Summer Series Race Report Fischer Farms: Frustration

Still, after almost a week I look back at the race at Fischer Farms with mostly frustration.  I had heard (courtesy of Bob Pugh) that it had rained a bunch Tuesday night in the Davidson area, north of Charlotte.  As a result I decided to bring my front wheel that had a knobbier tire on it with me so that I could run that if the trail was we, after arriving it was easy to see that the knobbier tire was the way to go.  After warming up (the trail was slick, but not terrible), I lined up for the start.

Again I had a bad start, entering the woods in 4th (I think), I lost a place going through a corner within the first minute or so and was in 5th place.  The course doesn’t have a ton of places to pass, so I was very happy that no one was pulling away, and I tried to relax and use as little energy as possible.  During the one open area I moved up to 2nd place, and rode there till the same section on the second lap where I moved into the lead.  I felt really good that I had raced smart and not gotten too worried about my bad start or being stuck in 5th place.

About halfway through the third and final lap, I took an uphill turn too wide and Justin McClean who was riding second behind me was able to pass me.  I wasn’t too worried I still had ½ a lap to pass him, including the long open straight away.   At this point we were approaching and passing lapped riders; unfortunately one that Justin and I were passing fell between us (which was quite the challenge since I was about 10 feet behind him) which allowed Justin to ride away  and Travis Beam who was in third to pass me, as I remounted the bike.  Within a couple minutes of that I was approaching another lapped rider I called out “rider up” and then “on your left” unfortunately I called that I was going to pass on the left just as he moved over . . .to the left, which left me no room to go around and I had already committed to going to the left, so again I had to get  off the bike and again I was passed by the rider behind me, this time Chris Wieczorek.  Chris was nice enough to offer to let me back in front, I declined, because that’s just part of racing (at least in my mind).  That’s how we finished up.

My frustration is about the situation not the riders.  It wasn’t too long ago that I was one of the riders that was getting passed by faster riders from other classes.  I think it’s harder to let people by than to be the one doing the passing, because you can only see what’s in front of you and you don’t know what’s going on behind you.  Also in many cases the riders we are passing are among the most inexperienced out there.   They’re doing the best they can, but it’s a situation that’s difficult for everyone.

Results

Series Results

Riverfront Classic Race Report

Bobby 1st, me 3rd. . .not bad

Showed up at the White Water Center about 7:30 (for the 9:02 start), got signed in and everything set up and ready to go for the race.  Pre-rode a little bit of the course with Bobby Bryson, Chris Audet (who were both doing the same race) and Matt Moosa (who was racing with the 19-29 year olds).  Practiced a couple starts to make sure I knew what gear to start in and then rode around easily until the start.  Got a really good initial 4 or 5 pedal strokes, but didn’t get my left foot clipped in.  I slowed down a little to get clipped in, even with that I got into the woods in 5^th place (out of about 13) and felt pretty good about that.  After staying in line for about 5 minutes, Chris W(??_), one of the fastest guys in the race had a mechanical and had to stop.  A couple minutes later I passed the rider in third, with Tommy Rodgers and Bobby Bryson just in front of me, I thought that the three of us would probably be the three riding for the win.

Not my best start

The three of us continued in line for the rest of the first lap, pretty uneventfully.  They were pulling away from me on the climbs, but I was able to catch back up through the technical sections relatively easily.  Unfortunately there were a couple times near the top of short technical climbs where they checked up a little and I had to get off briefly and climb back on.  At the end of the first lap got rid of my Camelbak and got a new water bottle of Infnit, as planned. About 15 minutes into the second lap I passed Bobby and Tommy, I was riding really well and feeling good.  Unfortunately approaching a fork in the trail, didn’t see the arrow for the course until I had already committed to the wrong direction.  Unfortunately I had to stop turn around and get back on the bike, which allowed Bobby and Tommy to pass me.

At some point I was able to pass Tommy and after a little bit we started to put a gap between ourselves and Tommy.  Was still feeling good, at the end of lap two swapped water bottles for another bottle of Infinit.  Maybe 15 minutes into the 3^rd and final lap Bobby pushed up a climb (I don’t think he was trying to go hard), but I just couldn’t push any harder and he pulled away like I was standing still.  At that point I knew I was in preservation mode, and just try to ride as evenly as possible to the finish.  Unfortunately I spun out at the bottom of the climb with about 10 minutes left in the race and Tommie passed me, unfortunately I couldn’t pull him back in, and finished about 30 seconds behind him.

Overall I was really happy with my fitness and bike handling, and finishing 3^rd (although I could have had a better finish) given the caliber of other riders is something I’m really proud of.

Special congratulations to: Bobby 1st the Cat 1 30-39 race, Eric Haggerty 3^rd in single speed, and Andrea Hildebrand 1^st Cat 2 Women 40+.

Zipp wheel choices for triathletes

TriRig.com posted a great article (and video) on the range of Zipp wheels.  It's an inciteful article that talks about the advantages and disadvantages of the different size wheels and how to pick the right wheel combination depending on:  your size, intended use, and terrain.  Gives you a number of suggestions on what to choose, but more importantly give you helpful information so you can make an informed decision about what woud be best suited for you.

How good are pro's? Matt Charbot's power file

Some times you see something that really puts some things in perspective for you, this just happened courtesy of Matt Charbot's power file from a recent pro triathlon.  Here's the link to the article on Slowtwitch if you want to check it out:  Article

He average 275 watts (at 138 pounds) for an hour, and then ran a 31:42 10k (which for those not familar with running, is flying, just over 5 minutes per mile), and he only finished 34th.  It was also a draft legal race so his effort wasn't consistent, it was up and down which means he'd be able to average more watts in a non-draft triathlon.

I was really happy with my last triathlon and averaged 238 watts (at 145 pounds) for half an hour and then ran a 17:52 (the course was shorter than 5k, probably 2.9-3.0 miles).  So his power weight was over 20% better than mine. . .for twice as long.  Oh yeah. . . and he probably would have swam 25% faster than me.

Roval Control SL 29er wheelset first impressions

In a word:  awesome.  Up until a week and a half ago I was riding the stock wheels that come on Specialized Epic ExpertCarbon EVO R 29er (yeah, I know it needs a longer name), the Roval Control 29.  I’d been extremely happy with those wheels:  pretty light and really stiff, which was a combination that I found to be a better (at least for me) than the really light and not so stiff Stan’s No Tubes wheels I had built up for last year.

What I noticed almost immediately was how stiff the RovalControl SL’s were and they tracked even better through corners and over roots and bumps.  I was able to push the front end of the bike into a corner harder and didn’t have to be worry about them washing out.  In addition to this stiffness the wheels are super light and accelerate really easily.  Down the road after I’ve had chance to ride them longer I’ll right a full review, but at least my initial impressions are that the wheels are awesome.

First Expert Win: How it Happened

The race Wednesday was at Renaissance, this is the course closest to the shop and on the way to and from the shop from home, so I’ve ridden there probably about 15 times this year, so I’m now incredibly comfortable riding there (which is funny because it was the course I felt least comfortable on last year).  This was going to be the first really hot race of the year (about 88), and so I knew might play a role in the race, and knew I would have to be careful about my nutrition and hydration.  The last couple races I haven’t drank all of my water/nutrition from my Camelbak, I knew this wouldn’t work for a race this hot.  I put my Inifinit nutrition in a water bottle, so I would be able to see how much of it I’ve had (a downside to the Camelbak is that you can’t see how much you’ve had). 

After getting to the race and getting all set up, I pre-rode the course and got lined up for the start.  It’s an relatively long uphill start, so I knew I wouldn’t have to be worried about getting a good start (I’d have plenty of time to make up for a bad first 5 seconds).  Fortunately I had a really good start, and got the hole shot (first into the woods).  After getting into the woods I eased up a little.  Robert Fish, another BikeSource rider, was second, which made me a little more comfortable because I knew he would just let me ride my race.  When I had gotten to the first climb up the big hill I had about a 5 second lead, over Luke Sagur (who must have passed Robert).  I pushed the hill but didn’t go crazy, I knew we still had over an hour to race.

Luke caught up to me as we entered the second section of single track.  Unfortunately about 5 minutes into the wood I hit a pedal on a root, I didn’t go down but it slowed me down enough that Luke was able to pass.  I got going again and followed Luke for the remainder of the first lap.  Before starting the second lap, I passed Luke in the open section leading into the wood.  I continued to ride well and slowly opened a gap over Luke, unlike the previous lap I was able to extend that gap going up the big hill.  I think about this time Donald Butler (one of our racers and a fellow manager at BikeSource), started telling me how big of a lead I had.  I was sorry to see that he DNF’d in his race, but was very thankful that he was going to be able to let me know the kind of lead I had.  The first time he told me I think he said it was 15 seconds.  Since I was feeling good I continued to push the pace and was riding really smooth (all those times riding the course were certainly helping).  The next time Donald told me I had about 20 seconds, then it was 40 second, then a minute, then 1:30 as I was in the last section of singletrack.  At this point I wasn’t trying to push it, but just trying to continue riding well, I knew the only way I would lose was if I crashed or cramped badly.  I came out of the wood and into the finishing straight, what an amazing feeling: my first expert win.  I checked to make sure no one was coming up behind me, and then pedaled the 15 seconds or so to the finish line.

I thanked Donald for giving me updates and asked if he was ok, he had wrecked out but was doing ok.  Chatted with some of the BikeSource guys and guys from other guys I knew from other teams. Mixed up my Infinit recovery drink.  No run today, a gift to myself for winning.  Pulled on my Swiftwickcompression socks before heading home.  Certainly a day to smile about.

Summer Series Race Report (sort of): Renaissance

Yesterday at Renaissance I won my first ever expert mountain bike race.  This is certainly the proudest athletic accomplishment of my life.  Instead of talking in depth about the race (which I felt awesome throughout, and everything went as well as one could hope for during a mountain bike race) I’d like to thank some people that without their help I certainly wouldn’t have had nearly this success in mountain biking.  There have been many people that have helped me accomplish this and I certainly appreciate all the help you have given me, but there are a few people that have made a huge difference for me.

-Mike Danenberg and Zac Breedlove of PerformanceTherapy.  With their help I’ve been able to be injury free for well over two years, and it would have been much longer if it wasn’t for sitting too long cross-legged at my Indian wedding ceremony.  To be injury free this long with the amount and intensity of training that I’m doing is truly remarkable, especially since in high school and college I was frequently dealing with injuries.

-Chad Andrews of Total Cyclist.  I’ve been in good cycling shape for a number of years now, but doing Chad’s classes has taken my fitness to a whole new level.  This has been particularly true for my mountain bike fitness (where you have to be able to push hard then recover) with working on specific intervals has increase the power I can produce and my ability to recover from those efforts.

-Bob Pugh.  He’s the guy that first got me into off-road riding with cyclocross.  We went to tons of races and rode together on a course he made a ton.  Without his enthusiasm and passion for riding particularly off-road I probably never would have continued working on off-road riding.  It was great to see him yesterday after having not seen him in a while.

-The guys at BikeSource.  I’m terrible about working on my stuff and taking care of it.  Thank you so much for all of your help with that.  I know my stuff is always going to work and work well.

-Sakshi, my wife.  Her love and support has been tremendous.  I know my schedule (both work and training) isn’t ideal, but she’s always supportive and so proud of my accomplishments, that it makes my accomplishments so much sweeter for me to be able to share them with her.

Thank you to everyone I mentioned and those that I haven’t who have helped me become the mountain biker and athlete that I am, I am so grateful for your help and support.

Results

Huntersville Triathlon Race Report

This was the same race course as the Cool Breeze Triathlon, the only thing different was the swim was twice as long (500 yards vs 250).  Thanks to Sakshi reminding me that I had forgotten my towel for my transition area last time I managed not to forget a single thing for the race.  Everything in the morning went smoothly from getting to the race to setting up my transition area and warming up.

While I was getting ready to start the swim my “cheering section” showed up (Sakshi:  wife, Nancy: mother, Sandy:  friend, Scott:  friend, and Cami:  dog).  It was great to have them all there.  Tried to take the swim nice and smooth, which I was able to do, that being said the last 150 yards I struggled to keep my form totally together. 

My transtition to the bike was very smooth and I was out on my Specialized Transition quickly.  Was able to average 238 watts for the ride after starting my Garmin 500 (at the bottom of the first hill), which worked great and was able to display all the information I like to see on one screen (current watts, avg speed, time, heart rate, average watts).  I felt pretty good coming off the bike and starting the run.

Hung my bike and helmet on the rack, pulled on my NewtonDistance shoes and was off.  Felt pretty good most of the run, looking back on it I might have been able to push it a little harder, but I also might have blown up if I had done that.  Crossed the finish line and greeted my cheering section, everyone was happy to see me except Cami, who probably didn’t recognize me because I smelled to bad (at least that was Sakshi’s thought).  But after she recognized me she was very excited to see me too.

Thanks to TV displaying results almost immediately after you finish I was able to see I finished in 58:56, and was 4th, shortly after I came in a guy finished with a faster time and bumped me down to 5th, unfortunately he was also in my age so I was second in my age group).

Since it was a pool swim, awards weren’t for about 3 hours after I finished, which gave us time to stop at Wendy’s (quite possibly Sakshi’s favorite restaurant) for lunch.  The announcer was very surprised when only about half the award winners stayed around to collect them, I felt like yelling out that they finished 3 hours agao.

Overall I was very happy with the race and how smoothly the race went.  This time the 15 year old girl (Malia Ellington, who won the women’s race) didn’t beat me on the run as she did last race, she beat me on the swim and her total transitions were faster than mine.  

Maybe the most surprising thing about the entire race was how close my times were to Cool Breeze earlier in the month (I couldn’t have been this close across the board if I tried) click on the image to enlarge.

Pictures