my weekly race log

NB&S: "Whenever I took a turn on the front I tried to subtly slow things down."

Yessss, the best tactic imho. I try to bounce my shoulders up and down to pretend like I'm really killing it too.

Nope don't know him. Is he a UCSD Guy? How old?

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0839486/

Ahaha wow. I totally dropped that dude. lmao.

Another crit yesterday, Ladera Ranch GP 30+ 4/5 race. It was on a .8 mile course in the ultimate South Orange County Stepford town. The place looked like it was beamed down, fully-formed, by some alien space ship. I expected to catch one of the highly gym-toned and made-up OC moms hanging around the course sticking out a long lizard tongue when she thought nobody was looking. Anyway, turn 1 was tighter than 90 degrees and went from two lanes to one, and when I was walking up to the course when I arrived, my first sight was of a teammate in an arm sling with a broken clav from a crash in the earlier (cat-4) race, so I was pretty spooked. Held top 10 the whole time, kept my position, even fought up the gutter on one lap. With 4 laps to go the field slowed a bit, waiting for the finish, and people started going 5-wide and swarming through the corners so I decided I didn't really want any of that. I rode easy and smooth through the corners on the 3rd and 2nd to last laps, and then attacked across the start/finish line from about 15th place with one to go and got a (very small) gap through corners 1 and 2. Held onto the lead through 3 and kind of gave up on the uphill stretch between 3 and 4. The field strung out into a nice safe single-file behind me, though, and two teammates were able to secure good finishes. Need to work on 2-minute power if I want to make those kinds of moves.

http://app.strava.com/rides/1238563

Or I could get better insurance and then have the confidence to bump elbows through the turns and sit in and contest the big field sprint...

Request went through, am now officially a Cat 4. If I was a hurricane I'd be weakening. Can't wait to crash in the huge fields and get blown the fuck off the back in the Masters 35+ 1-4 race.

Last race of the year today. Finished 7th overall, 3rd out of the pack.

Today's race finished on a long flat, then a 90 degree corner with 250m to go and then a slight ramp at the end into the finishing chute.

Those of you who don't know me know that I am more of a 800m guy than a 200m guy. I like to take my chances when things start getting tense and people start looking around.

http://i.imgur.com/KRFYl.png

This tells the story. There's about 25 of us left at the end with a break of 4 up the road. I jump with about 800m to go and rail the outside at 35mph into a 10mph crosswind. It's a race for the corner, and I hit it first with a big gap. I hold 32mph through the corner and then into the final stretch into the headwind. I hold on for whatever I can get... two guys pass me at the line. Shit. Good race though. Really intense and hard on every hill. Wish I had a little bit more at the end. Final 800m = 610W, 31.6mph, left my heart rate monitor at home.

I did a 25-mile time trial today, my first time trial since March. It was a chilly start (I was off at 8.24am) but soon got better in the freakish October heatwave we're having. The course is, broadly speaking, just over 12 miles south-north then just under 13 miles north-south, with more climbing on the return leg, and for some reason there always seems to be a wind from the south, so the return leg is always slower than the first leg. Despite my lack of racing, I felt comfortable today and got to the turn at an average of just under 24mph. It was a bit of a slog on the way back, but not as bad as many other times I've done it, and I managed to keep my average above 22mph (which was my target):
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r299/crunchydog_2006/tempgraph.jpg
My time was 1:07:24, which is a little over a minute slower than my PB, but my second fastest time on this course and my fastest time this season (although I've only done three time trials). That's it for road racing and time trials this season: next comes the dreaded Catford Hill Climb (assuming my entry has been accepted).

Question for you NB&S, how are race registrations handled in England? Do you normally pre-reg online or do day-of?

Time trials are run by CTT (a completely separate organization from British Cycling), there's no entry on the line - you have to send your entry in at least 2 weeks in advance. Most races have a maximum of 120 competitors, so two hours at one-minute intervals. If it's oversubcribed only the fastest get in (based on previous times submitted on the entry form). The races on the 'dragstrips' (i.e. flat dual carriageways with lorries that suck you along) are always full, but I have no interest in riding a bike on a virtual motorway, so I mostly enter events on 'sporting courses' (quieter, twistier, lumpier roads) that only get about 50-70 entrants.

Most road races are run by British Cycling. You need to have a racing licence to take part. For circuit races on a purpose-built circuit or an airstrip or similar you can normally enter on the line (but it costs a bit more than entering in advance) as there's no limit to the number of riders. Well, there might be, but it's never reached. For races out on the open road the police normally put a limit of 60 or 80 riders - these are always oversubcribed so you have to enter in advance. You also usually get about 6 or 7 'reserves' who turn up and take the place of anyone who has dropped out. Again - only the strongest riders within the specified categories get in - usually. However, the road races I've done this year were part of a league, and each member club that puts on a race is guaranteed at least two places for its riders if they enter, so I've managed to get in despite never picking up a single point.

I see, so when you're registering for a popular event that you know will fill up, you do so online via a third party company? or does the event handle the registrations themselves? or does British Cycling handle all the registration transactions?

It's still pretty antiquated for the most part. You generally have to post an entry form together with a cheque directly to the race organizer. There are a few road races where you can enter online, hardly any time trials. Most cycling clubs are very conservative (small 'c'), small-time organisations - it's a world of paying 50p for a cup of tea and a biscuit in a village hall while you wait for Old Ernie to handwrite up the results on a board. Sportives, which are a relatively new phenomenemenemenem, are comparatively modern: it's all online registration and timing chips and feed stations and full results up on the website and stuff. One problem with online registration, I suppose, is that if the event is oversubcribed the rules are that the strongest riders are those who get in, not the earliest to apply, so it could get complex trying to refund all those who thought they were in but are now out.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/audioslideshow/2010/oct/11/catford-cycling-club-hill-climb-classic
^ An audioslideshow thing about last year's event

So, this morning, the oldest continuing bike race in the world - running since 1887, the Catford CC Hill Climb on Yorks Hill near Sevenoaks in Kent. I think to go in for competitive cycling you have to have something of a masochistic streak, and I've always been drawn to the idea of hill climbs. There's something pure about it: just you against the clock and the gradient - no fear of crashes, no need for tactics, just two or three minutes of pain and the winner is the one who can dig the deepest, suffer the most, and has the mental and physical strength to keep on going.

It wasn't raining by the time I got down there, but it had been so the road was slippy (not what you need when it touches 25% in places). I was feeling distinctly nervous: I'd only been up the hill once before and it was as much as I could do to keep riding then, and that was on my winter bike with a lowest gear of 34x25, whereas my racing bike only goes as low as 39x25. I really didn't want to humiliate myself by failing to get up the hill (especially as I'd invited my parents and brother to watch me race for the first time). Beyond that, my targets were to a)finish within a minute of the winner, b)break the 3-minute barrier, c)beat somebody.

I was expecting the start to be on the easier gradients lower down the climb, but the start line was already a fair way up the hill where the gradient was already 8%. I started on my second-lowest gear, changed up as I picked up momentum, then the road twisted round and sickeningly lurched up to >20%. Straight away I was down on my lowest gear and had nowhere lower to go. I was fighting the bike - just desperately grinding and hoping to keep going. The spectators were dotted in ones and twos lower down, but as you got to the final 150 metres or so there were hundreds of people, many deep, lining the steep banks on either side. It was a fantastic feeling (even though physically it was terrible) having hundreds of people all roaring for you at once and it really does help you to dig deeper. It was like something out of a Tour stage: at one point a woman tried to run alongside shouting encouragement, then when the crowd got really thick you could scarcely see any road ahead of you: people lurked with cameras right in front of you and jumped out of the way at the last second. The crowd was so thick I only saw the checkered flag when I was about 20 metres from the line.

I managed 2:46, which was faster than maybe a quarter of the field (the full results aren't out yet) and is less than a minute slower than the all-time record, so I safely met my targets. If I do it again next year I reckon I'll be able to improve on that. My problem was that it was just sooooooo steep that I was scared of committing too soon - if you blow up, that's it, there's no chance of recovery. Next time I'll know that when you hit the thick crowds you can give it everything because the finish isn't too far away.

Bad ass! That sounds really fun, even for a fat trackie/crit guy like me. Crowds like that rule.

Great video here:
http://vimeo.com/30273999
My gurning face makes a brief appearance around the 2:13 mark, but it's not really the high point

fantastic. is pre-race alcohol considered cheating?

On the contrary, you have to down a pint of Guiness before you can start

Nice work dude, did Germaine Burton win it? He's the son of the owner of de vere cycles in norbury and looks like quite the prospect, 15 I think and won a fair few of the crystal palace crits (and one of the hill climbs last year)

No, he wasn't in it, but he won the Bec CC Hill Climb (on Titsey Hill, which I think is just inside the M25) in the afternoon:
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/530407/burton-scorches-bec-hill-climb.html

I got 60th place out of 103 starters :-)

that's really impressive, hat!

Monsal Head climb this weekend too, I cycled that when I was 16 and nearly died. Hills are not my friend (though we are steadily becoming acquaintances)

Nie work NBS, that's awesome! You're living the dream.

That sounds awful, but great job.

On the contrary, you have to down a pint of Guiness before you can start

Might have a chance of finishing then.

Thanks, all. Not terribly flattering professional photo:
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r299/crunchydog_2006/catfordresized.jpg

That's a brilliant photo!! You are a fucking MAN.

I AM A TIGER

*effete wrist gesture* rowr

End of season wrap-up:

This was my first full season racing, and also my first year on a proper team. My goal was to learn as much as I could from my mentors and to continue learning what my strengths are (still learning apparently haha). I mainly raced in a selfless support role which was a bit of a transition from last year where I was focused on selfishly racing for results and upgrading through the ranks.

March:
+My first crit of the year had a hairpin in it and was one of the most stacked 1/2/3 fields I'd race with all year*, I got crashed out of the hairpin about midway.
+My first road race I tried to lead out my teammate from too far out but we got passed by another train on the run in. He held on for 10th out of 88.
+*The arguably next most stacked field was my next road race where I got dropped after 5miles at 30.3mph. DNF'd. Pain.

April:
+Did a circuit race, got my teammate in the break and then I got top 5 in the field sprint. Felt like I was getting stronger.
+The next weekend I did three races across four days:
-First was a crit, got 5th after missing the break of 4. My first field sprint win of the year in a pretty high profile race, 3 of the guys who beat me were cat 2s by May.
-Next was the circuit race (held on the Laguna Seca race track), puked a couple times. Teammates were up the road in top 5-10. Miserable race.
-Last was another crit, felt like ass the entire race until one lap to go, I moved up from the back to the top 7 with 500m to go, but then went backwards up the final climb. Horrible.
+The week after I did a small crit in insanely windy conditions on a hilarious boomerang shaped course. Missed the break but went off solo and spent the last half of the race in no man's land, got 4th.

May:
+I did a bunch of boring office park crits and realized that I hate them.
+I think I like downtown crits run by good promoters better.
+Really my worst results of the year were in May.
+But then I went to LA and won a boring office park crit so who knows. Forced a breakaway, then attacked the breakaway. <= my mantra for 2012, seems to work?

June:
+Did 2 crits:
-One was a flat office park ordeal, finished just outside the top 10.
-The other one was an 8 corner downtown crit on a hill, finished just outside the top 10 but I did mucho work to bring a dangerous break back and get my teammate on the podium.

July:
+July 4th was my largest crit of the year, almost 100 entrants. Started in horrible position due to taking a warmup lap only to find the whole field staged already. Spent the first 12 laps getting to the front, and then I went off the front but got reeled in a couple laps later. The end of this race got messy but I got a top 10. Our governing body has an algorithm that rates your races based on the level of talent that you outperformed and those that outperformed you and interestingly this was my best performance of the year (on paper).
+Did a big 4 corner crit the next weekend to help get my teammate on the podium, he got 4th, I rolled in from the leadout 15th out of 55.
+Worst crit of the year a couple weeks later: I get in the break with 4 other guys, 2 of whom are friends of mine. We get a 20 second gap but these guys are not relenting and my pulls are not up to their standards so they keep attacking our break and each other, even with like 10 laps to go. I get shit out the back and roll back to the pack to find my teammates not pleased with my effort for the day. Feeling awful, I sit in for a couple laps and then take the front and go into crazy TT mode to pull these fuckers back. We get them in our sights and another one of my teammates takes over while I go pick up our sprinter from the lounge at the back and just while we're going into 3 corners to go, I jump up and start my sprint (uphill section), my back wheel gets taken out and then I go down, taking a few people down including a teammate. Teammate has broken elbow and broken frame. Just a shit race all in all. I ended up in the ER with a deep gash into my elbow, pretty gory shit.

August:
+Did a night crit. Sketchy as fuck, potholes and grooved road that is dangerous in full daylight. Broke my saddle. Got 4th and a prime, and got a super cool photo taken.
+Next crit was a 4 corner downtown crit that my teammate was keen on winning. I told him we'd take control of the race with 4 to go and get him to the last 2 corners in the lead. We almost executed perfectly, he got 4th in a super close race. 2 juniors who finished 1-2 catted up after the race. The guy who got 3rd is a total sandbagger (he won the previous race, wtf! like 5 mins before this race started).
+Did my first road race since March, the Masters State Championships. The big attack was made halfway and guess what happened, I didn't make the selection. My teammate did and he got 4th. I did nothing to help him, he's just a super strong guy.

September/October:
+Got tangled up in a bunch of crits that I did well in last year, just bad luck of being in the wrong spot in the wrong time. Sitting top 10 and some shit goes down that you just can't avoid. I can't really beat myself up over that, it's just disappointing because I'd like to continue that success. There is always next year though.
+Did a couple circuits where I top 10'd pretty easily without doing too much. Missed the break in both cases (this sandbagger solo'd!!! to win both races) but a good way too finish off the year and test my legs on some climbs and the final sprint.

Next year, I think I'm going to race less and try to focus on races that suit my riding style, helping out teammates where I can.

6 top 10s, 5 top 5s and a win. 2 crashes.

scary good

Finally, the final, final, final race of the season yesterday: my club's annual hill climb. I've finished second for the last two years, narrowing the gap to the guy who always finishes first from about 19 seconds to 14 seconds. Yesterday we had a much bigger field than normal as loads riders from other clubs turned up, so I came 6th out of 24:
http://leavalleycc.co.uk/hctt11.html
However, out of my club (which is what counts for the medals!) I came second, again, to the same guy who always wins. He's not in best health at the moment and went slower than normal. I was about 4 seconds slower than last year, but was only 5 seconds behind him.

it's yours next year then. now put the 2nd place medals on the rail for the train. :)

Tuesday Night Racing started up again at my local velodrome. Rode around for fitness, without trying too much in the burnout paceline warmup and the 10 lap snowball races, then executed what was tactically my best spring ever in the 35 lap points race. Followed the right wheels at the right time and came around the guy leading out the sprint at the right time (middle of turn 4) to take full points at the line. Ended up 4th overall in that race. Stoked.

yr in Cali yes?

awesome.

Raced the Barrio Logan grand prix, a crit that our club promotes annually. It's also the (California) state crit championship for the juniors, so a lot of them came out. I raced the cat 4 race. The course is .8 miles per lap, with 8 turns (6 right, 2 left), so you are always cornering and you hardly have space to move up. I missed clipping in and got a slow start at the beginning, and even though I had no trouble riding around the back, every time I would try and move up 4 or 5 places on either of the short short straightaways, I'd lose them to kamakazi cornering on the next turn or two. I finally resigned myself to rolling in at the back, and at that point was able to give myself a gap before each corner and ride the last 4 laps without hardly touching the brakes. My 3 or 4 hours of training a week just isn't cutting it.

Strava recording: http://app.strava.com/rides/7953382

Tomorrow I am racing the Dana Point grand prix, in the ur-orange county suburb or Dana Point. That race is on the National Criterium Calender, and has a $15,000 purse for the pro race, so it's always super high-profile and well attended. I think the 4's field (which rolls off at 7:55am! fuck!) has 135 guys signed up for it already. I have the fear.

you haven't happened to encounter Team Pegasus or my friend C4le have you? he is a tiny monster, just 4th or 5th in the st4gecoach 400. also an excellent dude in general.

I do in fact know that dude. Raced with him on the velodrome last night, then drank a beer with him at the post-race pizza joint session. He can crank it up, and is indeed a bro.

Pic from last nights track race. Here's me bridging up to an early (ill fated) break in
the 5mile scratch race:

http://i.imgur.com/rN8MW.jpg

Nice picture

I did a 10-mile time trial yesterday, for the first time in 2 years. It was a bit gusty, but mostly a crosswind. This was on a fast course (one of the 'dragstrip' dual carriageways), but I hate riding them - it just seems suicidal to have juggernauts going past at 70mph. I did it in 24.27 (about 24.5mph), which is 17 seconds slower than my PB. The winner (Michael Hutchinson, who wins just about every national championship every year) broke the course record for a staggering 18.10.

Did CO state champ 40k. Super fast course. Flat, only light breeze, a fairly smooth set of traffic free farm roads. Only goal was to break an hour, got it done 58:15 or so. I couldn't have given an ounce more effort, yet it still felt almost easy at the same time til the last 2 km.

I came in second to last out of 29 in my category. Adjusting attitude with wine, it's working out pretty great, really. Someone gotta be second to last. After the tryhards and cheaters.

http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout/darraghmac/7ntuar6theu4f891

are you building up for the ride you mentioned in july?

Yeah, but without doin the actual event, just the training runs the group has organised. This was ok, not cycled 40k in a long time but once the loooong hill was over it was great, as top speed of 75kmh attests to

A woman in my race on the velodrome last night crashed hard and is in the ICU with a slim-to-none prognosis for survival. It's a really tight-knit group there at the track, we're all shaken up. I did not see how the crash happened, which I'm thankful for. Be safe out there, take care of each other.

that sounds horrendous, sorry to hear that

yeah, i'm very sad to hear of that, take care man.