Monthly Archives: March 2010

Race Report: March 24th Gapers Block Crit

Posted on March 29, 2010 | Leave a comment

Based on the ride home, which took a 30-minute hot shower to recover from, I decided to drive to my second crit in two days.  Calumet Park at rush hour took a little while, but traffic wasn’t too bad.  Same drill as yesterday…arrive, check in, pin on number, warm up, race.

Warming up by myself this time, I repeated the 20-30 second max effort intervals that I’d done the day before.  Ted and Russ’ insight proved to be accurate: that the first time you go all out, your legs take longer to recover and it’s good to get this out of the way in warmups.

Since I achieved my goals not to crash or get dropped on day one, this time I wanted to make a point of riding up in the front few riders as much as possible on day two.

The race started essentially the same the day before, with a quick jump off the line to get into a pack.  I drilled it a bit to get up front before the first turn left, into the headwinds whipping in from Lake Michigan.  After a couple laps, I saw Russ up in the front 3 riders…I was a few wheels back of him.  I pushed myself up fourth wheel – two behind Russ – right after we made the same left into the winds.

And just then a guy up just off to my right jumped!  I could hear guys behind me yelling “flier off the right” as this guy accelerated into the headwind.  Russ stood on the pedals and chased him…I jumped onto Russ’ wheel and after about 10 seconds of a hard acceleration, we caught him.  There was a gap on the pack but not a huge one.  We ended up both passing the flier and then it was just the two of us in front.  I wasn’t sure if Russ was going to try for a breakaway or sit up and let the pack pull us back, so I rode up next to him and said hi (mostly so he’d know it was me) and said “cmon Russ, I’m with you…let’s go.”  He didn’t say anything back, just smiled and I pulled in front of him.  I could hear his bike right behind me as we wound through the back stretch of the course, made the two lefts and turned back onto the main straightaway.  We crossed the start/finish line 1-2 and I had a bit of a smile on my face — I just led the race as we finished a lap!  Small victories…I was happy to take it.

I continued to push but got the feeling this wasn’t going to be a breakaway, as I shot a glance over my shoulder at Russ, to see the pack pulling us back.  I eased up a bit as we turned left into the wind again, after which we were shortly overtaken.  I dropped to the back third of the pack, which initially made me nervous…but then I remembered it was only about halfway through the race and to soak up the draft, which I did.

One final bit of drama was when we crossed the line for the second-to-last lap.  A guy jumped on the front straight and about 4 riders followed, including me (to make five).  I thought to myself, “THIS IS IT!”  Though I didn’t know who to mark or follow in the race, I figured a group of five with two laps to go could hold off the pack.  I really had to drill it to stay on the wheel of the racer in front of me, but I was able to do it.  We pushed hard and then about halfway through that lap, as we made our way through the back stretch of the course…the guy in front of our potential breakaway just sat up.

Really?  I mean…REALLY?!?  Just as quickly as our 5-man group had accelerated away from the pack, we got sucked back up.  In fact a racer from the pack pulled up and said to the lead guy, “Hey thanks!”  Our group of five was tired briefly and the pack had pulled us right back just before the bell lap.  OOPS.  Lesson learned again…mark the right guy or say F it and at that point, attack when someone sits up and just see how far I can go.  Second night, same result as the first  night…middle of the pack finish.  Again achieved no crash and no drop, not to mention spent a little more time up front.  All in all, the first two crits were a blast and left me excited for the coming Burnham crits a few days later.

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Race Report: March 23rd Gapers Block Crits

Posted on March 28, 2010 | Leave a comment

Obviously I’m writing this 3 months after the fact, but I wanted to get down my thoughts before they were completely ancient.  The Gapers Block criteriums were my first two bike races ever.  Needless to say I was nervous and busy peppering my friend Ted (Iron Cycles team) with questions.  The weather was clear but windy and cold on this Monday, not bad but in my mind, not ideal…I was hoping for warmth given this was still early.  For anyone who’s lived in Chicago, you know that March can alternately mean 80F and sunny or 30F and frozen boogers.

So the weather was clear on Monday the 23rd and with Ted’s encouragement, I decided to ride down to the race with him after work.  This was no small undertaking, as the races are held relatively far on the south side of Chicago.  To date, I’d gone no further south than the South Shore Cultural Center, at 71st St and the lakefront.  The races are held inside Calumet Park, which is at 98th St and the lakefront, just outside the shadow of the Chicago Skyway.  The ride down was fine, albeit slightly windy but at least a tailwind and we encountered a number of other racers also riding to the park.  I didn’t chat with anyone as I felt a flashback to my not-so-distant days as a triathlon newbie, but I was definitely wrapped up in a combination of excitement and nervousness over the unknown.  Would I crash?  Would there be a breakaway?  Would I stand out like a sore thumb (“hey, that’s guy is a TRIATHLETE not a cyclist!”)?  Or worst of all, would I get dropped?

So we arrived a bit chilled from the wind, but not bad…I could tell it might not be fun riding home for an hour after a race…sweaty gear and cold weather don’t make for fun cycling.  I wore thinner gloves and brought a backpack but not an extra layer for after the race…rookie mistake for spring races.  I checked in at the registration tent with Ted and we headed into the Chicago Park District building to warm up, pin our race numbers onto our jerseys and hit the bathroom one last time.  Off to the start line to pre-ride the small circuit and watch the women race.

The Gapers’ course is a small circuit setup on the short road that encircles the park and its parking lots.  It’s under a mile in length and can loosely be described as a rectangle, with relatively soft turns and a wide parkway…all conducive to safe racing for beginners, which is the purpose of this racing series.  In fact they hold 2 mens and 2 womens races per day for 5 days straight, enabling anyone to get the required 10 starts to cat up from womens’ 4 to 3 or men’s 5 to 4.  This wasn’t my concern, as I just wanted to give bike racing a shot and test my legs post-Austin.  The course rode smoothly and basically we’d start at the road’s widest point, about 1/4th of the way down a 400m straightaway (maybe a bit more).  We’d sprint off the the line from a standing start, turn left into a strong headwind for maybe 200m, angle left and into the wind for a gentle S curve section, then a hard left followed by a softer left back onto the main straight.  A short course, but with the headwinds on the back section, Ted advised that this was where attacks would likely occur.  The races would be 30 minutes and after a couple laps, the race referee would average out the time per lap and decide on the number of remaining laps, which would take us to the 30′ mark.

The womens’ races were fun and I knew 2 girls there, Maggie and Dana (both of the XXX Racing/Athletico team).  Maggie and Dana had some experience, with Maggie having done one or two crits in 2009 and Dana having done many more.  They both raced well and finished in the pack.  Watching maybe 1/3rd of the girls get dropped and lapped multiple times, I realized that bike racing can bring you to a quick, ego-bruising end on even the first lap…a bit different from triathlon, where you essentially push yourself through the race and only sometimes do you know exactly where you stand.  If you’re dropped from the pack in a crit, you can continue only at the ref’s discretion — being a beginner race they just asked people dropped to stay right and out of the way.  However there’s no doubt that should you get dropped and continue the race, you’ll know you’re toast every time people on the lead lap pass you and the cheering from spectators is more out of sympathy.  No getting dropped and no crashing…I reminded myself of my priorities for the day.

Gapers Block Womens 3/4 Start Line - March 23, 2010

After two heats of womens 3/4, the first mens 4/5 race began.  Ted was signed up for this race, but I had not…I wanted to watch at least once before racing.  In the interim, Ted’s teammate and another friend of ours, Russ, showed up to watch race #1 and race with me in the second heat.

The first mens race went off…as they rounded the corner back onto the front straight, there was already a 4-man break about 10 seconds in front of the pack.  Ted was in there with a guy from XXX racing that he knew, plus two others.  Second lap, the two others were in front by about 10 seconds, followed by Ted and the XXXer who were another 20 seconds in front of the pack.  Ultimately the two guys in front worked together to pull further away, with one of them finally making a move and pulling away on the last lap for a convincing win.  I believe Ted was 4th.  I was impressed and ready to race.  I had gone with Russ for about a 15 minute warmup after the first few laps, having come back with maybe 4 laps left in the first race…having done some short high-intensity intervals to warm up my legs, I was ready to go.  Ted decided to register for the second race too.

Gapers Block Mens 4/5 Start Line - March 23, 2010

The whistle blew and we took off.  I kept Ted and Russ’ advice in mind, primarily to stay near the front end of the pack to avoid any potential crashes.  This would also give me the benefit of staying with the pack and hopefully not getting dropped.  Indeed, I was able to stay near the front of the pack for most of the race, yo-yo’ing to the back once but pulling myself back onto the end of the pack and quickly moving myself back up to the front third of the group.  I tried to sprint to go with a couple of the moves near the front, but I just wasn’t strong enough and didn’t have enough experience to stay in the right draft.  My cornering, an area that scares most triathletes away from bike racing…high speed turns with other riders a matter of inches away…was actually fine.  I took a couple shoulders and dished one out.  For the most part, the racers respected each others’ lines through turns and we had no close calls.  The effort level was just as I’d heard…some extremely hard efforts mixed in with recovery, while drafting in the group.  I finished in the middle of the pack and since they only kept track of the front 5 to 10 finishers, I didn’t know exactly where…but I was happy and eager for another shot the next day.

Downside: the rookie mistake of no warm layers for postrace hurt, as we rode an hour back to downtown Chicago into nasty headwinds on the lakefront path.  Because it was so cold, Ted, Russ, their XXX buddy and I rode in a paceline, taking turns pulling in the cold headwind.  By the time I got home I couldn’t feel my fingers, toes or face, so I took my time thawing out.  Lesson learned but it was a fun first bike race.

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Base Catchup – Oops

Posted on March 9, 2010 | Leave a comment

So I completely lost momentum blogging the past month and missed recapping base weeks 1-3, recovery week 4 and then base week 5.  My last post was the beginning of inseason training, and here I am in week 6.  Time is flying.  I also went through my first feeling of overtraining (that attempt at a 12-hour week sucked) and enjoyed the extra recovery I gave myself.

First, a quick recap of what I did and didn’t do in my first 5 weeks:

  • FTP test prior to in-season training start: 30′ test – 273 watts, 187 lbs
  • Weeks 1-3 focus was pure aerobic base: I hit my volume goals for the first 2 weeks but by the end of week 2 felt pretty beat up @ 10 hours for that week.  Week 3 I had to dial it back and did 7 hours instead of the planned 12.  Ouch. However, a bit of good news in the pool…one Thursday morning there were just 2 of us, so our coach put us through a 20×100 set, descending from 1:35 to 1:15 per 100y.  This keeping in mind my last couple of 10×100 swim tests have had me around 1:25ish at best.  I missed the 1:16 and 1:15 intervals, but made it down to 1:17 successfully which is faster than I’ve ever swam before…exciting!  I was COMPLETELY exhausted by the end of this workout, ready to crash.  Unfortunately it was a 6am swim and I still had to go to the office.
  • Week 4:  So happy to get to my recovery week and a 6 hour total step back.  However, this also meant another FTP test. Results were good and I was pretty happy, having added some power and dropped a couple lbs in the past month, though I admittedly am not really “eating right” the way I should.  Results: 30′ test – 280 watts, 185 lbs
  • Interesting follow-up note, one of our cycling coaches reviewed the power profile from my 30′ FTP test.  The first 10′ I averaged 256 watts.  The next 20 I averaged 293, the last 10′ of which I averaged 310.  So, he felt that I held back too much the first 10′ and that my true FTP is closer to 290 and not 280.  Regardless, good news in that I am much stronger by a longshot compared to mid-season 2009.
  • Week 5 was back to the base work, but with a focus on strength.  So most of my time on the Computrainers at the gym was focused on low cadence, high power climbing, while my run workouts (on the treadmill at least) included running at high inclines for various intervals.  Tough workouts but it felt good to finish them all feeling strong.  One of our swim workouts included swimming a set of 400 threshold, 3×100 easy, 300 threshold, 3×100 easy, 200 threshold (BEST effort of the day, go all out) and then 3×100 easy.  I finished in 2:45, swimming a 1:25 and then pushing hard for a 1:20 on the second 100.  Again, good progress in the pool…getting faster is fun!

To wrap up week 5 I also did a 3:15 outdoor group ride on the new tri bike (55 miles).  Fun stuff, as it was in the mid-40′s here in Chicago with some sun, so not too bad for riding.  Week 6 is in full swing and I’m on track for 9 hours, still focusing on strength in each workout.

I’m looking forward to 5 days in Austin next week, for my friend Dave’s bachelor party weekend during SXSW (South by Southwest music festival).  I still have to decide on whether to bring my new tri bike or my roadie, but either way I’ll have a bike along and be riding pretty much every day in the sun and on the hills in and around Austin.  Can’t wait!

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Posted in Triathlon