Merco 35+ 4's Race

I was really very nervous for today’s race. I spent some time this week asking for help from the team in determining strategy for races. I got a lot of input and I want to talk about how it played out in today’s race and how important I think it can be for each of us in future races. I’ll get to that, but all that strategizing is what I think made me really nervous today.
Being a newbie as a racer, I have often struggled with how I am supposed to evaluate my upcoming races. I mean, at 53 (54 racing age), I am entering my 3rd year of trying to learn to become a competitive cyclist. Up until recently, I have had no concept of how to get mentally ready for a race. I just show up on the line and do my best, hoping not to crash. Jim Langley has talked strategy to me on a couple of occasions, and then recently offered me an excellent evaluation of my upcoming race at Madera. That motivated me to ask the team in an e-mail if we could become more proactive in forming strategy. I have gotten thoughtful and excellent replies on this topic from Dennis and “the Heater”. I should also say that I have gotten and continue to get much thoughtful advice on the road from a variety of teammates, particularly Russ.
Today was an eye opener. Ed & I were in a race with 100 riders. There were four teams with 6 or more riders, and of those, one had 11 and one had 16. Steve Heaton had given me the most detailed advice, and he recommended checking out which teams were registered and in what numbers. He further advised trying to determine if any of those teams had riders who were a threat. He thought we should try to get to the front part of the pack as soon as possible and work to keep an eye on the big teams. If more than one of the big teams sent a rider off the front, then we should try to go with them. Otherwise, we should just work to sit in towards the front and let the teams do the work of chasing down any breaks. This was a good plan, and although simple, it was not one I would have thought through on my own. I found a good spot in the front quarter of the pack and did the work I had to do to stay there. I have tried to do this at races in the past but usually find myself drifting to the back. The combination that kept me there today was all strategy related. Russ has often told me to ride in the part of the pack that I want to find myself finishing, but it has never really taken hold. In part that is because I have had to work so hard not to get knocked off wheels and eventually I have simply given in. Today, I had the additional need to keep an eye on what the teams were up to. That gave me enough sense of purpose to hang in there and continue to fight for wheels. Then something revealing happened. Somewhere between half and 2/3rd’s of a lap in, it got easier. All of a sudden, it was like I was where I was supposed to be. The crowd I was riding with was at the front and we all knew it. Sure, occasionally the crowd from behind would come around us with a surge. But, we would each just do the work we needed to do to get back to the front. The other guys didn’t have the need to be there. And when the finishing stretch was looming, you can bet that those guys were not gonna get any free rides.
So for the first real time in a race, I felt like I was in a reasonably good position to be there at the end. But this was a big race, with a number of big teams. My initial thought was that Wells Fargo was controlling the race. They had guys at the front and the pace (slow) was reminiscent of what the guys from Body Concepts had done the previous week at Snelling. It turned out that WF just didn’t have the legs, and it also seemed that even with 16 guys in the race that they had really not discussed strategy. For the most part, I would say that was also true of the other teams in the race. It became even more clear as we approached the finish on the final lap. There was no organization among any of the teams and we were going to begin to barrel into the rollers that lead up to the still slightly uphill finish sprint. One guy, a climber, went off the front on one of the hills, but was quickly chased down. I was trying to gage my own choices. I had identified a spot that was a power hill leading up to the finishing sprint. I felt that I could surge to or off the front going up that hill and still have enough left for my sprint to the line. As we approached that little hill on the final lap, it was obvious that I had not been the only one with that idea. Lots of guys went hard up that riser. I decided to hold my own even though my legs felt like they had the power to go to the front. It seemed like guys were going really hard and I knew it was still a long way to the line. As we crested the hill, I started into my sprint, such as it is. I passed a number of riders, all of whom were gassed, and continued to drive towards the line. As I approached the line, I had to hit the brakes. There was no opening. The finishers ahead of me were gassed, but they were stretched out across the road.
In summary, none of the big teams really played any part in the finishing stretch. I do not believe any of them had come to this race with a strategy to deliver their man to the line. I think that is their loss. I also expect that it is our gain because we often find ourselves outnumbered. For my part, today was an excellent learning experience and a lot of fun. I cannot express how important I find the input from my teammates, nor how much I think we should move forward on establishing strategy for our races, teaching it to new riders and team members, and discussing it openly among ourselves. I would have liked to win one of those etched and painted river rocks that were going to 1st place winners today. Not this time, but maybe next! 19th today.

Snelling Road Race, 45+ 1/2/3

By Dennis Pedersen

There was a crash somewhere to my left, the only one in our race, when a guy rode his bicycle off the shoulder of the road. I looked ahead for other problems and instead saw that the winning break of about seven or eight guys had just split off from our front. Every race has it's decisive moment, and that was ours, just minutes after our race had started.

I didn't know that break was the winning move yet, of course, but I knew from prior experience here that it could be. They had chosen well: The south-west corner of the generally flattish course, in the Sierra's gentle foothills, where several short hills and sharp turns opened up opportunities for gaps to form. Several thoughts went through my head:

• Could I bridge the gap up to them?
• Which teams were represented in the break?
• Which other teams would work to catch the break?
• Would the break work well together?
• How strong were the guys in the break?

I started to move up, as that would help me answer those questions, but soon came to a stop behind a bunch of guys blocking us at the front of our main group (now a chase group). It looked like Safeway, VOS and Morgan Stanley all had riders in the break and their teammates were working to hold the rest of us back. I didn't know who else, or which riders, were up ahead, but I knew enough to know it didn't look good for Mike Sudbrink and I.

When faced with the decisive moment, decisive action is required. What did I do? I waited. I had lots of reasons: Too early. Too tired. Too slow. Somebody else will take the initiative. But what I should have done was turn myself inside-out to catch that break, consequences be hanged. Waiting just increased the gap.

The next two-plus laps were spent on frustrating attempts to form chase groups, but nothing much materialized. The motorcycle ref called out the time gap: I heard "1:12" and "1:21" at various times. I felt certain we could catch them in this 50-mile race if we tried, but only sporadic pacelines formed. Me, a guy from Davis Bike Club and a guy from Team Bicycles Plus were the only ones to consistently make any effort... and the blockers did their usual good job of disrupting our attempts and sowing the seeds of doubt (their smack-talk just made me laugh though!). And we also had some poorly-timed neutralizations when we got passed by some Pro/1/2 racers, forcing us to ease off for several minutes at a time. At other times we neutralized other racers and one time I was the tip of the arrow as we passed a large group from a different race category.

On the last lap VOS suddenly went from blocking to pushing the pace way up, taking turns really pounding. As if attacking or, more likely, trying to bridge up to the break. Huh? What was up? I wasn't sure, but I had a hunch their man in the break, James Allen, had been dropped or flatted. I went with each attempt and they got shut down pretty well; I knew to mark Jan Elsbach especially, who I know can solo pretty well. At one point I floated off the front and I asked Jon Ornstil, in passing, "what happened, did you lose your man?" but he didn't reply. Instead he had an uncharacteristic look of panic on his face.

We really hammered the last half of the last lap but I didn't think we'd catch the break. I was pretty sure the break still had at least 6 guys in it, and I really didn't want to sprint for 7th place. 7th wouldn't get me anything, no upgrade points, not even a T-shirt. So as we approached the last turn, where I won the field sprint for 6th last time, I just sat up and let the field pass me. No sense in risking a crash. I rolled over the finish line in 33rd, and it turned out VOS only took 9th, so I'm happy I didn't bother.

The result was disappointing, no denying it. I honestly believe this race suits me, and I really hoped for much more. But I love the gorgeous rural course, the spring-time weather was awesome, and it was really neat getting to race with Mike; he's a great guy and a real legend. This was his first race back in a long time and I hope we get to race some more. Russ Cadwallader and John Marshall (our new Nevada teammate) couldn't make it due to illness, but what a team we will make when we all can be there, ready for action. I look forward to that!

Snelling 45+ 4/5

I haven’t written a race report since the Early Bird RR, and I am hesitant to write one here. This race was disappointing for me on more than one level. It was a 2 ½ hour drive from home to get there and I had no teammates to race with. On the plus side, the weather was clearing by the time our group lined up at the start. There were reports of a few spots on the course with standing water in the roadway, and I had heard stories of numerous flats in the earlier races. At any rate, they sent us off for 4 laps.
The ride from the park to the course is neutral and we began “racing” when we got to the actual course. I put racing in quotes because it was hard to tell the difference. The 45+ 4/5 category seems to be content with easy efforts in these flatter races. The idea seems to be, “just get to the finish and do your best in the sprint”. At no time in this race did I feel under the kind of pressure I would expect on the Santa Cruz area group rides. I tried to go off the front on 3 occasions, but on my own, I did not have the power and endurance to stay away. Goes to show that all these other guys are right, but it doesn’t change the fact that it isn’t that much fun.
These flatter races are the ones I was hoping to do better in. Based on things so far, my best expectation may be to be pack filler. I will continue to look for ways to become competitive. 17th.

Retül fitment at Bicycle Trip

Most of us know how important it is to have our bicycles fit our bodies as closely as possible. Poor bike fit is not only slower, but can lead to repetitive stress injuries over time... especially for old guys who are trying to "get back in shape" after years of couch-potato drills. I've been professionally fitted to my bikes three times over the years, and also done it myself using various established methods (Colorado Cyclist has a nice online fitment tool). But when Bicycle Trip bought a full-on Retül Fit Studio I knew it was time to reevaluate my bike's adjustments.

Retül uses sophisticated motion capture to dynamically analyze the motion of your body's joints in 3D, using a special sensor and adhesive markers attached at key body joints (feet, ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, elbows and wrists). You then pedal your own bike at power on a trainer placed in front of the sensor which records the position of each marker in 3D space over time. From this any wobbles and inefficient joint angles can be precisely defined and eliminated through the usual bike adjustments. I'd seen similar technology covered on TV before... but only for pro golfers and baseball players.

After I was all plugged in and on my bike in front of the sensor, Aaron had me pedal at my "7 out of 10" power for 15 seconds. My motion was played back as a moving stick figure on the PC's screen. Everything was defined numerically too. We could instantly see how my position on my bike compared with typical ranges. Awesome!

From the graphical display we could see that my knees wobbled a bit laterally, but not enough to require adjustment.

But my back angle and arm reach were rather aggressive and probably hampered my power a bit. That might suit time-trialing, due to better aerodynamics, but that's not my goal. So we installed a shorter bar stem (80mm vs. 100mm) to reduce my hip angle while raising my back a bit.

I was fairly sure we'd raise my saddle too, for better use of my leg muscles, and we did. But my reach was still far so we shifted the saddle forward some. This effectively lowers the saddle in the process, so Aaron ended up raising the saddle even more, by a full inch from its original height. I couldn't believe it! Moving the saddle forward minimized the effect, but that was still a huge change.

When everything was done Aaron saved the results in PDF files saved out of Retül. He e-mailed them to me and now I have them available for future reference.

So, what's the net effect?

I've been riding on the adjusted bike for several weeks now, and so far it seems good. My bike now feels faster on climbs, thanks to better use of the leg muscles no doubt (I'd always felt it was too low while climbing but just figured it was my imagination). Sometimes I become very aware of the higher saddle, mostly on level roads. My hips stay level while pedaling though, so it's still within traditional parameters. And my power seems higher for the perceived exertion. I'd say thumbs up for sure!

Interesting, and very cool! Let's hope this keeps my aging body healthy... and faster!

Cantua Creek Masters 35+ 123 2010

Cantua Creek 2-13-2010 Masters 35+ 1, 2, 3
Steve Heaton

This was my season opener race to gauge fitness. I’m about 4lbs lighter, feel overall stronger and riding a 3lb. lighter bike with super fast wheels. The week leading into the race all indicators of my ability to perform are good? I noted 4 teams with 4 or more riders one of which was Helen’s from So. Cal with 6 guys that looked serious. I lined up in the front for the start with 2 of the Helens guys (who by the way were friendly.) The course starts with a ¼ mile neutral to the start/finish line where it then descends. The course is out and back finishing on a 5 min. step up roller climb. Otherwise, the rest of the course was flat. I attacked when we rolled across the start line down the hill just to get it going, not to break away. Like last year it was attack and counter attack from the gun. All were covered by guess who? Helen’s, until just over a ¼ way through the race. Ninety minutes to the finish they got 2 riders off the front. I watched and decided with all the teams and a long way to go we will bring them back. We kept the pace up and Helen’s would send 2-3 guys to the front and create a wall to slow it down. They would also create gaps in the middle of the pack as well. When passing other races they would slow it down to create confusion. Same thing at the turn arounds. All this going on and we still held a strong pace, never letting them get too far up the road. The guys up the road where strong and committed, they knew their team was doing a good job behind. It was a sight to see! Helen’s guys would go to the front to block, then get over taken and then you would see a guy sprint up the side of pack to take up the front and block. They spent a huge amount of energy to hold us back and never showed any signs of weakness. Breaks would jump ahead to overpower the blocking. I would go with breaks that I thought might bridge across, doing my share when it looked possible to get away. No chase group formed, but we kept reeling them in little by little. On the first lap just before the climb to the finish/turnaround one guy attacked to try and bridge. Once we hit the climb I attacked as well and bridged up to him. We closed half the gap but not enough to make the connection. It forced the pack to hammer it out to catch us by the turn. The climb was 5 mins. 2-4% grades in a rolling step up fashion. I felt strong on the climb and it didn’t seem to take much out of me? This is now the end of the first lap. Nothing to report on the out and back flats accept lots of attacks/blocking/counter attacks until the final climb to finish the race. Well…..I would like to say racing with guys who seem to all have 10+ years of experience is AWSOME. You can’t get away with lame riding, you can’t out power move them, they race very safe as no one is interested in crashing and they don’t take stupid risks. Handling skills are good. Riding very close and tight under pressure is comfortable. You can bump someone to keep them in check and it doesn’t faze them. OK – 10 mins. to the final climb and the pace increases and is noticeably faster. I start to make my move from 15 back to 5 back by catching a ride from a passerby (that’s someone moving up the side catching his draft). By the way, so are a lot of other people. You have to be alert and ready to keep moving forward. As we make the right turn into the final climb I take note of the wind (very light wind coming from my right side) I look up the road and those two cats are close. But if I/we let their team move forward and block one more time and they don’t let up, the chance for a win is over. I can’t take it!!! I’m not going to settle for 3rd at best…..I attacked with 90% effort to get it going, pulled up and over the first climb and into the 2nd asking with an elbow for others to come around. No thanks is the response. As I expected... no dice. Then I let up slightly to force them around. My buddy from down south attacks to help me and it works to force them to respond. I drop back to 3rd wheel. We come to a roller (I thought over the roller was about 500 meters up and around to the line) and I attacked. This time with 100% but soon realized it was WAY far from finish (over 1km?) and I quickly backed off to 4th wheel. A moment of doubt came and went (mean while those cats kept getting closer). Once we came to the place where I could see the 200 meter sign (300 meters to go from my position) I decided it was all or nothing~~~~~Now or never if I wanted a chance at the win. I wasn’t interested in 3rd. I jumped. This was my 3rd attack on the final climb. I stayed right so if anyone was going to pass it had to be on my left. I knew I was going to bring riders with me but hoping I would have the juice to keep them at bay. At the 200 meter sign I looked under my left arm and yep, I see a rider tight on my wheel. The road pitches up a bit and I hit it harder and harder. I'm closing the gap on the two cats who are digging deep to make it to the line. I can smell their soggy shorts and see veins bulging from their muscular calves so close. Here comes the guy on my left. I move slightly to his side with an attempt to shake his momentum and another guy shoots past on the right (shizzle). Left guy and I are now head to head 50 meters or less to the line. I start to fade. He too, but we both kick one more time and he gets the edge on me. Then here comes another guy I throw my arms forward to the line and hold him off by an inch or two for a well earned 5th place. First place was 3 bike lengths ahead. What a battle to the line! I rode super aggressive on the climbs with multiple attacks never feeling like I was softening up and in total control of my efforts. I’m very satisfied with the outcome of this race and how I performed.

Mega Monster Enduro 2010

Two years ago, when I did my first Mega Monster Enduro race, I did no special training and my only preparation was to mount a set of aero bars on my bike a week before the event. Everything went perfectly and I was able to finish 5th with a time of 5:26:06 for the 102 mile time trial. This time I spent two months preparing -- getting used to long hours on the bike, learning to apply power while riding low and flat on the aero bars without weaving all over the road, and fine tuning my nutrition – and, predictably, the fates turned against me.
The one thing I can’t complain about is the weather. After weeks of rain the weather turned warm and sunny for the race. The race started in the little town of Paicines, just south of Hollister, headed south on Hwy 25 through gorgeous green valleys for 51 miles to Hwy 198 and then returned to Paicines. The route was mainly rolling hills with four moderate hills for a total of 5220 feet of climbing.
Now to the bad luck: first was that my power meter decided to take the day off which left me without any way of pacing myself or knowing how far it was to the next check point except by dead reckoning. Then there was the flat tire at about an hour into the ride. I changed the tube as quickly as possible and charged out onto the course again only to discover that I had left my glasses behind. That meant retracing a half mile and then trying to find my glasses without my glasses to see with. That escapade cost me about 15 minutes but it left me with a heightened sense of determination. I was so determined, in fact, that I forgot to come to a complete stop at the first checkpoint and was awarded a time penalty (3 minutes I think). So my final time, 5:48:11, was twenty-two minutes longer than my previous race. The one bright spot was that, despite a fairly stiff headwind on the return, I felt strong and comfortable on the aero bars which meant my training counted for something.
Typical of Low Key Hill Climb events, the results were not posted for two days which left me with plenty of time to stew over my poor performance and to rationalize how it was all about having fun and a goal to train for. But when the results did come out, I was pretty surprised to find that I had managed to finish sixth in the individual male category and was third or fourth in every split except the one in which I flatted. That lifted my spirits enough that I marked my calendar for Feb 12, 2011, the next Mega Monster Enduro.

CCCX-1

Valentine's day ....lots of fun in the partly sunny, partly cloudy day at Fort Ord East Garrison...It was the first time I had been on my mountain bike in six months and it felt like it. Although I was not lacking fitness I think my gear choices were wrong on all the climbs...I sat and spinned, and intuitively it felt good, it was not good. I should have stood and ground, for the the speed. In the end I was 12th out of 19 in my group...maybe next time...Kem