Madera Stage Race - Race Report

On the front near the end

Great experience at Madera stage race. Results: 12th in crit and 14th in road race, with mistakes to learn from. Ben won 3s GC. Bergen won W3 crit. Ryan top 10'd in both the crit (5th) and RR (7th).

Prep during the week wasn't ideal: From Tuesday night on, I felt like I was coming down with a cold. I took remedies suggested to me: Zicam to keep it at bay (thanks Steve P) and Ricola to open things up before the race (thanks Jeff). The cold didn't really materialize, just hung out in the background. So I'm thankful I was able to be out there racing at all.

I also have to say that this was a great weekend to be a Mouse. Not only was it fun to see the results and hang out (dinner at Azteca de Oro was a highlight), but in the 4s, we did a decent job of hanging out in the pack together and talking about the race's progress, even if we didn't really deploy much in the way of tactics (though Ed got a couple good pulls in for us).

Crit:

12th in the crit. Terrible choice in wheels in last lap made it a brake-fest in finale turn. This after sitting in top 10 for the whole race. Ryan: 5th.

By staying at the front, I thought I had a good sense of the right wheels. I picked some of it right, but made a bad choice when at the RR tracks on the last lap, I didn't close a gap to get up behind Ryan on the left (for outside line in final corner, which I'd told myself a few laps earlier was the one to take) but instead followed a closer marked wheel on the right (2 teammates). The guys didn't move up fast enough and we got squeezed hard in the corner and a guy in front of them hit the brakes. So I started the final stretch at 24mph, stood up and powered it out to the line dodging around popped guys.

This situation was set up by a lot of yo-yoing in the last 2 laps. The pace was strong from 7 to go,, but slowed down at the bell, prompting swarm. I made up some lost position, to sit 10th, then we ran into lapped guys in turn 2 that sketched it out. Definitely lost position between turn 1 and turn 3.

But the thing that kills me is not closing the gap to Ryan. It would have been the perfect leadout, and he thought I was there. I'd chalk it up to not following the plan and taking the easy way, which seems extra appealing above 175bpm. Gotta work on the mental part.

TT:

Took care to recover well after crit, eating soon after and got a 30m nap in. Power didn't come easy on the trainer warming up, but as soon as hit the road heading over to the start, I felt pretty good.

The original plan was to take it easy in the TT and go all out in the crit and RR, but after learning the RR was shorter than expected and botching crit finale, I decided to put more into the TT to make it a more representative effort. After the start, I quickly eased off to the target start range, but 270 felt much too easy, so was doing 280-300 to ease in. This was a very comfortable pace, but I was wondering how fast I should start and got the start house guidance mixed up on how long until the first turn, so was distracted and thinking I may have missed it. This didn't make much sense, since my minute man was visible (my 30s man I passed in the first few minutes, going very slow), so yeah, just a bit of rookie confusion. Averaged 292W on this leg (not incl start).

After the right turn into the tailwind, I saw I was nearly halfway there and picked up the pace, to 300-310. Passed the minute man and started closing in on next guy. This was a very fast, very short leg. 297W avg.

After turn 2, I picked it up a bit more, Here I played with pacing more, trying to sense where threshold was (seemed like @ 172bpm) and nudge above for a bit and recover at threshold. Avg 305W.

I picked it way up at the 1 mile sign, since I had plenty in the tank. Averaged 328W for the last mile (3m) and 337W over the last 90s / 1k. I dug deep here and was breathing very hard by 200m, but held to finish. Next two guys were around 100m ahead of me. Nice carrots.

Time was 25:34, which put me in the middle of the pack at 38th. The sweet spot with a super-dense set of finishing times was 24:19 (7th) to 25:11 (31th). The position on the road bike with clip-ons was very comfy, much higher and much less aero than on the TT bike I lost. But I can't say that I would have necessarily gotten as much power in the more aero position, since all my winter practice on that bike was at more moderate intensities.

Road Race:

Ryan and I after the finish

Easy race until the very end, only 3 laps according to race bible rather than race announcement's 4 laps. 23.2mph average speed. Rough section wasn't a big deal once I started making sure to keep tension on the chain in a bigger gear and not freewheel or spin, using the legs as suspension.

Hills were slowish the first lap. Second lap was a test and shook some guys out of the pack (incl a teammate). A difference was also that I lagged a bit on first lap climbs to save energy, but stayed at the front on the 2nd, keeping position through the feedzone to the fast stretch.

Last lap was plenty fast in the downhill stretch, with the pack completely strung out 1-wide for a good while. Following wheels 15-25 back was pretty low effort, though. Was super attentive on the rough section, following the GC leaders (and their teammates) as they moved up and worked. Ed and Ryan worked a bit at the front in the very rough section, and I rolled off the front for a short while here, just by moving up while the pack slowed down.

It got pretty slow in the last mile before the finale climb. I was around 5th wheel here, and kept it up the first climb until the steepest section at the very top. The second bump was hardest. I lost a few spots here, to 10-15, but made up much of this on the decents, scooting around the left side.

Problem on the final hill was that I didn't put the pedal down soon enough. By waiting until I was reacting, I also had a distracting amount of bumping and swerving to deal with. At least I wasn't in the middle, where a crash happened a bike length to the front and a couple guys to the right. Ed got caught behind this.

Got 14th of 66. Think I did a good job with position until the final 1k, but not real happy with how the final 200m turned out, both in terms of my timing to commit and the finishing power, though the effort really felt good. On a more positive note, it's the best I've felt in a power-hill finish.

Ryan got 7th. He hit the front at the top of the 2nd bump and went up the right side in the finale.

Merco Foothills Road Race - Race Report

Bergen won the Women's 3/4 sprint

Pretty good race prep, decent sleep, etc. Felt pretty good, though was a bit concerned the night before that I might be coming down with something. Sickness didn't materialize, thank goodness.

Did a much better job of staying protected and out of the wind, compared to Snelling. There were 11 Mice in the race, and we were out to race as a team, with the plan of everyone working to get Ryan, Josh, and I to the finale, then us working for Josh. We had some milestones set out for the race, so guys knew when to get organized. Ryan and I were calling out tactics on the road.

Given there were so many of us, when there were spots of concern, it was pretty easy to find a Mouse or two nearby and tell them to do something, like get Josh or I up front, or work to shut down the too-large break that was just gapping the pack at the start of lap 2. All in all, it helped me relax and do very little work until the last half lap.

We took control with 8 or 10 or so miles to go, pretty far out, but it was just to get the tempo up, since it was starting to be a sketch fest on the easy run East on Turlock Rd. It really helped make the left turn onto Cox Ferry safe and easy for our main guys. With the potholes and narrow road, I was worried that we'd have problems if we left it too late to get guys to move up on Cox Ferry.

The hill on Cox Ferry was the start of the hurt for the finale. Paul and Hank (Mice) got to the front and surged up it big time, taking some initiative and getting a gap that did make the front of the pack respond. That kept it nice and strung out, with me, Ryan, and Josh sitting near the front. But the pace dropped on the false flat after the steep pitch and chaos ensued.

From that point on out, I did do work here and there, taking a fair bit of wind when I couldn't find a decent wheel, but was mainly concerned about keeping our position. Had Josh on my wheel a fair bit, but we were all in a mix doing what we needed to do.

I was 6th or so heading into the left hander onto Keyes road. It was a hot turn, with the line strung out on the left side of the road going in, so we shouted to shift over, which we mostly did. 2 guys in the first 5 didn't make the corner.

I was real happy with the position, but we didn't have anyone set up to work, The pace kept up for a bit, then dropped. Uh oh. Swarm came around the left, then a touch of wheels and a huge crash, even with my left side around 15 feet, at the other gutter. The wave came over to me and there was a bit of shoulder rubbing before I got out and closed a smallish 20-30m gap. Josh was right in front of me.

Mice who made it past the crash into the lead group: Josh, Ryan, Isaias, Paul, and me. Pretty good news. Bad news was that 4 Mice went down: Nick, Hank, Ed, Mateo.

Right-left corner combo on Keyes was no problem and helped Josh and I move back up. I found Isaias and as we were ramping towards the final left-hand corner, I told him to go and he gave us a great pull in, really putting the hammer down, and pulling us at the front for a minute or more.

After the corner, a bit of chaos, as it our early leadout was spent and it was still a ways. Didn't see Ryan around. Some attacks at the base of the hill, plus a noisy a dropped chain and/or flat caused some confusion, and some guys chopped over on me, causing me to hit the brakes as we climbed. Went from 5th wheel at 1k to 15th at the top of the hill, with 700m.

I lost track of Josh here, so got off the leadout plan and wasn't thinking clearly. Ryan came by on the left on the hill, and it was a big mental error not to do what it do what was necessary to get on. I had enough in the legs that I should have been able to at this point. Instead, I followed more moderate wheels, then caught up to Ryan with around 300m to go. There was a wall of guys across the road, really the boundary for the top 10. I was edging left as Ryan starting left, and I realized I was headed into a camper/trailer parked half into the road, and stabbed the brakes, scrubbing a few mph. Got it it back to speed but just spun it out, never sprinted.

Results: Josh @ 9th, Ryan @ 11th, me @ 19th, Paul @ 26th, Isaias @ 32nd. Big step forward for Mouse Cat 4 teamwork.

48 miles in 1h 55m (25mph avg.)