AzTallRider

Didn't they stop checking that last year? I thought I heard that. Not that a lack or refereeing should govern adherence to rules.

Hermes

There is a lot wrong with that TT fit. However, she raced elite track nationals (pursuit, team pursuit and 500 meters) last year so she knows how to get her through technical inspection and she obtained a morphological exemption for saddle set back.

Cleave

They said that the 5 cm setback rule for road TT was "ignored" for Masters national TT. Not sure about the track.

She must really be anthropometrically challenged.

gsteinb

It wasn't ignored on the track in 2011. They had the jig out and had guys moving their saddles all over. Then the bars. The the saddle again. Sigh.

Cleave

Late report on the March 26, Park2Park Race Series at El Dorado Park (formerly the El Dorado Park Twilight Race Series) in Long Beach, CA.

Race format changed to P/1/2/3 and Cat 3/4 only. No separate Masters, no Cat 5. Being a Cat 3 I had a choice, hang on for dear life in the P/1/2/3 race or actually race in the Cat 3/4 race. I chose the latter. Race format is 1 hour on a 1.75 mile flat circuit with two random primes. Primes have points for first three places and finish has points for top ten. USAC sanctioned and $15(!) per night. Four years ago it wasn't USAC, but insured, and it was $6 per night. New promoter says they lose money with less than 100 racers. Less than 100 were there but it was close. Used to get 150-200 racers per night in the early to mid 2000s when there were three races (P/1/2/3, Masters 40+, Cat 5) and lower entry fee.

Started at the front and stayed at or near the front through the first prime. Covered what looked like a relatively weak move about 1/2 mile after the prime. When the guy pulled off we actually had a decent gap so I pulled through. 1/4 mile later, three others join us. I know three of the four guys who are with me and one of them is a Cat 4 who is younger than my eldest son. Everyone is working and after being away for two laps I look back and the pack is nowhere to be seen. Another lap and I'm starting to get twinges in my calves and even though I feel decent I'm getting worried.

Three quarters of a lap later I pull for a couple of hundred meters and pull off. Suddenly both calves cramp simultaneously. I'm done. I roll slowly for a half lap before the field catches me. My teammates see me and start drilling it. Another half lap and more cramps. I'm off of the field and roll around to a safe place to sit out a lap. I get back on and we get two to go. I tell our sprinter that there are four guys in the break and that I'm just surfing the back to get in a couple more miles at race pace.

Teammates chide me after the race. Break mates said I was looking good. I always say that midweek races are about testing your limits and trying different things. I definitely found my limits.

First time that I've experienced cramps this year. Usually I experience some cramps during the first hot road race of the year, not during a relatively cool (low-60s) training race. I guess I should have swallowed some Endurolytes before I left the house. Still have to decipher the Powertap data but it wasn't like I was putting out massive watts. I guess I need to do an FTP test soon.

sarals 

Nice work, Cleave! I'm sorry you cramped, it sounds like you had a really good break going. You'll figure that out, I'm sure. Study for the FTP test, you don't want to flunk it!

VanceMac

Interesting development. So many Tuesday options up here, I'm not too tempted. But the USAC sanctioning is a nice carrot. Kind of surprised they threw out Masters category, though. I have to think a sanctioned 45+ would draw big.

shovelhd

Great work Cleave. It's still early. It will pay off down the road.

AzTallRider

I don't generally get cramps, and when it happens, it's a real "WTF?". So I feel your pain, and am sorry it happened at such an inopportune time.

Cleave

Thanks all for the encouraging words.

The break I was in stayed away despite my teammates late efforts and the kid in the group won. He said he had a cramp with two to go but he recovered quickly. That's the difference between a 20 year-old and a 56 year-old cramping during a race. Regardless, I was happy to be in the break without having to go deep from a heart rate perspective (per my Garmin data).

VanceMac, the "politics" of this change are amazing given the amateur nature of this sport. I'm all for change if there's improvement attached to it. I haven't seen any so far. Also, the "partnership" between Eldo and Great Park is weird. I don't think there was much poaching of racers between the two races because they were (and still are) on different days of the week and they are pretty far apart geographically. Anyway, if you can make it south sometime let me know. I'm sure we can try something during the race. I have teammates that will block.

Colonelmom

Conquer the Canal TT, raced women's CAT 3, managed to snag 2nd place.. not my fastest time, it was only 12 mile TT. I didn't get the best warm up.... my own fault and I know better, so the legs were not ready to GO at the whistle... but the gal that took 1st is a "junior" I think she's 16 :-) SO 2nd is a good day

chasm54

Whoa, well done Colonelmom, great result.

sarals 

Colonelmom, that is awesome. Awesome! Fantastic result! Congratulations!

Racer Ex 

Congrats!

Racer Ex 

Copperopolis Report: Teammate won, 5th for our other guy. I contributed some. Got popped on the climbs several times, cramped several times, chased several times but stayed with the really small selection until we made it over the big climb on the last lap, then the lights went out. My legs gave way 51 miles and 2:20 in with 13m to go after I had to pull a 400w 30s effort out of tired legs.

Damn hard race. Covered head to toe with cold patch and gravel, at one point on the downhill my bars felt like 2" PVC tubing. Turned around and took the short cut after I blew. Figured more miles was a bad idea if I planned on racing next weekend.

When I went out at 2:20 I had burned 2066 kj, and had an NP of 280, and an IF of .953. Mind you half this course was downhill. 5m 350w NP on one of the climbing sections an hour into the race.

Brutal.

AzTallRider

Congrat's Colonelmom.. Yikes, Ex.

VanceMac

Great job, C-mom! Ex -- I flinched HARD as soon as I read "cold patch". That stuff is like death.

sarals 

Ex - wow. All I can do is shake my head in awe.

valygrl

Colonelmom-wow, nice work!
Ex- yeah, ouch.

Here's mine, also posted in The 33:

CU Research Park Crit, SW4, 6th/21.

This was my first crit after my crash/separated shoulder last August. I had schizophrenic goals of 1) just do a crit and get over the leftover crash jitters and 2) get on the podium. Goal 1 - well, i still have some work to do, but it wasn't too bad. Goal 2 - nope.

I wasn't very comfortable in the pack for the first few laps, it got a little better as the pack thinned out a bit. There were a couple of people I didn't want to be near but kept ending up on their wheel, and one chick kept pointing at a (orange-paint-marked) manhole and yelling "hole" every lap until I said "shut up" which I wish I hadn't said, oops. But pointing, sheesh.

My fitness is OK but there were some stronger women. I stayed in the top 10 and worked on not working, I tend to chase everything down, I'm trying to learn patience but I just don't know how to tell if a move is a dangerous one that I don't want to let get away vs one that isn't going to stick. I did chase a few, but let other people do it a few times. Achieved my goal of not being in the wind much and not pulling the pack around. I was thinking I would try to go with about 4 to go, but the pace was ramped up by then and it was just all I could do to stay in the lead group. I followed a wheel in a sprint and picked up a couple of places, but I was pretty cooked, achieved my max HR, and NP for the 30 minute crit was above my (newly increased) LT.

Hermes

Some great racing C'mon VG and Ex. Ex, Copperopolis is a hard man's race of attrition. What a war.

gsteinb

Did the Johnny Cake Road race. 100 guys are narrow back roads. Having never done this yellow line rules means if there's a yellow line it's enforced. If not we have the full road...for real? I guess. Took me 24 miles to find the front of the race, but then road 3 aggressive laps. After several failed breaks, an elite/pro rider soloed while his teammate set tempo (ex saturn). I had great position and legs in the last couple miles, but with a 1/4 mile to go surges over the yellow line swarmed the front and I really decided I wasn't going to get wrapped up in rule breaking. Last K is downhill into a downhill right turn and then a lefthand corner 250m out. If you're not in the top few at the downhill your day is done. So, mine was done. Good miles though. Considering how few road races I do, and racing against guys who do this course 3x a year, year in and year out, not a bad day.

gsteinb

title change

chasm54

Sounds like you had a good day, gsteinb. Not sure of the point of a yellow line rule if people aren't DQ'd for breaking it.

You made the intelligent choice. We had a young road racer killed here a couple of weeks ago riding into an oncoming car.

shovelhd

Nice work Colonelmom, Ex, Valygrl, and gsteinb.

With the reorg, I will put my reports here. My other thread can be closed.

shovelhd

Chris Hinds Criterium M50+, 54 degrees, strong NW wind, 10th place. I have a love-hate relationship with this place. It is a breakaway rider's course. In the past I have been in breaks that lapped the field twice. That's the love part. The hate part is that everybody knows what I want to do here and some will do anything to prevent it. It makes for a long, frustrating race, and today was no different. From the gun I had my nemesis stuck to my wheel like glue. For those who do not know this little soap opera, he's a gazillion time national champion, I raced on his team in the 80's, when I beat him, I beat him by going OTF, and I have never beaten him head to head in a sprint. So I attack, follow good looking attacks, move all over the field to try and shake him but I can't. Looking at my power files I counted 25 attacks. No dice. I can't keep towing the field up to the break. So with 6 to go and two breaks with eight guys up the road, I decide to go to the very back of the field and get on his wheel. He figures out what I'm doing in short order and plays along. At around 300m out as we take the final turn I had the inside, sheltered line. I go early as I cannot match his jump. We go head to head for 200m then he kicks, I kick, but it was not quite enough. I finish about 2 tire widths behind him for 10th, the last place in the money.

The M40+ was the next race, and they have been known to line up quickly, so I took a half lap warmdown, swapped jerseys and bottles, and had time for a little warmdown/warmup before the start. It was a smaller field than the M50+ and the wind had picked up, although it really was a beautiful warm spring day by the ocean. The first lap was a nice parade, but the attacks started right afterwards. Attack, chase, counter, chase, just more of the same as the last race. The pace was all over the place, but it managed to shake a few riders free. I decided to let them go and stay in the field. I had been recovering well from the efforts and still had some stink left, so when they rang the bell for a field prime, I took notice. Going into a headwind stretch a little less than 1km out I rolled off the front in a kilo effort. At 300m out they were chasing, thinking they'd catch me but I kicked hard in the speed bars on the gutter line and they gave up. I thought about staying out for a bit but decided just to finish out the day. The attacks started again and I had to work hard as the rest of the field blew up. I ended up 15th.

Overall, I took away a lot of good from this race day. My back had been bothering me for the last couple of days. It was only a factor during the warmup. I raced really hard in the first race and still had a very strong kilo effort in me in the second. That effort confirmed that my bike fit is where it needs to be. I came home with some money, and my form continues to improve. It's going to be a battle royal next week at Bethel and I am going to need it.