Not What I Was Hoping For

Bastion Square has come and gone, i'm a bit disappointed in my performance, but hey..

Let's pick up from whence we last blogged..

Took the Monday after the Master's races off, as usual. (Monday is a regular rest day.) Tuesday went for a fairly chill 1.75hr ride. Wed was Kid's Club, out tooting around the Dump for under an hour. Thursday chilled.

Friday, May 28th - Bear Mountain HC

That was a laugh!

I thought i'd try a different strategy...i'd go extra hard (ie, 350w) in the steeper parts, and easier (220-240w) in the faster sections.

Well, i pulled off the latter no prob. The funny part was that i didn't really go all that harder on the steeper sections, and had WAY too much come the end. For the last 14 seconds up the final steep bit, i blasted away at nearly 600w. That shouldn't happen in a 10min hill climb...i should be doing everything i can to be pushing 350w!!

So yeah, i went at it waaaay too easily. 311w average over 11mins. Yes, 11mins. I know i`m not a hill climber, but that`s just awful. I should have easily been under 10:30 (previous two times under this), and the watts should have been over 325w... I think i was thrown off with my cadence, which was actually well over 60rpm, and somewhat closer to my `comfort zone` (although really it`s up over 100rpm!) Feeling like i could sit and pedal, i remained seated and didn`t stand up, which would have boosted my output.

Oh well. I`m not going to beat myself up over a hill climb, although this was pretty ridic. =P

One other funny story from this: I`m just getting over the first hump and i hear heavy breathing and creaking behind me, and my 30 second person caught me. What`s scary is that it was only 1:24 into my effort. Dude caught me in literally 54 seconds!!! Predictably, he made it about 20m in front of me, and then hovered there for a couple minutes. Then he started to make some ground again... Hilarious tho. =P

Sat - Solo Ride

Pre-Bastion ride, just did an hour, with a couple all-out 1min efforts. By now i was looking at my WKO+ numbers, worried i hadn`t quite logged enough time in the lead-up week...TSS was pretty low.

Sun - Bastion Square (Cat 3)

Got in an okay warm-up. Weather wasn`t too great, cool, wore arm and leg warmers.

Started in 2nd row, on the inside (left) side. About 30 peeps in the race.

Started great, got around the corner quick and in the front of the pack. Cruised around, felt comfortable. Pace was good. People were cornering pretty well, although i`d take a better line through the corners and save energy. Occasionally people would try to corner 2-3 abreast..gaaah..

At about 10`08 in, there was a crash at `Kitty Crash Corner` (corner 1, just around from the start line, could tell due to huge drop in speed in my power file) that happened right beside me. Heard carbon crunch, dodged a falling body...got thrown off a bit, and the pack accelerated, and so i chased for a lap or two, and caught back on. Hung in for a lap, then another jump for a prime...gaaah! I started to fall off the back, and lost contact and chased for a couple laps, just off the back.

Now this is the part where doubt really comes in....i`d been pushing it to hang in there, NP was around 300w of chasing...and the first 10 min was 285w AP...! Not out of my range, but certainly close to my limits. So, if i really gunned it to reconnect, would i have been able to get into the pack and recover? Or would i have been shot out even harder?

Who knows... Anyway, i chased for over 4mins, looked back and saw Chad and another rider chasing me, so i eased off and joined in with their chase. We kept it going for another 11mins, my AP was 253w there (NP284w). Maintained 38.1kph, the first 10mins was 39.9kph, to give an idea of the pack speed. Chad was responsible for keeping the pace up, long and strong pulls! I tried to keep it up as well.

Anyway, we were pulled about 28mins in. Here`s the full power data:

 Crit:
    Duration:      27:50
    Work:          437 kJ
    TSS:           57.2 (intensity factor 1.111)
    Norm Power:    299
    VI:            1.14
    Distance:      17.933 km
                    Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    999    262     watts
    Heart Rate:      n/a    n/a    n/a     bpm
    Cadence:         38    133    101     rpm
    Speed:           8.2    51.6    38.7     kph

Oops - guess i forgot to make sure the PowerTap CPU picked up my HR...it really sucks at reconnecting if the signal is lost (ie, you walk away from the bike a minute.) The Garmin Edge500 picks it up very quickly and easily..

Pretty good numbers for me, peak 5min was 312w (AP), so wasn`t a walk in the park..

Sucked watching, but happy for my buds Zach who got 3rd, and Tom who finished 9th - he`s having a tremendous first year of racing! The results from my race are here, and all the details here.

My summary was `Not Racing Makes Racing Hard`...perhaps if i`d had a few more solid races under my belt, this would have gone better (pretty much my only prep was the Master`s crit the day before.)

Whatev`s, it`s just bike racing!!!

And a pic, courtesy of Duane:



Tue - TTT Practice, 2.5hr EM

I think i`ve mentioned the Tripleshot/Masters Team Time Trial (TTT) in a previous entry..it's this next Sunday (June 13th), and i've got a solid team for this, with Chad, Steve Doreen (he's back!) and Zach Young (who got 3rd at Bastion.) I'm a little worried i'm going to slow these guys up!

Anyway, we practiced the TTT turn, which is pretty cool. The front rider goes wide, and each rider behind goes one more 'slot' inside, so the 4th rider is doing the most sharp turn, but takes over the front of the group, and then everyone slots back in. Pretty fun! We'll have to do several of these on the Nanaimo River Rd course (i raced it in the ITT last entry, you can check the course profile, there's a fair bit of ascending...) It's 60km total, and a 20km out-and-back route.

After practicing this for a while, Steve and i continued on, did the Lagoon Loop, plus rode the OA-TT course. Got sprinkled on for the return ride...just light tho.

Here's the Garmin file:



Wed - Kid's Club, MTB Ride

Was out at the Dump for another Kid's Club session. Led another Skills class, and they pick up skills pretty quick! Fun to watch them progress, and ride down pretty scary stuff!!! (Including the descent into the TTA.) I know adults that won't ride that! And they're Grade 4-5 kids on fairly dinky bikes...haha..

Met with Steve and Chelsea afterwards, and we got out for more trailtime, did the typical 'Dave's Loop', which was nice, as i haven't been out there forever!

Rode back as well. Happy to get in another MTB ride. More Garmin nonsense:



If you're looking for a non-road ride out, you can see a lot of the trails we took on there.

Thu - 300w Returns

You may recall last summer i spent a lot of time riding at 300w, and i thought i'd jump back into it. Aimed for 2x 2x8mins@300w, 1min rest, 10min rest between sets.

Opted to try out the Tripleshot morning loop, which is around the Uplands/Iroquois golf course near UVic (see map). It's a bit busy during the day, so waited until after 6pm. I headed out on the water to catch the Russ Hayes group, and played with them until we hit the Uplands. Lysanne was shelled, so i waited for her at the top of the hill, and invited her to tag along with me...misery loves company. =)

Headed up, and got started. First one didn't feel too bad. Second was tough, nearly quit halfway through, but carried on. Took the longer break, started the 3rd, felt pretty good. Took another longer break, but Lysanne talked me into doing a 4th, which was good. Mission accomplished! The last didn't feel too bad either.

Thought i was holding the wattage, but it turned out i was a bit low, averaging 280-284w. Not gonna complain tho, still good efforts, and getting back into these. I think i was thrown off by the speed tho! We were averaging over 38kph most of the time, and i'm so used to slower intervals now...haha..so i think i held back a bit. Will pick it up next time. ;)

Anyway, here's the #'s for each effort:

#1

Ave Wts: 283

Ave HR: 173

Max HR: 181

Ave Cad: 106

Ave Spd: 37.4

#2

Ave Wts: 282

Ave HR: 179

Max HR: 184

Ave Cad: 107

Ave Spd: 38.5

#3

Ave Wts: 282

Ave HR: 172

Max HR: 180

Ave Cad: 100

Ave Spd: 37.6

#4

Ave Wts: 280

Ave HR: 168

Max HR: 177

Ave Cad: 98

Ave Spd: 37.4

It was also getting colder, dropping from over 17C down to 14C...happy with my cadence for the first two as well! Really dropped at the end.

Sat - OBB Ride

First time back in a little while. Thought i'd just keep it relatively chill, save some TSS for Sunday (i'd tally over 700pts for the week by the end of the ride, and 700 is a good place to stop..)

Some good efforts on the ride out to Sidney. Stuck with the front through Land's End...was going at a pretty good clip. Looked back as we approached the Panorama hill, and it was just 'us', a group of about 12 (there were over 30!!)

The drive up Panorama wasn't too hard, so i decided i'd try and stick in for the sprint. Conserved as much as i could, although i didn't slack off and did my fair share of pulls.

We were carrying good speed past Interurban, shelled a few more people along there... I slid to the back of the pack, there were several strong riders to watch out for, Craig, Tom Skinner, Ryan, Scotty and Steve Bachup.

Ryan ended up at the front and lead the group over the hill...he slowed it up a bit..

It picked-up down the hill, and there were a couple attacks...i stuck to the pack, i felt good and we were still too far out to make a successful sprint - plus there was quite the headwind!

Nothing was happening...then Steve jumped on the left/outside, and i snapped to his wheel - it was a weak effort tho, and he started steering to the right and easing off...yikes!! I was on the inside! I braked and jerked to the left, and started smashing the pedals!! WHAM - i was at the front!! I could feel it was a bit of a low cadence (~94rpm), but i powered through confident with my effort!

The line was coming up quick, a few more pedal strokes. I saw Craig out of the corner of my eye on the right, i pushed harder! Heard someone else coming up quick on my right...yikes!! The line was a few meters away, but i was still in the lead!

One more hard push and i dove for the line!!! But Craig's wheel inched ahead and he just barely snagged it. Scotty flew by on my left, but it was too late.

I was happy with second that day. =)

Unfortunately there's a fair bit of electrical interference in that spot, so i didn't get all my wattage data for the sprint, but i did manage to collect a new 20sec PB of 930w (up from 911w). The 10s and 30s were also very close...

The hour leading up to the sprint was pretty speedy, averaging 38.4kph. The final 30mins averaged 40kph, and the last 5min was nearly 47kph. FUN!

Some select data:

 Hour Leading To Sprint:
    Duration:      1:00:01
    Work:          819 kJ
    TSS:           101.9 (intensity factor 1.013)
    Norm Power:    272
    VI:            1.19
    Distance:      38.12 km
                     Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    1140    229     watts
    Heart Rate:      92    189    167     bpm
    Cadence:         32    131    99     rpm
    Speed:           0    61.4    38.4     kph

Peak 60min (230 watts):
    Duration:      1:01:22
    Work:          829 kJ
    TSS:           108.8 (intensity factor 1.043)
    Norm Power:    281
    VI:            1.22
    Distance:      38.128 km
                     Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    1140    230     watts
    Heart Rate:      125    189    169     bpm
    Cadence:         32    131    99     rpm
    Speed:           0    61.4    37.7     kph

Entire workout (191 watts):
    Duration:      2:53:02
    Work:          1948 kJ
    TSS:           233.5 (intensity factor 0.908)
    Norm Power:    244
    VI:            1.28
    Distance:      96.54 km
                     Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    1140    191     watts
    Heart Rate:      76    189    155     bpm
    Cadence:         28    131    94     rpm
    Speed:           0    65.2    33.9     kph

Funnily, the Peak Hour finished 10mins after the sprint (i turned around at the Goose to catch one of the dropped groups, and when i caught them there was a lot of traffic for my U-Turn, so had to chase over 300w for 1.5mins to catch..haha)

Where were these legs for Bastion? Gaaah..

Took today off, wanted to get out for an hour, despite my TSS of nearly 750 for the week, but it was rainy all day, so i just kicked around the hour and relaxed. Not a bad idea.

Next week should be fun. Tuesday is the next OA-TT (now called the Time Trial Championships of the Two Known Universes) - click here for details.

Wednesday i'm hoping to get out to Nanaimo for another Boxwood Crit, though might be tough with the Kid's Club stuff. Caleb instead? Thursday will hopefully hit the road with Steve and Chad for more TTT practice (if not, more 300w efforts.)

Not sure what riding i'll do Sat morning, but a group of us are heading to Crag X on Sat afternoon - yip! Then the TTT on Sunday.

Got a bunch of links i want to post, but this is long enough! More on the other side...

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So Many Races!

Hey there sports fans!

Been busy training and racing, feeling pretty good right now! My first 'big' event is this Sunday, the Bastion Square crit, i'm pretty excited for this! Lots of good events the last week+, let's do a quick recap:

Wed, May 12th - BMX!

First time riding a BMX course on an actual BMX bike for the Kid's Club day! Super fun, got a wee bit of air, but moved through pretty quick. Legs fried from the Tue 1min efforts the day before, but hey. I put my Garmin Edge 500 on it, hilarious map:



The kids just rode around doing their own thing...most don't seem too eager to actually race, so kept it casual.

Fri, May 14th - Capital City Cycles Street Sprints

Another night of drag races thanks to CCC! This was day 4 in-a-row for me. The 1mins on Tue, BMX (sprinting) on Wed, and a 2.5hr EM ride on the Thu...

First one felt alright, but second one against Mitch and Jordon (Mitch was previously the overall champ, and Jordon raced me in the final last time, tough match!!) i had no 'overdrive', and was eliminated. Made them work for it tho! Final match was trackie Marcus and Pro City Jamie, and i told Marcus 'don't underestimate him, just GO.' He didn't listen, and Jamie kicked it in the last 100m and took it - nice!!

Anyway, here's the wattage from my two efforts, both in the 50t x 15t:


#1 - ?? (Only 200m)
Duration: 16.4
Ave Spd: 40.1
Max Spd: 49.4
Ave Cad: 112
Max Cad: 124
Ave Wts: 890
Max Wts: 1212


#2 - Mitch & Jordon (Full 300m, i stopped pedalling ~20m to go)
Duration: 27.7
Ave Spd: 38.8
Max Spd: 51.1
Ave Cad: 115
Max Cad: 128
Ave Wts: 808
Max Wts: 1184

For comparison, here's the best effort from last time:

#2 - 3-up Mitch & ?
Duration: 26.46
Ave Spd: 43.7
Max Spd: 51.6
Ave Cad: 111
Max Cad: 122
Ave Wts: 828
Max Wts: 1177

Pretty similar!

Sunday, May 16th - Island Cup MTB Race: Cobble Hill

Day 6 of 6 riding...did a shorter OBB ride the day before.

Race went surprisingly well, i'm getting rather 'tough'. I'm very surprised that after 6 days of pretty solid riding, i had *any* motivation. Well, i had quite a bit!

Got a lift out with Halldor (thanks!!) and we pre-rode the course together. An improvement from last year which was basically up and up and up, then a wee bit of singletrack, and a quick fireroad drop to the bottom, and repeat!!

There was a lot more singletrack at the top, and much more on the descent. Still, not quite enough to really allow for too much make-up on the descent...ahh well.

We finished our pre-ride just in time to get in line, not a prob, nice and warm!

We started off, and i was in the top 5 off the top. It went pretty much straight into a steep climb... Scott Mitchel(Pro City) launched and flew up the hill, never to be seen again. Jamie Emery(Pro City) lead the chase (well, i wondered if he was blocking/defending, but i wouldn't have wanted to go much harder.)

I sat on his wheel and we climbed and climbed and climbed... About 2/3rds of the way up, Roland made a move and i let him by (i'm such a sporting fellow. ;) There was a small group of about 4 that pursued. Roland thought he had the front, and was going for the King of the Mountain prize...sucker! =P

With 3/4 of the climbing done, i was pretty fried, and had to ease off...our small group, including Halldor(Capital City Cycles) eased by. I cheered him on. =)

Kept climbing, i think another rider passed...then hit the top, and kept the speed up, dropping a wheel that was getting too close for comfort behind me. On the way down near the bottom i saw Jamie Emery off his bike, turns out he busted his collarbone. =(

Started my second lap, not quite as peppy as the first, but i put in a good effort. A few more bikes eased by, and my climb was a fair bit slower...by about 2mins. I actually shaved a few seconds off on the descent.

Finished 10th (out of ~30) in Intermediate, pretty happy with that on a course that did NOT suit me.. With the exception of Scott, the Top 12 or so were all within' a few minutes of each other, so it was actually a pretty well matched race.

Thanks to the folks at Cobble Hill for organizing it, i love the Island Cups. =)

Here's my power data:

MTB Race:
    Duration:      1:05:44
    Work:          878 kJ
    TSS:           109.3 (intensity factor 0.999)
    Norm Power:    267
    VI:            1.2
    Distance:      13.459 km
    Elevation Gain:        474 m
    Elevation Loss:        481 m
                     Min   Max    Avg
    Power:           0     825    223     watts
    Heart Rate:      127   191    182     bpm
    Cadence:         42    201    81      rpm
    Speed:           0     42.2   12.2    kph
    Altitude:        97    291    202     m

Yep, held threshold (NP) for over an hour. Not bad after 6 days. I managed to average 294w (actual power) for 16.5mins, up the first lap. Can't complain. Fun day, anyway. Enjoyed the day off on Monday. Here's the Garmin data:



Tuesday - OA TT

Okay, time for ANOTHER race. The third instalment of the OA-TT (email if interested in joining us!)

Warmest night so far, but just as windy as the first session, and same direction. Don Gillmore (The Immortal!) made it out. He flew by me, set a new course record of 19' flat!

I managed to shake off a few more seconds, down to 22'28. Unfortunately my wattage data is screwy, i zero'd it before i went, but the bike had been sitting in the sun, and i think it warmed up and that threw everything off, cutting the actual wattage by quite a bit. The times are accurate, and i'll include estimates of what i think i did. I'm guessing i averaged 286w (rather than 274w), one more watt than last time...a fair guesstimate. (Weird, spellcheck isn't complaining about 'guesstimate', but it is about spellcheck...haha)

Here it is, broken into the three portions of the course, at each corner:

Effort #3, May 18th

Section:  #1    #2    #3    TOT

Time:     8:36  8:57  4:56  22:28

Watts:    281w  270w  268w  274w

Est.Wts:  292w  281w  279w  286w

HR:       175   185   187   182

RPM:      101   102   103   102

Spd:      33.8  37.1  42.1  36.9
So the Est. Wts are bumped up about 4.2% (ie, 274w to 286w.) It looks about right compared to the other efforts... Note that i kept my cadence a lot higher! For comparison, here's the last two times i did this:

Effort #1, Apr 20th

Section:  #1    #2    #3    TOT

Time:     8:30  9:10  4:56  22:36

Watts:    305w  267w  274w  283w

HR:       174   182   184   180

RPM:      97    97    99    97

Spd:      34.4  36.4  41.5  36.8

Effort #2, May 4th

Section:  #1    #2    #3    TOT

Time:     8:24  9:01  5:08  22:32

Watts:    291w  278w  286w  285w

HR:       174   184   186   181

RPM:      99    99    102   100

Spd:      34.7  36.7  40.7  36.8
That's the fastest 'middle' portion and closing i've done. I felt better this time too, esp. with the higher cadence. I felt like i was holding the pace with a bit of comfort, instead of struggling to maintain the watts...i like that better. ;)

Sunday - Masters TT & Crit (in Nanaimo)

So i took Thu & Fri off, did a short OBB ride on Sat, and headed up to Nanaimo for the Master's TT & Crit.

The River Road TT was pretty tough, similar rolling course to the OA-TT. It was 20km, and i was hoping for a 30min time. Checked my wattage PB for 30min, and it was 274w, so i decided to aim to average 280w.

Went out, did it! Actually managed 284w, new 30min PB! Here's the #s:

TT:
    Duration:      31:19
    Work:          532 kJ
    TSS:           62.1 (intensity factor 1.091)
    Norm Power:    291
    VI:            1.03
    Distance:      20.392 km
                     Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0      793    283     watts
    Heart Rate:      124    189    183     bpm
    Cadence:         33     131    104     rpm
    Speed:           13.4   61.4   39.1    kph

Pretty happy with that. The time recorded was 31:23. Managed a nice high cadence as well. Finished a fair bit down in the 'overall' (fast old guys!), but i got a gold medal in my age group (30-34).

The crit later in the day was really much more up my alley! We rode a few laps and i was a bit concerned with the elevation on the back side...something like 6 or 8m per lap, with two little pitches. This is the new Boxwood crit course in Nanaimo.

Anyway, the group of 8 of us took off. Emile was the known 'threat', i didn't really know anyone else in the bunch... We kept together for a few laps, and then Emile began to pick up the pace, and attacked on the front. I 'chased' up the back and around the corner, and let him get away.

Andrew Brown (riding for the new Eatmore team! He raced the BC Cup MTB race earlier too) lead the chase after that, and tried to get the troops going. Took them a few laps to realize that i wasn't going to do any pulling, and that the other guy in green was my teammate. ;)

It was pretty disorganized tho, and no one besides Andrew really felt like doing any work.. I just sat in, enjoying the draft.. I let a bunch of laps go by, and at about 25min in, during a lull on the fast front section, i sprinted away!

Hit my peak watts there (1198w), and for nearly 3mins i powered away at 360w, trying to drop the pack. There was one rider who sort of bridged up (didn't quite make contact) - i kept looking back hoping he'd be able to help...but no dice... When the chasing pack was ~30m away, i eased off and sat back in. 3mins later, Emile turned up! He lapped us, woot!

So we played at the front a few laps, doing a few small attacks, to see how the field would respond. And a few mins later we broke away. Emile started it, and i took a turn or two. One other rider came with us. Unfortunately, he didn't do any work, so i was splitting the effort with Emile to enlarge the gap....and when Emile picked it up a bit, i got dropped! Gah!! I didn't really have time to recover fully from my previous big effort!

I watched them ride away, but put my head down and continued to chase. Who knows, maybe i'd be able to stay away...or more likely, the other rider would get dropped. (Well, you'd think Emile would drop him on purpose to allow me to catch him!)

I settled into a nice rhythm, i'd ease up a bit on the front/fast section, and then power up around 325-350w up the back/hilly side. It was about 35mins in, and the race was 40min plus 3 laps. Hmmmm.... I'm not really much of a solo artist....but was curious to see what i could do.

Each lap i would look back as i turned onto the front straight...but never saw the pack.. Kept it going... 3 laps to go... Oh boy! I'd lapped Andrew Brown somewhere in there...poor guy...doing an MTB race before must not have been very fun! Brutal course too from what i hear, well over 1000m of climbing.

Anyway, final lap, i powered up the back straight, completed the final corner, looked back...still no one to be seen! Finally, i relaxed and cruised across the line. 3rd place - yay! Again, Gold Medal for my age group.

Turns out the other rider stuck with Emile, who didn't bother trying to drop him....some team mate!! =P

Hugh Trenchard was out as well, but slowed-up when it started to rain (yes, another rainy race!) Turns out we nearly lapped him! But he rallied, and he actually caught the group (while i was off the front) and was in the process of chasing me down..! Eeeep! Emile also caught and passed the group a 2nd time. I remained only one lap down...heh..

Some pretty decent wattage numbers.. While i was soloing, i averaged 281w for 14mins. Certainly not a record for me, but pretty solid after a longish TT, and not really having recovered a previous hard attack, and that was also 'recovering' from getting dropped by Emile. Here are the numbers from the whole effort:

Crit:
    Duration:      47:33
    Work:          771 kJ
    TSS:           97.7 (intensity factor 1.11)
    Norm Power:    296
    VI:            1.1
    Pw:HR:          -7.18%
    Pa:HR:          2.4%
    Distance:      31.106 km
                     Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0     1198    270     watts
    Heart Rate:      111    192    178     bpm
    Cadence:         n/a    n/a    n/a     rpm
    Speed:           17.5  59.2    39.4     kph

Pretty surprised with the NP, 296w! Not sure if it was the rain after the TT, but my cadence crapped out..gotta figure out what's up there.

Crazy that my TSS was 97 for 48mins of riding... I felt really good in the crit tho. My position on the bike is PERFECT. (I'd say about 90% for TT's). I'm super-comfortable, and the bike handles amazingly. Super-happy with the Noah for crits. The corners were a breeze.

Okay, it's late, and this is very long!

I'm quite excited for Bastion next Sunday, come check it out if you're in town, my Cat3 race begins at 9:45am!

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