and actually compete with?! Especially if you're a nationally prominent young cyclist. That's just kind of sorry IMO. However, I have the impression puppy is actually the real deal & a pretty cool kid. I doubt he's taking the KOM-stalking dead seriously, even if his Dad does. It would be like me concerning myself with some ridiculous publicity thing Kim Khardashian does, getting my panties-in-a-wad over it and then trying to beat her at her own game. If you think someone's absurd, why try to do what they're doing?

Now as to what you're actually referring to: What? I don't know what you're getting at. Although I will say that it seems like I must be a climber because I climb a lot. Nope, I'm a sucky climber actually. I just climb a lot because I live in a hilly place and the climbing rides are quite pretty!
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Old 04-02-17, 08:31 PM
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Nice racing, @Heathpack!

Story of my life, too. Just because I live near some hills, doesn't mean I climb those rascals worth a crap.
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Old 04-02-17, 11:27 PM
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@Heathpack, you are TOO a hillclimber. Seriously.

Nice, nice race. Good plan and well executed. I keep saying you're the real deal. Because, you're the real deal! Congrats on the terrific finish!

Now, if Fiesta Island will just stay the way it is.
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Old 04-03-17, 08:33 AM
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Thanks @sarals and @LAJ.

I just finished one of these guided meditations this morning, it was in a pack that has to do with the subject of "motivation". Today was about the feeling you get when you do something well, and that makes you happy and other people share in that happiness. Makes it better for sure.

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Old 04-03-17, 09:39 AM
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@Heathpack Congrats on your ITT and it was great seeing as usual. Thanks for the hair compliment. Fortunately, you saw my hair after it has started to grow back and most of my hair has started to grow again to the point where I will need a haircut. You missed the really mangey look.

@revchuck USAC has a few hill climb ITTs. Mount San Bruno, Mount Tam, Mount Diablo (NorCal State Championship) and others in the Sierras. SoCal has a couple including the GMR ITT and I suspect others I am not aware of. And we had the Low Key Hill Climb Series in NorCal that featured 8 climbs that were non sanctioned but used USAC rules and were small group mass start climbs as well as a couple of ITTs.

The LKHC mass start climbs generally did not feature the mass start road / crit risk profile since the speeds were generally slow and the field immediately strung out.

Some of the LKHC events used Stava timing and the honor system for compliance with rules.

I do not have an opinion on Strava other than if someone likes it...then use it.

As far as my race, I was coming off of the injury and my goal was to race (and I use the word in its broadest context) and not re-injure myself which meant that I ride higher tempo with no surge for the last 4 to 5 minutes. For Masters 60+, I was 8 of 10 and our group had the largest field. Race prep and warmup went okay except for my wife's power meter not working. I changed the battery and it was fixed - no big deal.

My success was that my glutes and back felt great the entire race and I feel great this AM. I got a solid TT workout. This week I will try to ease back into some more sprinty efforts.
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Old 04-03-17, 09:50 AM
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I was not pleased to hear about Fiesta Island and the plans. Besides no racing (we will have to see if that is actually true or if something can be accommodated), bike paths generally mean lower speeds and more strange bike handling.

I ride Fiesta a lot and it can be odd and generate risky cycling situations. However, there are always a lot of triathletes and bike racers training there. Whatever the city does will have to accommodate this group in some way (or not).

If Fiesta is closed to racing then I suspect San Diego Bicycle Club will find another venue for time trials. Fiesta is very convenient for me since I live close to the course.
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Old 04-03-17, 03:18 PM
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After getting some pretty tough news Thursday, I nearly bagged on my plans for the race weekend. Too much impact on other people's plans though so after a 5 hour drive and an overnight in a Sprinter Van, I lined up at Ventana Hills for a circuit race Saturday morning. Having been summarily dropped in my first race of the year I did not hold out high hopes, especially after seeing the one minute, stupid climb that hit 8-9% at the top.

Attacked the stupid climb on the 2nd lap and got away solo. Another "not skinny" guy, bridged up a lap later. We were chased down, which set the table for my teammate to get away in a break. Let that ferment for a bit then tried to get across. Ended up with one, then another rider on my wheel. While I was the strongest guy, I wasn't going to pull them up to my teammate, so we rode a hard tempo. Not enough to catch the break, but enough to catch the folks who got blown out. Attacked on the descent, had an interesting sprint with long time racing friend/rival, crossed the line for 6th. Teams got 4th.

Next day was the Sequoia Classic. 6 corner tight downtown crit. They combined the 45/55 1/2/3 field, which made for a lotta horsepower. I sat in, my teammate did a great job keeping things fast but under control. Field sprint, missed that there was a 55 a few spots up from me in the lead out line, otherwise I would have tried to slide up. Steak knives. Considering my lack of training, I'll take them.


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Old 04-03-17, 05:41 PM
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Cool!
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Old 04-03-17, 06:06 PM
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Sweet, @Racer Ex! Nice to have a little bit of positivity after a difficult week.
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Old 04-05-17, 09:21 PM
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Originally Posted by Heathpack
Quite obviously that's what he's doing- trying to be a social media cycling celebrity. Which is fine if you want to watch him steal KOMs back from a known doper. That's funny. What's kind of sad is getting into some kind of pissing contest over this with him, as if what Phil Gaimon does for publicity somehow is something you should start to take seriously and actually compete with?! Especially if you're a nationally prominent young cyclist. That's just kind of sorry IMO. However, I have the impression puppy is actually the real deal & a pretty cool kid. I doubt he's taking the KOM-stalking dead seriously, even if his Dad does. It would be like me concerning myself with some ridiculous publicity thing Kim Khardashian does, getting my panties-in-a-wad over it and then trying to beat her at her own game. If you think someone's absurd, why try to do what they're doing?

Now as to what you're actually referring to: What? I don't know what you're getting at. Although I will say that it seems like I must be a climber because I climb a lot. Nope, I'm a sucky climber actually. I just climb a lot because I live in a hilly place and the climbing rides are quite pretty!
We are all very serious. Daniel (puppy) has done that mountain 6X a year since age 12 - 30+ times. Puppy's last KOM attempt was age 15 :58 and said he'd try again at 18. Over the years, interest in KOMs was lost as real racers race and all that. My wife and I have climbed that mountain about a dozen times each.
Phil came to Horner's KOM and accused Horner, the last non-busted USA GT champion, not Sasquatch, of getting away with things. I thought that was non professional. It was Phil's throw down. I figured, as a serious dad, it was not a bad activity for a spring break college kid starting to ride again. Goals and fun are good even if not achieved. It was not my idea however. I thought it was a good thing and was happy to see the competitive juices flowing.

The top talent in this country is U23, and if the kids want (don't know they do) I think all those Phil KOMs could fall in a summer. Phil is having fun, selling cookies and truly likable (I found out yesterday puppy and Phil shared a coach), but I would appreciate him giving a bit more respect to the profession. Going after convicted dopers (although doesn't matter for Strava) is one thing. Going after not ever sanctioned USA WC/GT winning USA athletes is not what he should do with his time. IMO of course.

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Old 04-06-17, 07:09 AM
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Had scheduled to do a 10K qualifier for the Senior Olympics but opted out and did the longer 18.2K (11.3 mi) that had ~700' of elevation gain. Sub 30 minute finish and down 5 watts from what I should have been able to do

Still working on belt sanding some of the round shape off me. I hate physics
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Old 04-06-17, 09:03 AM
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You had to mention physics....
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Old 04-06-17, 09:47 AM
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Haha, @IBOHUNT, it will get better.


My "diet" is going great, I've gained two pounds!


(Pure muscle, I'm sure.)
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Old 04-08-17, 09:27 AM
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Ex, good racing, coach! I'd considered that Sequoia race, it looked like fun. There was a pretty decent women's turnout, but most of them were the mutants. Still, it would have been cool!
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Old 04-08-17, 10:44 AM
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Originally Posted by IBOHUNT
Had scheduled to do a 10K qualifier for the Senior Olympics but opted out and did the longer 18.2K (11.3 mi) that had ~700' of elevation gain. Sub 30 minute finish and down 5 watts from what I should have been able to do

Still working on belt sanding some of the round shape off me. I hate physics
Haters gonna hate. You notice there's gravy in gravity? 🤣
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Old 04-10-17, 07:40 AM
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Originally Posted by Racer Ex
Haters gonna hate. You notice there's gravy in gravity? ��
I do know there is gravy in gravity however the gravy bit never overcomes the CdFatUphill bit. The problem isn't gravy; it's the sugars in the corn

You can pack all the 1000cc bits you want in your 750cc race bike but if you pack on 45-50# (10%?) worth of saddle bags you'll never exit the bus stop and climb turn 3 very fast...And then some guy will want to pay money to tear down the engine on top of it.

And there you thought some of us weren't paying attention
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Old 04-10-17, 06:52 PM
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For those who felt the disturbance in the force Saturday, that was me stepping up on the podium at an actual bike race. I was third in the Eagle Creek Park criterium, Indianapolis IN. My best finish in 5 seasons thus far has been an 8th place, usually I'm in the bottom third.

The Masters 3/4/5 category has become a popular one here in the tri-state area and 16 of us lined up in sunny, calm, 40 degree conditions. The course is tailor made for me, pan-flat and no turns. It's a giant 1 km circle. Small field and I was racing away from home so didn't know any of the other racers. Two teams were represented by two racers each, the rest of the twelve (including me) were racing alone. My goal was to work on staying up front, stay out of the wind, and maybe notch up a pack finish.

At the gun, it quickly became evident that the two teams were gunning for each other, and their 4 combined riders took turns attacking the field and chasing each other down. Nobody got away. Besides those four, only two other riders attempted to get away and were quickly brought back.

The speed slowly ramped up on the final two laps, but nothing crazy. I got shuffled back to about 10th wheel, but was content with that, having no confidence I could get a result and my goal going in was to simply finish with the field. The last 4 races I've gotten dropped pretty badly.

With about 500m to go, the two designated leaders from the two aforementioned teams hit the gas, and everybody else followed. My intent was simply to hold my line, stay safe, go as fast as I could and pass as many as I could. I was able to find a clear path on the outside and passed all but two. Woohoo.

I am the personification of the blind squirrel stumbling upon a nut. I'll take it. I know how hard it is just to finish one of these stupid races!

Now the hilly road races start, and it's back to our regularly scheduled programming (i.e. me OTB).
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Old 04-10-17, 07:37 PM
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@F16F22, nice racing! Lol on the blind squirrel comment. Haha you need a blind squirrel top tube sticker.

Congrats!
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Old 04-10-17, 07:49 PM
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@F16F22, nice work, great racing!! Patience is a virtue, isn't it?
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