Race Report: Berry Peddler RR & TT

If you're wondering where the race report for State TT is, it's pretty simple. It was raining. It was cold. I had to sit up and check through all 16 turns in the 19 mile race. I pushed and did what I could on that given day. It worked out for me and I won the State Time Trial Championship by almost a 1 minute margin. Nothing too exciting, it's a time trial. As soon as it was over I had to load up my car and head for Memphis to start my first rotation of the summer the next morning at 8 am.

It does feel really good to get one of these jerseys.

I viewed the time trial as the first big test of my fitness. I was going to be able to compare my times against all the cat 3's and see how well I would actually be doing if I upgraded. The next test to my fitness would come the following weekend at the Berry Peddler Road Race. This race includes a 4.6 mile cat 2 climb at 6 miles in. Last year I got dropped from the lead group with about one mile left in the climb. I then solo'ed for 17 miles on top of the mountain before catching two guys in front of me and grouping with 3 guys from behind. Anyway, I'm a big guy and I don't climb well, so this race was going to tell me how much I have actually improved.

The race started off calm as I figured. I made my way up to the front and out of trouble within the first few miles. Then the climb started. It pretty much started hurting right from the bottom. I was climbing with the top 5-6 guys for a while. We started going through the switchbacks which really hurt. By this time it was starting to rain a little bit and wheels were losing traction and spinning out in the turns. One guy spun out and dropped his chain or something because he fell over and made another guy turn horizontal and come to a stop. I had to weave way out into the other lane to get around them. I'm not saying that really caused the separation between me and the front guys, but it didn't help. Once Michaelee attacked midway up, I was pretty much on the ropes for the rest of the climb. I thought I was keeping everyone within a safe distance that I could quickly make up once we topped out, but I didn't realize when we topped out. I was watching my computer and was expecting another mile of climbing. The lead up to the climb must have been subtle and considered part of the climb. As we crested, I saw the lead guys start moving away and leaving me behind: just like last year. I tried pulling through and forming a chase group. I had 6-7 guys on my wheel, none of which were willing to help the first 6 minutes of riding on top of the mountain. I finally got some to move through and offer some help. We could still see the lead guys so I knew we should be able to bring them back. Then I found out what I was working with. One guy jumped off the front of our group. One guy was a really strong junior (he made the climb with us), but just could keep up the pace once we were on flat ground. The others were just overall disorganized, letting gaps open, and not strong enough. After about 3 miles, I dropped everyone but two VW guys. We were still holding the lead group to only a 20 second gap, but it never seemed to come down close enough. I drug these guys around the top of the mountain doing about 65% of the work in our group. I kept battling with myself if I should just drop everyone and go for the lead group or depend on them to help and relieve me every once in a while. Well, I made the wrong decision. I continued to doubt myself and continued to let the lead group stay away knowing every minute they were up the road it would be getting harder and less likely for me to pull it back. I know I have the power and should have just stood up and buried myself for 2 minutes as soon as we peaked on top of the climb and bridged to the front group. But it never happened. It was just not my race.

The lead group of 6 shelled one guy somewhere along the way. As he dropped back to us, I told him to hop on and help us bring it back. He didn't have anything left just like the other guys though. Around 7 miles left in the race, we finally gave up as I could see my average power from the chase start to drop to the low end of zone 4. At the 10k to go mark, I was on the front and would drive it in from there. No one would come around and take a pull at that point. It was pretty crappy, but smart racing on their part. I was obviously the strongest rider there and there was no reason to help me and lessen their chances of a good placing. However, as we went under the 500 meter to go mark and I could see the guys starting to spread out behind me getting ready to attack me at the line, I was a little upset. Pretty unsportsmanlike to let me drag you along for the last 20 miles and then try to sprint past me at the line. But if I was really worried, then I wouldn't have led the last 10k. As riders started to come up on each side of me and we closed in on about 150 meters to go, I stood up and laid down some strokes to create a separation so I could cruise in for 6th place. Very hard fought race and not exactly smartly executed. Props to those lead guys, especially Michaelee, for doing exactly what they needed to do to get away and stay away. They raced a very smart and hard race. I'm happy for Michaelee for taking the win.

I was able to get a little redemption from my subpar road race showing in the time trial later that afternoon. Despite a pounding headache, I think from prolonged high blood pressure, heart rate, and dehydration, I put up a solid effort in the time trial winning the cat 4 division and beating all the cat 3 times. That felt good and made the trip more worthwhile.

The road race also gave me a new 20 minute max avg, 15 minute max avg, 10 minute max avg, 45 minutes in zone 4 on top of the mountain, and followed it all up with a 1,500+ watt spike to create the finish line separation. Now back to training and rebuilding.

Race Reports: HoS & PeachTree TT

It's taken me a while to get around to writing these reports, but I've been trying to focus on my school work and not failing grad school. I'm sure my parents would be proud. Anyway, school has been filled with endless projects, presentations, tests, and additional classes over the normal. They think they can just control our lives. I guess they can, but it is really getting annoying and my disgust for that building and program is growing quite rapidly recently.

Anyway, back to the races. I had been looking forward to the first road race for quite some time. Unfortunately, by the time it got here, school had me run down to the point that I was not looking forward to racing. I knew I still had to go, so early Saturday morning I set out alone for Berlin, TN and the first TBRA race of the year. Without a warm-up, I toed the starting line and we were off. I personally knew none of the other racers: all my friends from last year have upgraded to the cat 3's. I knew one person that I was going to be watching thanks to a friend's advice. The race progressed pretty uneventfully. I could hear someone blow a tire every once in while, but not a whole lot of action in the top 5-10 wheels where I was trying to stay. I hit the gravel in 2nd wheel. We didn't throw any attacks per se, but the accelerations up those punchy hills in the gravel were not nice on the legs. A bit later I charged up and over a hill creating a decent gap; no one responded. I knew I wasn't going to make it by myself so I sat up and waited for the group.

The next 15-20 miles were a big cluster mess. First the masters were closing in on us. We were told to go single file and slow down as they came up to pass. Then a few guys on the front accelerated and surged. Officials came back and regulated us at the front and we had to slow to less than 10mph for quite some time as the masters closed in and passed us. We continued to wait as they built up a gap so we didn't immediately pass them back. Once we were allowed to race again, someone shot off the front and up the road. Within the next 3 miles we were catching and passing the big masters field. About this time is when I was behind a guy that hadn't been up front in the race. Before I knew it, he led me right into a rather large pothole that gave me quite a jar. My fresh bottle I had just switched to the downtube cage shot out. I really could have used that powerful EnduraFuel energy later in the race, but I would have to do without. Here is where I must also give a big thanks to HUB Endurance for letting me borrow some super plush 28mm Vittoria tires for the race without which that pothole might have very well ended my race right there.

So, right before we entered the gravel for the second time, the official made us literally stop on the side of the road and wait. Several guys chose to pee as others sat around twiddling their thumbs. Now that everyone was well rested, any stragglers had a chance to get back on, and cold blood had time to settle in our legs, they let us off again.

Small surges from the front carried us the rest of the way back to the 2.5 mile finish stretch. By this time I had moved up to 2nd/3rd wheel as I was preparing for the finish. Unfortunately I was not patient enough to properly execute the finish. I was putting too much effort and riding in too much wind that entire trip back to the start finish. At the 1k to go mark the first attack went. I quickly matched and got on his wheel, another mistake. More attacks started coming from both sides. I was begging for the line, my body pleading with me to just stop, give up, and call it a day. I don't remember exactly how that last K went down, but I know at the end there were two big surges, one from each side of me. The one on the right was impressive and made a small gap, he took first. The one from the left was shaky and drifted slightly right and in front of me once he came around, he got second. That was enough to keep me seated and just holding on for the finish.

Take home: (1) be more patient and (2) sprinting at the end of a hard run into the finish is very hard and I didn't have it that day.

PeachTree TT:
The second race of the weekend was a time trial southwest of Atlanta. So once again, Sunday morning I got up and headed out the door for the drive down...by myself...in the rain...raining the entire way. I got there in time to setup for a nice little warm-up. My HUB skinsuit from Pactimo fit perfectly which I was very happy about as it was the first time I had tried it on.

I was on time for my start which is always rule number one for a TT. However, as soon as I went off, I came up behind a pickup truck sitting at a stop sign where I was supposed to turn right. I didn't know what to do at first as a slight panic set in. I ended up going around him on the left, but as I was beside him he started moving too. I continued on and passed across the yellow line. Not the best start, but I settled into my aero position and tried not to break rule number two in a TT: don't start out too hard. My legs were not putting out their best, so I just tried making up for it in aerodynamics implementing skills from the book of Tony Martin. I guess it worked because even with a subpar performance, I came away with the win.

It was good to get a decent distance TT in before I take on the state TT the first weekend of May (one of the reasons I wanted to do this race).

Overall not a bad start to the year. Three races and three podiums: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Back to the grind and back to racing soon enough. VERY glad to have this weekend off.

Race Report: Berry Peddler

Last week I finally decided on a cycling team to join. I am the newest member of HUB Endurance Chattanooga. So this past weekend was going to be my debut in the team colors at the Berry Peddler road race and time trial. I wanted to do well as my first team showing but also for myself as usual. I recently found out about the BAR point series that TBRA does which basically allocates points to riders based upon finishes in sanctioned TN races. BAR stands for best area rider and the rider with the most points at the end of the year in each category gets awarded the state championship jersey for best rider. Well, I am currently in first place for the cat 4 racers so the places and points at each event I enter just became that much more important to me now that I know what is at stake.

I knew the RR would be hard since there was a Cat 2 climb 7 miles into the 32 mile race, but I wasn't sure the tactics that would be employed since the climb was so far out from the finish. I raced based on the assumption that there would be a rough regrouping of the top riders after the climb so I didn't go completely all out in the climb. I didn't hold back a whole lot either though. As soon as we hit it, one BPC rider went solo up the road. I wasn't too worried because the wheels I was watching were still close by. Climbing continued and people fell off from behind. With about a mile left in the climb, the group of five I had been climbing with started pulling away, 3 of which were on the same team. I didn't want to explode, so I just continued on in a steady fashion. The gap only grew. I finished the climb and could still see them up the road a bit. I tried to close in, but it just wasn't going to happen with who was in that break group. So I rode 17 miles alone. It was a hard, lonely 17 miles, but I kept pushing on especially once I began to see some riders up the road after being in no man's land for 14 miles. I was able to spot two riders who seemed to have popped from the 6 man break. If I could catch them, then I would be back in the running for 5th place. New goal. Well, I kept struggling to bridge the gap, and I could see a line of four riders approaching from the rear that were making up ground. Edging closer and closer, I finally put in a big effort to bridge the gap to the two riders up the road. Mentally, I knew it would be better for me to get to the front group before the back group bridged the gap and I definitely didn't want to sit up, wait for the 4 man group, and have them fly by me without me being to latch on. Once we were all together, things seemed calm. We were under 10K to go and I was rotating down the line. Once I saw that the two lead riders were on the same team and not rotating, I made my way back up to them and sat in third wheel. The pace lifted as we edged closer to the finish. When I saw the 500 meter sign, I jumped. I didn't notice an immediate reaction in my periphery, but it was hard to tell. When I saw the 200 meter sign, I stood to launch my sprint. A few revolutions in, I took a quick glance around to see if I was going to have to fight it out. Nope, I was clear. I sat up and cruised through the finish line for 5th place.

I cruised back to my car and began switching wheels to my TT bike for the time trial later in the afternoon. I was set to go at 1:40: five minutes after the women and the first cat 4 racer. I went out hard and quickly found my acceptable pain level to sustain for the 7 mile TT. Going into the turn around, I didn't quite slow down enough and missed the cones. My rear wheel eventually locked up and skidded out as I tried to correct. A little scary, but once I was up and rolling again, it seemed to be fine. I buried myself and enjoyed having the wind mostly at my back now. I really dug deep over the last 500 meters because I knew how close the race in Sparta had been. I didn't want it to be that close again, or if it was, I wanted to be on the winning side and knew that I left it all out there on the course. I came across the line in 16:24 which was a 25.7 mph average: a lot faster than I was at Sparta. Once the results were calculated, it was only good enough for 3rd place here. I was 10 seconds behind first and 7 behind second.

So, overall not my best showing, but I guess I shouldn't have been expecting too much. I've been overtrained and taking time off. I'm tapering and trying to prepare and focus all my energy and time on ITU Cross Worlds. Three days and counting. The big race is this Saturday. I've done everything I can and can only hope I have recovered and tapered properly. I will go out and race my best. The top 2 from last year's national championship will be there along with a few others. It is pretty much a preview of what nationals will be like this year except it is on my home turf and not at altitude. If I can't beat them here, then I don't belong on the start line in Utah.

Bar Standings: Cat 4

Race Report: River Gorge Omnium

What a weekend it was. Obviously, the highlight of the weekend was my crit win, but other exciting parts included catching my 30 sec guy in the time trial, my left crank arm ripping out of the bottom bracket of my TT bike, the 22 year-old stud that solo'ed off the front and won the Pro/1/2 race, and the brief time that I lead the cat 4 road race leading up to the Raccoon Mountain climb.

Saturday morning I headed up to the TT start on top of Raccoon mountain. Quickly grabbing a parking spot, I set up my trainer and got about 8 minutes of warm-up. Not exactly ideal, but I got a little distracted talking to some other guys and did not have as much time as I though I was going to. Thankfully, I made it to the start line on time and took off as planned. The first few corners didn't seem as bad as they were during the pre-ride. It might have been because I was used to the stiffness in the wheels by this point or the wind might not have been blowing as much. I was feeling good until I really got into the little climb before mile 2. I was right on my 30 second guy at this point, but the poor performance here kept me from catching him until almost the very end. Being pretty winded from the climb, it took me a bit to gear back up on top and start my descent. I didn't hit 47 mph like I did in my pre-ride. I stayed steady over the dam and then was ready to push once I made the right hand turn. I felt really good making the right hand turn and heading for the finish. Once I got to the curves I caught my guy and passed on the inside. After I crossed the line, I checked the clock and it was just after 8:50. Pretty good since I was expecting to go around 9:10 to 9:20 for the four mile time trial. My trip back to the car was not as pleasant. This is where my crank arm fell off. I knew it was loose and coming off, but I was hoping to make it back to the car where I could find some tools to tighten it down. Well, when I got to the first incline to ripped out and jacked up the drive side crank arm. I haven't been able to get it completely off yet, but I'm thinking I crushed the bearing, broke the c-clip and will need a whole new bottom bracket. Oh well.

So I came back home and switched wheels and brake pads to get ready for the crit race later that evening. I must say, I think the Tarmac looked awesome with the 808's on it. I, on the other hand, was quite nervous. The crit was going to be a field of 84 guys racing around a .8 mile loop in downtown Chattanooga. I had never ridden with a field this big let alone race in one. I lined up middle of the pack and was determined to do my best. I was told that the field would probably go really hard the first 5 to 6 laps and then back down. They did. It was fun zipping around the corners at such high speeds so close to each. Fun here equals exciting, daring, and dangerous. There was one crash behind me, I could hear the carnage but didn't see it until the next lap around. I did rub wheels with someone. I did get shoulder bumped and helmet tapped. I did get yelled at for my cornering at one point. Screw that guy. Anyway, I tried to go off the front for one of the primes and realized that was a bad idea before even half way through the lap. So at this point I decided to not try going for any of those and just focus on positioning for the finish and saving my legs for that. Coming around one lap to go I was still sitting nicely in the front of the group, probably about 12 to 15 riders back. We made the turn to the slight uphill and I jumped up a couple riders and moved to the outside. We began to take the slight left hand bend and I'm not sure if I was speeding up or if the field was slowing down, but I quickly found myself at the front of the group on the inside. About 25 meters later, I crossed through and intersection and expected to see the field right on my wheel. They were not. At this point I knew I had to go for. I cranked down and headed for corner four fast. I took it wide and barely braked. I ended up almost in the opposite side gutter once I came out of the corner. Before I could even really get the bike under control, I stood up to start my sprint. The bike was flying all over the place and I still don't know exactly how I made it all come together so perfectly. Cresting the slight rise in the finish chute, I looked back and the field was way down the road. I turned back and gave a few more sprints and checked again. I was about to win. It was awesome. I threw my hands up and enjoyed the moment across the line with the field quickly closing in. Once again, it was AWESOME. As I settled down, I began to get passed by other riders as I was taking my cool down lap. Talk about building up an oxygen debt. I was sucking for air so hard and it took about the whole lap to just get my breathing back. I then stopped and hugged all my friends that had come to watch including my mom. First cat 4 crit was a huge success.

I wish I could say the same thing for the road race on Sunday, but I am not a climber. Why did I enter the only two races in Tennessee that have climbing in them then? I have no idea. Maybe I'll plan my races better next year. I can say I did stay with the lead group the whole way and did make a jump on the descent into Raccoon Mountain hoping to go off the front and start the climb by myself. I went a little too early and didn't reach the speeds I anticipated. Therefore, I started the climb with the pack and quickly went to the back. I was getting in my groove and then started picking a bunch of people off that had obviously started too hard. Ended up finishing 28th for the road race which got me 4th place overall for the omnium. Not a bad showing.

Overall results can be found as links underneath the race information here

Here is a video of the part of the finish. I guess I sat up to celebrate a little sooner than I thought. You can just see me sit up and throw my hands to the helmet.

I guess I wasn't as close to the front as I thought I was during most of the race.

Race Report: Oak Ridge Velo Omnium

Well, I confirmed my suspicions; I can descend, TT, and sprint. My climbing on the other hand is quite deficient. This past weekend I raced my first serious road race. All in all it was pretty fun.

I got 9th in the road race. I didn't expect the front of the pack to attack so hard on the first climb and especially didn't expect them to stay away the whole race. I paced myself and started picking off some of the people that started to hard on the early slopes. I blasted down the other side in hopes of catching back onto the group: no luck. Only me and one other guy were willing to work with the group and to try to pull back some time. I yoyo'ed a few times when we hit a few different hills, but consistently got back on. Approaching the finish, I was with two other guys. We had been together for a while and just recently dropped 3 or 4 more guys. I could see two more guys working together about 100 meters in front of us. I wanted us to catch them, but it didn't look promising, no one was wanting to pull this close to the finish. The last one kilometer was a climb to the line and I started putting in some effort at the bottom of the slopes. I looked back and the other two riders were gone. I broke them. I now turned my focus onto the two guys in front. It was going to be hard to bring them back. I turned it into high gear and started my sprint. One of the guys turned back and saw me approaching, he hollered to the other guy and tried to stand and sprint as well. I blew past both of them as I peaked the climb. Twenty meters of flat and I crossed the line in ninth. Come Sunday afternoon, I was very thankful I made up those four positions; the points really helped.

I wasn't really happy with my road race finish, so I was looking to do damage in the TT and gain back some confidence. I showed up right on time and was ready to suffer. As the official let go of my seatpost, I started out hard with a standing sprint. Once up to speed, I settled down into the extensions; my legs were feeling that burst of effort. I buried my head and kept going. I passed one guy, then another. I had passed three or four guys when I came screaming into the turn around. That could have gone a lot smoother and faster, but oh well. It was a fast ride; I averaged 25.6 and did the course in 18:12. It earned me second place in Cat 5 and was the third fastest time in the Cat 4's. The guy that won the TT for Cat 5 beat me by 12 seconds. Supposedly, he is pretty good and solo'd off the front of the road race for the victory. Third place in the TT was over 30 seconds back from me. I felt pretty good about my performance.

Sunday morning was the crit. The one part of the race that I was actually pretty nervous about. I've heard horror stories of Cat 5 crit's and didn't know how it was going to go. I didn't know if there would be crashes, breaks, or if I would be able to hold on. Fortunately, there were no breaks and the laps went by pretty smoothly. A few people attacked, but the were countered quickly. We played the hesitating/"no one wants to pull so let's swerve all over the road" game a few times when we hit the head wind coming down the finishing straight. Nevertheless, I was feeling good as we circled around and Frank rang the bell signalling one lap to go. Since it was the last lap, I figured I should go ahead and shift into the big ring. I had been riding the whole race in the 39 tooth: higher reps and saving my legs for the upcoming sprint. I had been focusing on number 516's wheel since he was currently leading the omnium with me in second place. Not sure where he went to in the last straightaway though because as we entered corner 3 I was sitting in third place. The two riders in front of me bumped elbows and heads. I saw the younger guy on the outside fly over the curb, through the grass, and into a parking lot. A short incline and I was coming through corner 4 in second place. Once we were soundly on the straightaway about 60 meters out from the finish line, I launched my sprint and buried my head. Approaching the line, I looked back to see the gap. I had opened up about four to five bike lengths on second place, so I sat up and cruised through the finish line. I won!

With that finish, I clinched the omnium win, won $125 dollars, and got upgraded to Cat 4 ahead of schedule. Pretty awesome day. I was pretty pumped and pleased with myself for such a good finish and smart racing in the crit. I am excited for the upcoming races in Chattanooga now. Riding Cat 4 will give me a shot at prize money for each discipline. This will make things more interesting and give me more competition.

Bring it on.