In 2004, I got a job as a HVAC design engineer in Vail, Colorado. I moved there and decided to get back into bike racing. I did a mountain bike race in high-school and remember getting creamed by "roadies" who were mountain bike racers, but did most of their training on the road. So, I decided to buy a trainer and train for the upcoming 2005 mountain bike season.
I wanted a good trainer, so I did some research and bought a reputable, brand-name, fluid trainer. I bought the Fluid2 CycleOps trainer by Saris. Since that purchase, I have been supremely happy with the product. It's got a ton of resistance (I've put out 1500W on it before) and at around 300-350W, the wheel speed is around 19mph, so that equates to about a 53x18 or so. Plenty of room for low-cadence, high-power work. Anyway, a couple years ago, the part that tightens the resistance drum to the tire finally stripped out. It's this aluminum cyclinder thing. I called Saris and they sent a replacement part for free and I received it within a week.
Well, this morning, the part stripped out again. I use my trainer a lot, so I wasn't too surprised. I called Saris up again and told them the part was stripped and they're sending me another part again for free. Awesome customer support!
Saturday was the Louisville cyclocross race of the Boulder Cyclocross Series. This is not a BCR/BCT race, but usually gets a very large turnout and although I had been traveling in San Jose the whole week, I had to do this race since it's local (even though I kinda hate it because it's so freakin' bumpy). Anyway the brief course description goes something like this. There is a long gravel straight at the start to organize the riders before heading uphill on a bike path to a sand pit. Through the sand pit, then down an off-camber bumpy hill to a quick right hander and climb in the granny gear. Then it's through more bumpy open-space type ground, down a sketchy and super bumpy descent to a lap around the inner field where it's a little smoother. Through some barriers, then up a run-up. The laps after the first use more of the bumpy open-space type ground after the gravel straight.
I got a call-up and was slotted in the 2nd row at the start. There were probably 30-40ish riders in our cat 3 race. Anyway, I slotted into about 6th through the first lap, but wrecked on the off-camber turn. My front wheel washed out and I went down. I got up quickly, but I bent my derailleur hanger and it took a little time to assess the damage and continue riding.
I couldn't get the chain into the smallest gear or biggest two gears and there was a lot of friction and noise from pedaling. Unfortunately, I had to deal with this for the remaining 40 minutes of the race. After I started going again, I was in around 12th or 13th. I started feeling really good after a couple laps and worked my way up to probably 5th. Then, with 3 laps to go, my legs decided to quit and just like last race, I proceeded to make my way backwards through the pack. On the last lap, I hopped on my bike after the barriers and heard air leaving my rear wheel. I took the last few turns gingerly and got passed by more guys. I finished in 11th. Here's a photo of my rear wheel.
I actually got a small rock lodged between the rim and the tire bead. I was amazed that I didn't go flat. I'm running the tubeless setup which consists of a normal non-tubeless tire with non-tubeless wheels and going with the Stan's kit. Amazingly, the tire held on and I finished the race and even rode home with this rock in my rim. The Stan's kit is a proven winner in my book!
Photos of the race course:
Barriers near the finish line.
The off-camber climb where I crashed on the first lap.
Sometimes I have to travel for work. I'm in San Jose, CA right now. I don't mind traveling. I actually really like traveling, but the problem is that I lose training time and training quality when I leave home. It's the downside of trying to maintain top form all the time. Here are the things I do when I have to travel for work and I want to maintain my training plan.
1- I book a hotel that I've reviewed online that has photos of the workout facilities. I always try to find a hotel that has stationary bikes if possible, elipticals second. If there are no hotels with a good workout room, then I'll locate a 24hr fitness or whatever and see if they have daily passes. I hate running and I don't think it provides much of any benefit to cycling.
2- I arrange the dinner meal with coworkers at either 6pm or 8pm. If 8pm, then that gives me enough time to change, workout for an hour or so, shower and be ready by 8pm. If 6pm, then I've got time afterwards for a workout.
3- I try to arrange travel early in the morning on the 1st day so that I can have a hard workout the day before, then an easy spin at the hotel gym on the first evening travel day.
4- I bring powerbars and/or sports drink mix with me while traveling. If I forget, then I try to stop at a grocery store on the first day of traveling.
Awesome conditions today for the race in Breckenridge (if you like standing in the 40F rain with only shorts and a T-shirt on). I got a call up to the 2nd row and slotted into about 7th after the initial straightaway. It was raining pretty consistently through the day and the temps were in the 40s I'm guessing, so it was freakin' cold and sloppy. I didn't bring my mud tires because I'm an idiot, so I stuck with my all-arounders at around 40psi front and rear. I felt pretty good for the first few laps and even made it up to 3rd or 4th after the 2nd lap. However, I think I pushed too hard because I got passed, then passed again.... then again... and faded to 9th. I eventually recovered, but it was too late and nearly pipped 8th place at the line.
Unfortunately I don't have any photos from the course because my hands were ice cubes. Regardless, the course conditions were super muddy and I improved my mud skills as the day, so that was good. I'm glad it's over now since I was shivering for a couple hours after the race, but I think I'd do it again. "Classic" cyclocross conditions.
I usually don't know what's going to happen at the first 'cross race of the year. I'm usually excited and hopeful of my form, but the past two years I've been disappointed with my initial results. I am a decent criterium and road racer and can hide in the pack, but cyclocross is a bit like a time trial obstacle course. There's no hiding in the pack and tactics are pretty obsolete, so you're really got to be the strongest to win cyclocross races. This year I decided to take the first race without any expectations and make goals afterwards.
I finished the Velocross CAT3 race in 12th place, so I'm going to focus my efforts this year on competing in the Best Cyclocross Rider competition. Points are given out to the top 20 riders at each BCR race. I know I'm going to miss at least 20% of the 19 BCR races this fall, so I won't make the top tier, but it should be fun nonetheless. If I had finished in the top 7, I'd make it a point to race every cyclocross race on the calendar to get upgrade points, but I'm probably out of the hunt with the form I have now. Next race is Sunday in Breckenridge.
First race for me is in the books and it went ok. I totally blew the start and arrived at the start/finish with about 45 seconds before the gun. That meant I lined up at the back of a 40-50 person field. The start went down a 50 meter straight, then of course, a 180 hairpin.
I moved up a little on the start, then got clogged on the 180 turn and had to dismount. I settled into about 20-25th for the first frantic lap. There were bottlenecks at certain parts of the course and I was staying tight with the front two groups, but gradually I started dropping off the pace and got passed by a couple riders in the last few laps. Overall, I finished in the top 15 I think. My teammate, Marty, was killing it, but flatted towards the end of the race and had to pull off. He was in 2nd at the time. Anyway. Good start to the season. Here are some photos of the course.
I hate how this blogger website works with photos.
Today is the first 'cross race of the season, but unfortunately it is 95 miles away, so I still got a hard workout on the trainer this morning while watching the latest World Superbike Races from Germany. Hard workouts are hard for everybody. It doesn't matter if your a top European professional or a CAT 4 racer. Everyone goes through the same pain and mental hardships when doing a hard workout.
Case in point, this morning I attempted my 4x14min interval workout and had a breakdown on the 4th interval. After reviewing the power data, I can see exactly when I get mentally broken. Here's my workout data from Thursday of this week. I thought I was recovered enough, but you can see that 10 minutes into the 3rd interval I crack and struggle to maintain my power for the rest of the interval. I rested 5 minutes, then tried the 4th interval, but I was mentally broken and gave up.
Today, I did the same workout and met the same mental breakdown in the 4th interval at about the 8th minute. You can't see very well in the screenshot because the data is smoothed out, but I stopped pedalling for about 10 seconds, then got my head back into it and finished it off. My heart rate was 187bpm when I cracked on both workouts.
This kind of mental and physical breakdown happens all the time during bike races. Typically, it happens during the critical points of the race. There is usually a good 5-15 minutes in the middle of the race that you're at your absolute maximum and struggling to keep the pace and if you back off for just a second, you can lose a wheel, slip back, and get dropped from the pack. It takes the mental toughness you develop from doing really hard workouts in training that will help you push just that little bit longer to keep stay with it during the critical points in a bike race. Of course, there are also times when no matter what you do, you get dropped, but these training experiences will then help limit your damages on the GC.
I've heard that the pros can ride at their absolute maximum for over an hour while most amateurs can only last 10-15 minutes before breaking down mentally and back off the pace. That's mental toughness.
The last day of this stage race was on a 1 kilometer criterium course downtown. It consisted of a short steep hill and a long steady downhill. It was a nice, fun, safe course. I attacked about 15 minutes into the race and tried to bridge to a group of 4. I was away for a few laps before I was brought back by Ben Day and the rest of the peloton. Shortly after I got caught, my teammate Tom Roba attacked and bridged to the group. He stayed away for about 40 minutes until close to the end when he was caught. The main break stayed away the whole race. I felt good on the finishing sprint, but got boxed in and really didn't get a chance to wind it up. Still finished 16th on the stage and 27th overall. Better form next year I hope.
Here's an article on the stage with video.
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/photos/2009/sep/08/22951/
Stage 1 - Circuit Race and Stage 2 Road Race in the books.
Yesterday's 45 mile Circuit Race went pretty much as I expected. 10 laps of the TT course with ~500ft climbing per 4.5 mile lap. The first lap was ok. I hung with the pack on the climb, but it was hard. 2nd lap, I got popped off the back of the pack about 200 meters from the finish of the main climb. I caught back on after the descent. 3rd lap, I got popped early on the climb and my teammate, Tom, and I stayed together for the rest of the race behind the pack. We ended up getting lapped by the winner Ben Day on his last lap, but we never caught or got passed by the field. Results aren't posted online, but I think we finished about 14 minutes or so behind the winner. I'll update this with results when they are available.
Today was longer (70 miles), but the climbs weren't as steep, so I did ok. 3-4 miles after the start is a hard, steep 600 ft climb that popped my teammate, Tim, and a couple others. The next 35-40 miles were pretty steady. Climbs were mostly a few minutes or less and I didn't have any trouble keeping up with the pace. About 40 miles into the race is the main climb of over 1000ft. This climb is broken into three steep climbs. I kept with the main climb over the first, then got popped off the back on the second. Chased on the descent and came within 50 meters before the final climb and never caught. The rest of the race, I was riding alone chasing the main pack for about 10-15 miles to the finish. I think if I was 5 pounds lighter or could put out a tiny bit more power, I would have been able to keep with the group. Regardless, the finish of the race was on some pretty steep short climbs and I would have been popped there anyway. So, I finished about 6-10 minutes behind the field. One more race (the criterium) tomorrow. I expect to do ok since it has very little climbing, is only 60 minutes, and is more of my style of race. We'll see.
Today was the 4.5 mile time trial. We were pretty rushed and showed up to the race site late, so I only got a 12-13 minute warm-up in. I went easy for a few minutes, then few minutes hard, then 1/2 minute really hard, then easy for the rest of the warm up and felt ok. This course was actually really technical and had a pretty significant climb. The race included a short start sprint, a 1/4 mile uphill, then 1/2 mile climb, then a 2 mile or so descent, then a mile on the flat, then a 1/4 mile finish climb.
I went super hard on the initial part of the TT and I hit the climb already very anaerobic. I stood up on the bike through most of the climb and felt good, but at the same time, I felt like there was a ball of lava in my throat. At the top of the climb, I picked up the speed for the descent, but the descent was far more technical than I expected and I almost overcooked one of the sweeping corners. I recovered and felt ok on the flat and the rest of the race. I finished in 11:15, approx 1:28 behind the leader, at 34th of 43. I gotta say that I'm disappointed in the result as I felt good in the race, but it is what it is. This is the last road race of the year, so I was expecting to be in good form for the 'cross season, but it looks like I need some more work.
Tomorrow's race is the same course, just backwards, and we'll do 9 laps. It's going to be very, VERY hard. We'll see how it goes.
Here's the plan for september. I'm pretty much half-way through my 2nd training cycle. This is my rest week before the Steamboat Stage Race. Next week, I'll take another rest week to recover from 3 hard effort days and to help prepare for the first weekend of cross. This year, I really want to improve and move out of the 3s. Last year, I had great success in Portland (I was there during most of September), but when I returned I had a terrible first outing and the remaining races weren't that great. The basic plan is to keep up the 10-20minute efforts during the week with a over-under workout thrown in as well. Over-unders are workouts above FT for a few minutes, then below FT for several minutes, then repeat a couple times per set. I honestly don't know the best way to train for 'cross, so this year I'm using the same plan I used for the road season and am hoping for success.
This weekend is the last road racing event of the year. The Steamboat Springs Stage Race. This will be a four-day event with a 4.5mile prologue on Friday evening, a 10 lap, 45mile circuit race on Saturday, a 70mile road race on Sunday, and a 60 minute criterium on Monday. Chris, Tim S. and I will be representing the team this weekend. I'll be blogging "live" every night to keep you posted on how things are shaping up.
I think one of the biggest challenges for every cyclist is knowing when to train hard and when to take it easy. Here is a good example of how monitoring heart rate and power for your hard workouts can indicate if you are rested enough to do the workout or if you need to take a break and come back the next day. I did this workout on Saturday, 8/25/09:
For this workout, I did four intervals maintaining an average around 350 watts for each 18 minute interval (5 minute rest between intervals). My heart rate averages were 168, 173, 176, 177 bpm. The following day, I raced the HART criterium in Denver, CO. On Monday, I rode easy for an hour, then on Tuesday I attempted the same 4x18min workout. This time, however, I was not rested enough to do the workout and it was evident in my heart rate.
My average heart rate for the first two intervals were 171bpm, then 180bpm. I attempted a third interval, but was too tired to complete the effort. My heart rate was much higher indicating I was stressed and not recovered enough to do the workout. I use this data for planning my future workouts. If I do two hard workouts or races in a row, then I will most often need two days of rest before I can do another hard workout. Everyone is different though, and you may recover quicker or slower than others. The best way to determine if you are rested (in my opinion), is to monitor heart rate with power. I structure my training plan completely around power, but I monitor heart rate to see how I felt and as a gauge for fitness.
I wanted a good trainer, so I did some research and bought a reputable, brand-name, fluid trainer. I bought the Fluid2 CycleOps trainer by Saris. Since that purchase, I have been supremely happy with the product. It's got a ton of resistance (I've put out 1500W on it before) and at around 300-350W, the wheel speed is around 19mph, so that equates to about a 53x18 or so. Plenty of room for low-cadence, high-power work. Anyway, a couple years ago, the part that tightens the resistance drum to the tire finally stripped out. It's this aluminum cyclinder thing. I called Saris and they sent a replacement part for free and I received it within a week.
