_X_ Finish Bayou Circuit Crit
___ 5 min @ 5.25 w/kg
___ motorpace avg 27mph
___ Finish National Level races
___ Top Ten in Bayou Circuit Race
Last weekend was the Merridian / Cuba Omnium. I always like this race as the Crit is fairly technical on the first half and with a down hill sweeping turn at FG on the second half this course doesn’t leave room for too many errors. I changed my warm up for this race and actually think I liked it better. I rode for 45 min in the morning before driving to the race then only spun around before the race for about 20 min with a could 30 sec. FG efforts. The warm up wasn’t too taxing but was enough. I may try to do warm ups like this in the future. The Crit was fast from the Gun with attacks one after another through the 30 minute mark. This was a 60 min Crit so I guess that people started looking more toward the finish after the halfway point as the attacks were still present just not as frequent. With 4 to go the pace was staying steady and I stood up and what was seemingly easy rode up to position myself in the top 10 (keep in mind this effor
t took about 350 – 400 watts to do it just felt easier than the watts indicated). For the remaining 4 laps I rode in between 5th and 10th place and felt good about my position going into the last lap. During that last lap on the 2 turn of the course some morons decided they would try to move up on the most technical section of the course. This cause some people to touch wheels and the peloton to shift left pushing me out of my position heading into the next turn. On that next turn I had to take the turn sharp on the inside and lost about 10 position (this left turn heads right into a short uphill section and you need momentum to maintain position; by being out of position I lost my momentum and thus the positions). I ended up finishing the Crit in 17th position.
The Road Race was 3 laps on what I view as the second hardest course on the LAMBRA series (second to Rouge Roubaix). In the spring they run this course as a solo road race and we do 4 laps at 88 miles, however, with the August heat and the Crit the night before the organizers reduce the road race in the fall to 3 laps. In the spring I crashed on the first lap and spent a lap chasing before abandoning (this is the crash in which it broke my front wheel and hurt my shoulder). I was exited to get back on the course to see what I could do and in a way get over what happened in the spring. Evidently while I like this race it doesn’t like me. About 5 miles into the race a few guys touched wheels again and went down. I got tangled up in the after math and fell (softly) to the ground. The damage was still done. I twisted my seat post, bent my rear derailleur hanger, and bent my rear wheel just enough to rub my brakes. So I got a wheel change and tried to get everything back in order to mount a chaise. I chased and chased. The wheel truck was great and came up one me and got me back to the group but all in all it was about 20 minutes that I was out there either solo or behind the truck. I finally got back in the group and thought I wouldn’t make it to the finish after the effort I just put in. My shifting was all over the place making the climbs twice as hard and my speed magnet shifted so I was no longer reading speed and had sketchy readings from my SRM. We finished the first lap and I got my hand up of an ice sock and two bottles as planned. The second lap was filled with attacks as the break was within sight and everyone was trying to bridge. I was just playing the game moving to the front when it slowed down and drifting back during the attacks and hills. The third lap was steady as everyone was looking for a couple of people to make the move that never came. We came into the last 5k pretty slow and it only picked up at the 1k to go mark. I once again had good position (in the top ten) and was sprinting toward the finish. At 100m to go my race virtually ended. My chain flew off of my bike in mid sprint. I managed to keep it up but had to ride my top tube to do so. I ended up walking across the line last .
This weekend was successful though. The goal was to finish with the group on both races and that I had done. It does suck that I think I could have done better but I don’t feel disappointed. Wednesday I have a 5 min field test that will determine if I go to Gateway Cup or not so it’s recovery from now until then.
___ 5 min @ 5.25 w/kg
___ motorpace avg 27mph
___ Finish National Level races
___ Top Ten in Bayou Circuit Race
Last weekend was the Merridian / Cuba Omnium. I always like this race as the Crit is fairly technical on the first half and with a down hill sweeping turn at FG on the second half this course doesn’t leave room for too many errors. I changed my warm up for this race and actually think I liked it better. I rode for 45 min in the morning before driving to the race then only spun around before the race for about 20 min with a could 30 sec. FG efforts. The warm up wasn’t too taxing but was enough. I may try to do warm ups like this in the future. The Crit was fast from the Gun with attacks one after another through the 30 minute mark. This was a 60 min Crit so I guess that people started looking more toward the finish after the halfway point as the attacks were still present just not as frequent. With 4 to go the pace was staying steady and I stood up and what was seemingly easy rode up to position myself in the top 10 (keep in mind this effor
t took about 350 – 400 watts to do it just felt easier than the watts indicated). For the remaining 4 laps I rode in between 5th and 10th place and felt good about my position going into the last lap. During that last lap on the 2 turn of the course some morons decided they would try to move up on the most technical section of the course. This cause some people to touch wheels and the peloton to shift left pushing me out of my position heading into the next turn. On that next turn I had to take the turn sharp on the inside and lost about 10 position (this left turn heads right into a short uphill section and you need momentum to maintain position; by being out of position I lost my momentum and thus the positions). I ended up finishing the Crit in 17th position.
The Road Race was 3 laps on what I view as the second hardest course on the LAMBRA series (second to Rouge Roubaix). In the spring they run this course as a solo road race and we do 4 laps at 88 miles, however, with the August heat and the Crit the night before the organizers reduce the road race in the fall to 3 laps. In the spring I crashed on the first lap and spent a lap chasing before abandoning (this is the crash in which it broke my front wheel and hurt my shoulder). I was exited to get back on the course to see what I could do and in a way get over what happened in the spring. Evidently while I like this race it doesn’t like me. About 5 miles into the race a few guys touched wheels again and went down. I got tangled up in the after math and fell (softly) to the ground. The damage was still done. I twisted my seat post, bent my rear derailleur hanger, and bent my rear wheel just enough to rub my brakes. So I got a wheel change and tried to get everything back in order to mount a chaise. I chased and chased. The wheel truck was great and came up one me and got me back to the group but all in all it was about 20 minutes that I was out there either solo or behind the truck. I finally got back in the group and thought I wouldn’t make it to the finish after the effort I just put in. My shifting was all over the place making the climbs twice as hard and my speed magnet shifted so I was no longer reading speed and had sketchy readings from my SRM. We finished the first lap and I got my hand up of an ice sock and two bottles as planned. The second lap was filled with attacks as the break was within sight and everyone was trying to bridge. I was just playing the game moving to the front when it slowed down and drifting back during the attacks and hills. The third lap was steady as everyone was looking for a couple of people to make the move that never came. We came into the last 5k pretty slow and it only picked up at the 1k to go mark. I once again had good position (in the top ten) and was sprinting toward the finish. At 100m to go my race virtually ended. My chain flew off of my bike in mid sprint. I managed to keep it up but had to ride my top tube to do so. I ended up walking across the line last .
This weekend was successful though. The goal was to finish with the group on both races and that I had done. It does suck that I think I could have done better but I don’t feel disappointed. Wednesday I have a 5 min field test that will determine if I go to Gateway Cup or not so it’s recovery from now until then.
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