sarals 

Darn it, AJ! You take time off and still podium. Way to go! Congratulations!!

Allegheny Jet

Thanks, I'm feeling it today. I didn't take much quality time off but most of the usual outdoor rides on the fixie were a no go. I don't ride the cross bike much and only was on it three times over the past few weeks. I just can't seem to dial it in like my other bikes. I thought I had it close last week when I changed seat post and put a longer stem on, but after the race I couldn't stoop down to pick up my equipment. Over an hour after the race I had to ask my brother in law to go up two steps to the beer truck for me due to not being able to climb up any steps.

AzTallRider

Awesome result, AJ. And it is just so strange to see people bundled up on the podium.

shovelhd

AJ, nice!!!!

AZT, shut up!!!!

Hermes

Great racing in a tough race. You may have to stop racing if you cannot climb up to the beer truck. A man has to know his limitations.

shovelhd

Man, that was a hard day at the office. My legs haven't felt this crunchy since last year. This is a very good sign. I usually get a bump after rest from an effort like this.

Bethel CDR Gold 45+, 34 degrees, very windy, 10th place. My job today was to mark the #2 guy in the standings and make sure he gained no points on the leader. The guy is a monster, an FTP machine. Well over 6 feet and built like a tank. For the first half of the race he tried and tried to get away, and we did get off the front multiple times, but I just sat on him and we would get caught. He got cagey after a while, and tried to get his teammate to box me in, attack into the windy side, all the good stuff. He got me one time near the end, and a break got up the road, but it wasn't organized, and we caught it with 3 to go. I covered him again until the last lap when I slammed it to the front and did the best I could in the sprint. I was coming up the right side which is where I like to be, about 6th wheel or so when a rider got sketchy on front of me. I had to dodge, which cost me a bunch of places, but at least it ended up safe. There was a wreck on the other side of the course, so I chose wisely. It was a pretty sketchy sprint.

The wind had picked up considerably before the start of the P/1/2/3 race. Pieces of the barrier tape had blown off. Unfortunately, my Quarq decided to crap a load on me before I started to warm up. It kept telling me that there were multiple power meters, when there weren't. I shut down and restarted to no avail. I carry spare batteries, but I could not get the battery cover off. Something to work on this week. I hope it is just a battery. I lined up next to grolby. That was the last I'd see of him, and I don't know what happened. The race started off stupid fast but I hung in there. A break got off during that time and the field slowed. They would lap the field at around the halfway point. With 18 to go, one of the lead riders attacked at the top of the hill. That is the best place to attack, and I fell off the back. I went all out to catch back on but it took 1/2 a lap. He attacked again in the same place, and that punched my ticket to Offthebackistan. I soloed until 7 to go, using the opportunity to work in the IAB against the headwind, until the field caught me again. I let the break go by, as I don't think it's right to mix it up with those guys when you are a lap down. The field would drop me again during a late prime. I almost quit at that point, but instead I ended up finishing the last three laps with a guy who was in the break but his Di2 battery died and he was stuck in the 39. I did not sprint against him at the end.

The results weren't great but this was one of the best days I've had racing this year. I did a ton of work, and I feel pretty good. Next week I should get the green light to race my race and I intend to do just that.

sarals 

Shovel, way to go. Way to tough it out, too. I love reading about these chess game races, they are like a good novel. Congrats on the strong finish, and even better - feeling good after all of that punishment.

sarals 

I knew there'd be a beer mention in his race report somewhere. I'm glad I wasn't disappointed!

Racer Ex 

Team got 2nd in the 50+ today, just out of the top ten in the 45. I pretty much road my tail off, got in too many breaks to count, two long pulls in the final lap of both races, and a couple of laps OTF with the lap cards up burying myself to make teams chase and keep things strung out. Missed a prime by a bike on a long sprint.

Legs felt pretty good, and despite some horrific allergies right now the lungs were surprisingly clear.

Too much horsepower to have anything stay away, and the ones that might have were either blown up by the scared or in one case killed by the other team's friendly fire. Kinda been a lot of work for zero individual results this season, other that an early season TT win. Today was our best team finish, by this time last year is was a different story.

San Dimas with the junior next weekend. Thursday is my nuero appointment.

sarals 

Ex, nice! It's good to hear that the allergy princess left you to ride today. I try to imagine being at or OTF as much as you and others here do...all I can do is imagine! It's fun to read, that's for sure. Congrats to the team!

Hermes

ShovelHD and Racer Ex.

AzTallRider

OMG, an exceedingly rare typo from our resident journalist - and don't try that poetic license crap on us.

Nice riding, Shovel and Ex. You guys are, well, so frickin fast, and so good at this stuff.

carpediemracing 

^ shovel, grolby did 4 laps at 325w and then blew sky high. He rolled in chuckling to himself, just the sheer ridiculousness of the effort required to stay on wheels.

shovelhd

And he's a little guy, smaller than me. Tons of power on the front.

Ex, nice work. Good luck with the appointment.

Cleave

Let's see, AJ does another race that would leave me whimpering not far from the start and he finishes on the podium. Great job!

shovelhd puts in another day at the office, assuming your office is that of the Chief Operating Officer.

Racer Ex is falling apart at the seams yet he is the quintessential teammate who works as hard or harder than anyone else in his situation could. Of course he's going to do a 3-day stage race in a tough field next week. What else would he do?

Cleave

That was ugly.

Heart rate was in range. Power was in range (actually a bit over). Speed was slow.

IF: 1.07
NP: 107% of FTP
Average Heart Rate: 152 bpm
IV: 1.01

Spent a bit of time talking with Racer Ex. Missed tetonrider.

Hermes

You need a new bike.

Cleave

I need new legs and lungs.

Racer Ex 

Waiting for day two report.

sarals 

Me, too. I was relegated to reading Strava. Looked good there.

Cleave

It almost got uglier. Managed to be one ahead of DFL on stage two. Two weeks ago I felt decent racing. Last week I felt decent training. This weekend, nada.

Managed to stay in on lap one of the road race (7 mile lap). Fell off on the hardest climb on the course (most of the way around the lap). Amazingly, one 55+ guy was slower than I. Thankfully, there were no time cuts for 55+ (despite what you see on line).

Today's crit was fast and hard -- too hard for me. Fast guys started drilling it (again) with 4-to-go. Made it to 3-to-go and popped on the little rise on the back side of the course. Rode to the end. Mercy applause at the line. Not sure what the official standings will show.

DFL > DNF > DNS -- right?

Oh, at least a lot of my competitors thanked me for making some noise about eliminating the time cuts. I was one of the few that needed it.

shovelhd

Hey Cleave, you're still doing stage races, in SoCal, no less. Keep at it.

Sounds familiar. Just one of those weeks. We all have them, except gsteinb.

Criterium de Bethel M45+, mid thirties, windy, and rainy, 11th place. With Gary pretty much solidly in first place overall, a smaller field, not including the #2 guy, and crappy conditions, we could have some fun. My warmups did not go well at all. My HR was 15-20 points higher than normal. The field blasted off on the second lap with lots of attacks. Everyone wanted to warm up. G got into an early 4 man break. I covered, sometimes hard, but I knew they would get brought back eventually with him in it. After a few counters, teammate C from NJ was on the right side of the field to go with a four man counter. I went flat out trying to latch on but I could not separate so I sat up. Three teammates from the represented teams and I worked the front. They would lap the field at 4 to go. With 3 to go a guy I mistakenly thought was in the break took off. I chased him but I could not catch so I sat up (again) and dropped back into the field. I was in good position for the sprint but I was pretty fried and didn't have enough to do much. I couldn't understand until I looked at the files, and that told the story. .93IF, 92 TSS in 46 minutes, a total of 8 minutes in Z7. Maybe my FTP is off, or maybe I was tired and it was a hard race.

I decided that under the conditions it made no sense to stick around and do the P/1/2/3 race. It would have been an opportunity to try and grab some upgrade points, but my legs were beat, my bike was a mess, and I just wanted to take a warm shower. I know, HTFU.

revchuck 

At our age, eff a bunch of HTFU. You earned that shower, and also the beer that (hopefully) followed.

Hermes

ShovelHD, I am in NYC, lower east side, and the weather at JFK was crappy when we landed. I think one race was enough. I just want to know what the final sprint speed was.

sarals 

So do I. I saw Gary's post on FB - congrats to you, both of you, in spite you of feeling lousy!

Why do you suppose your HR was so high?