Sunday, August 28, 2005

San Ardo Road Race, San Ardo California

Saturday morning, August 27, 2005, and the temperature is a mere 53 degrees in the Monterey County town of King City. I’ve headed back to where I started bicycle racing 19 years ago. Those many years ago, I competed in the first annual San Ardo Road Race. San Ardo is a little town, located right next to the Salinas River in the Southern end of the Salinas Valley. I left the Antelope Valley the day before and put several hours, and over 100 degree temperatures behind me. By the end of my race the temperature had gotten all the way up to 85 degrees and had many of the racers commenting on how hot it is. Hot? I was kicking myself for not bringing along my arm warmers. Hell, I’m lucky if it’s not 85 degrees at 7:00 in the morning, when I start my training rides here in the high desert.


Pre-race With Jade Posted by Picasa

King City is a small town with a big name, located about 20 miles North of San Ardo. We left the motel at 7:00 am to be ready for the 8:47 start time. You head down the 101 freeway and get off at the San Ardo off ramp. Cross the bridge over the Salinas River and enter the tiny town of San Ardo. Today though, the tiny town has more bike racers than inhabitants. Racers are everywhere. I’m here with my wife, Esmeralda, and our four year old daughter Jade. I last raced here in the 1980s when they had the first road race in this town. It turned out to be my last road race of that season, and my last for over 18 years. Esmeralda was at that race too but I had just recently met her and she, and her young, 2 year-old, son Alex were my two fans. A road race is not much of a spectator sport, as the peloton whizzes by you in seconds and the riders disappear into the distance, only to return tired and sweaty an hour or so later. To pass the time, Esmeralda played with Alex in the local elementary school playground. Now 19 years later, Esmeralda played with Jade in the local elementary school playground. And the sport still hasn’t become much of a spectator sport, as the peloton still whizzes by in seconds, only to have you return an hour later hot and sweaty…


Masters 45 Completing Lap 1 Posted by Picasa

I’ve stuck to my web blog address and I’m racing Masters 45. But once again, the Masters’ are a tough race. I take stock of the “old guys” with me and can tell that they are a dedicated lot. Northern California turns out some great racers and I’m sure a lot of these guys have not stopped since they started racing in their twenties. I listen to the announcer going over the rules of the road but only with half a brain. The other half is thinking I’m in for a tough, fast race. The course is perfect for me, a 188lb racer (lost another two pounds some how.) It is relatively flat with a few rollers scattered about. Similar to Merced but the rollers here in San Ardo have a little more bite to them; longer and steeper than their Central California cousins. This will also be the first test for my now Campy equipped racing bike. About a month back, I paid Bicycle Johns of Acton much money to trade out my worn Ultegra group with the cool Campy Chorus group. My relatively new C40 Colnago frame was just crying out for Campy gear anyway. My rear cassette is a 12-26, and this is more than adequate for the rollers in San Ardo. I actually never left the big chain ring anyway, as I just stood up and powered over the steepest of the rollers in the big gears.


My Face on the Far Left Posted by Picasa

I started my warm-up at about 8:00 am. For a road race I prefer to warm-up on the road instead of using a trainer. I find some out of the way back stretch and do build-ups for about 7-10 miles. I start really slow and then increase my cadence until I’m warm enough to use the big ring up front. I do a lot of sprinting out of the saddle and keep an eye on my heart rate monitor. At about 10 minutes to go I head over to the starting area. After the pre-race instructions, we’re off. We start out immediately up a small grade that leads to the bridge over the Salinas River and our speed settles in at around 20 mph. I actually start out at the very back of the pack but as soon as we cross the bridge I move up to the top ten of our 30+ member field. This being my last road race of the season I decide to ride very aggressively and ride the whole race in the top 10. I go a step further than that after a few miles and move up to the top 5. Before I know it, I’m at the top 1 and pulling the peloton. Another Colnago framed bike pulls up besides me and comments on how two Colnagos are in the lead. The first big attack comes, like all attacks, quickly from somewhere in the rear of the pack. A group of riders’ flies past me and the other Colnago and I immediately increase my cadence and speed and jump on the 4th rider accelerating past me. This will be the first of probably 20 attacks I covered during the race. We, the attack group, start a quickly rotating pace line but the attack fails and the peloton regroups. I settle back into the top 5 and quickly find myself back pulling the peloton again. The other Colnago takes his turn at the front with a quick pull and he pulls out. I take my turn and look back to see a guy in a blue jersey right behind me. I pull a reasonable time and pull to the left – blue jersey stays glued to my rear wheel. I move sharply to the right, the same thing happens. I even turn around and say, “take a pull.” Nothing happens. The guy is actually doing the smart thing as he’ll still have his legs at the end of this race – I won’t.

I’m just about to slow things down and let someone else come up from the rear or just wait for the next attack to come along when I notice the biggest hill on the course about 1 mile in front. I give the wheel sucker another chance to take his turn – he doesn’t, so I shoot off the front at 28 mph and head for the hill. Anyone reading these postings should know that I can’t climb hills worth beans so I decide to get a jump on the hill. The wheel sucker stays glued to my wheel and the rest of the peloton reacts as if I’ve attacked. I hit the base of the hill at 30 mph with the peloton in hot pursuit. I quickly drop two gears in the rear and stand-up to attack the hill as much lighter racers pour past me on both sides. I crest the hill near the back of the pack and glance at my heart rate monitor – 176 bpm. This is a new high. By using the age method, my max heart rate is around 172 bpm – I’ve bested this on a couple of races and one training ride but 176 is a new one. My lactate threshold has not been measured lately but was 161 bpm. It turns out that I averaged 161 bpm for the complete race and that my heart stayed at 165 bpm for 1 hour and 35 minutes of the 2 hour race! I’m thinking I should redo my lactate threshold test and I’ll probably find that it is now around 165 bpm. LT is trainable and my interval workouts must have done their job. A race like San Ardo is very intense. We averaged 23.5 mph over the 48 miles and had many attacks that jumped speeds well into the 30 mph range and above.

As we move into lap two and cross the Salinas River for the 3rd time (twice during each lap) I realize I’ve ridden the most aggressive race of the year. I’ve covered every attack, sprinted up every hill, initiated several attacks of my own, and pulled the peloton around by myself far too many times. Aggressive riding yes, riding smart – no. As we climb the last hill with only a few miles left before the finish I realize my quads are starting to cramp when I climb out of the saddle – very bad sign when one thinks of them self as a sprinter and relies on powerful quadriceps. The high school comes into view and that means the finish is just 2 miles ahead, right behind the Salinas River crossing. The peloton starts to get jumpy as no attack has succeeded and we’re still very bunched together. We’ve passed many “shelled” riders from categories that left before we did and I presume that some of our group has been shelled too – but at this writing I don’t know how many have been dropped – still waiting for the results to be posted on the web. We fly past the starting line at 25 mph and begin to move across the bridge. The turn-off for the finish line is just ahead and on the left, and also up the slight grade – the peloton jumps. It is a massive field sprint to make the left turn first and fly to the finish. I gear up and jump out of the saddle to stay with the peloton and both quads scream in protest and hardly a watt of power seems to be generated. I realize I’m out and sit back down and coast in with the back 10% of the peloton.


Warming Down Posted by Picasa

Did I learn anything from the way I rode this race – yes. I was over aggressive and covered every attack. Not a single attack was successful so I could have just sat in the middle of the peloton and been pulled back into the failed attacking group. Should I have pulled the peloton around so much? – No. I should have pulled out sooner and drifted back in the group. Should I have sprinted up every hill? – No. My descending skills, and larger body mass would have brought me back to the peloton without the quad wasting energy that I exerted on every hill. On the other hand, I was aggressive and stayed at the front the entire race so this should help my confidence next year. The fact that I was found wanting at the end of the race underscores the strategy involved in a good road race. A good road race involves endurance (possibly more anaerobic than aerobic), bike handling skill, and brains. I pushed the envelope and failed by using poor race tactics. I did not get dropped from the group, even on the small hill climbs – a moral victory at the least. Perhaps next year, no more group fodder for me.

Monday, August 22, 2005

CBR (California Bicycle Racing) Team Time Trial (TTT) Championships


From left, Steve, Dave, Doug, Bob Posted by Picasa

It is 0600 hours and 58 degrees on this August morning, and Doug Short, Dave Cooley, Steve Caldwell and I are warming up on Division Street just south of Ave. E. The four of us are going to compete in our first team time trial (see my December 2004 post on time trials.) The CBR TTT is put on by Uncle Tren Race Productions and Tren himself is manning the megaphone alerting all racers to their start times. The TT starts on Ave. E, right at Division Street. The riders race directly East for 20 k and then turn around a pylon in the road, before heading back West for the last 20 k. The finish line is about 200 m west of Division on Ave. E.


The TT Starts (Bob on the left, Doug on the right) Posted by Picasa

We are competing in the 180+ category; our combined ages must be 180 or above but not over 220 and we can’t have any racer under 30. I’m the oldest at 48, followed by Doug at 47, Dave 45, and Steve 44. Of the four of us, I have the most experience in racing bicycles in general and time trialing in particular. Doug also has some racing experience and has completed one individual time trial this year. Steve has only 1 individual time trial to his credit, while Dave has never competed on the bike in either a time trial or bicycle race (though he’s completed several century rides.) Our goal, like any TT, is to beat the clock. In this instance, we would like to be below 60 minutes for the TT.


I'm Charging Posted by Picasa

As we are warming up on this surprisingly cool desert morning, we can’t help but be somewhat intimidated by the other racers and their gear. Almost every other team is in “full aero” gear. This means skin tight racing uniform, shoe covers, TT helmets, but especially the bikes. Almost all the bikes are TT or Tri bikes with the extreme geometry these bikes possess. Most of the bikes are outfitted with a 3 bladed front wheel and full disk rear wheel. We take stock of our “team bike.” I am actually riding a full TT bike, my beautiful Felt S22. It slices through the air with ease and is tough to draft off of. I do have very aero, deep dish Spinergy wheels for this bike and a Renn carbon fiber rear disk wheel but the consensus of the group is that I’m hard enough to draft behind as it is without the very aero wheels under the bike. The other guys, with the exception of Doug, have regular “slack” bikes and no aero bars. Doug has a set of clip-on aero bars on his regular geometry road bike. So we know we’re a little out-classed in the equipment area before the race even starts. But that’s time trialing; you compete against yourself and the clock, not against other racers riding superior or inferior racing equipment.


Doug is right behind Posted by Picasa

We move to the starting point and volunteers come out and hold our bikes up as we clip in. I hear the counter start with, “10 seconds, 9, 8, 7, …) and we’re off. I’m the lead rider and I quickly accelerate to 22 mph and wait to hear that our pace line has formed behind me. Doug is right behind me, followed by Dave, with Steve taking up the rear. As soon as I hear that Steve is “attached” I pick-up the pace to 24 mph and then 25 mph. My 1 minute pull is up and I peel off to the left and watch Doug smoothly pull through. I ease up enough to allow me to drift back to the end of the line and I swing to the right into a position right on Steve’s six. Doug takes his turn holding our speed at around 24 – 25 mph, and now it’s Dave’s turn. Dave is a strong rider and he picks up the pace to around 26 mph. I realize that with a 25 mile TT we need to average over 25 mph to finish under 60 minutes and I know we need to stay at 26 mph or above. Steve now takes his turn and we come back to around 24 – 25 mph. This cycle repeats itself for several revolutions and then the humbling thing happens; our “minute man,” the team that started 1 minute behind us catches us. They happen to pass us as Dave is pulling the line. Dave is an ex-fighter pilot and is currently employed as a civilian test pilot out at Edwards Air Force Base. He has “The Right Stuff” and getting passed so early in the TT doesn’t stick well with him. He immediately jumps our pace to 27 – 28 mph. His jump in speed is so great that for a moment it looks like we are going to join the pace line of the group that just passed us, which you can’t do. In any case, his increase in speed is keeping us with the team that passed us. This causes some grumbling from Doug who is finding the pace to be a little too fast. Doug is a good rider but still needs more training time to find his “racing legs.” Dave pulls out and of the line and Steve jumps in and our pace falls back to 24 – 25 mph and we watch the other team pull away. Steve is a lot like Doug, a strong recreational rider that will become a strong racer with more practice. Right now he is also training to run a marathon in the winter and is thinking he’ll have to back off on the bike training. It is now my turn again, and like Dave, I bring the pace back up to 27 – 28 mph but I’m told to back it off a little by Doug. With Dave and I the strongest two of the team we try a new strategy; We will pull for 2 – 3 minutes at around 26 – 27 mph, while Steve and Doug pull for 1 minute or less at around 24 – 25 mph.


The Pace Line is Forming - Steve Stands to Form Up Posted by Picasa

This strategy works well and we are now a good 8 miles into the 25 mile TT. At this point another “full aero” team passes us. They started a good 2 minutes behind us, so even though it’s not a race it is still a bummer. I yell to Steve, who was pulling at the time, “don’t worry, they’re a full aero team.” He told me after the race that he didn’t mind us getting passed, he was just having a great time. This is definitely the right attitude to have in a time trial race. We reach the pylon and the halfway point of the race. I’m feeling great. My lactate threshold is around 161 and I’m now reaching that when I’m pulling the line. But my HR drops to a nice 148 when I’m sitting in the line. Though with the increased pulling time I’m starting to see my HR not recover as much and as the second half of the race continues, my HR is only dropping into the mid 150s when I’m not at the front.


The Author - I'm Tired but Happy Posted by Picasa

We get to about mile 20 and we’ve finally passed a team. A full women team is our victim and we sail past them. But the toll of averaging 25.3 mph is starting to tell on our team. Dave and I are still maintaining 27 mph during our pulls but our pulls are becoming longer as Doug and Steve have to shorten their pulls. Doug is starting to labor and his speed drops to 23 mph as he pulls off the front. In his attempt to latch on to the back, a 10’ gap opens up and he starts to fall off. He yells for us and then realizes we are within 5 miles of the finish so he yells, “go!” at the top of his lungs. I was just getting ready to slow down and pull him back in when I hear the “go.” I stay silent and the team, now only three strong, pulls away from Doug. I’ve been “shelled” off the back many times in my bicycle racing career. It is never fun and you get strange feelings of being alone even though many other riders are around you. It is a very helpless feeling to be working at full capacity and still watch the pace line move away from you.


The Gang is Animated After the Finish Posted by Picasa

We are now a team of three, and in a four man TTT you must finish with the third guy. The race organizers do not stop the clock on a team until the 3rd guy’s wheel crosses the line. If we lose another rider we’re out. Now with only three riders our pulls come much faster. Steve is tiring faster than Dave and I and his pulls become quicker; only lasting a few seconds in some cases. My heart rate is now going into the high 160s and I’m not recovering at the back of the line but a cool thing is happening. The 2nd team that passed us in the first half of the race is now “coming back” to us. With less than a mile to go we are only 50 or so meters behind them and closing fast. It is my turn and I’m pulling as fast as I can, around 28 – 29 mph but I’ve been pulling for 3.5 minutes and with 100 m to go I pull out and let Dave take over. The other team senses our presence and they accelerate to cross the line, with us almost fully abreast of them. Even if we had passed them we are still 2 minutes behind them but it is a moral victory to us that we can catch up with a team that passed us early in the race and probably got as much as a mile ahead of us at one time.


"We've Got to do it Again!" Posted by Picasa

I cross the line and quickly press stop on my watch; 58:55.80. I realize that we’ve broken 1 hour and the three of us congratulate ourselves. Dave is pumped. He has never competed on the bike like this and can’t wait to do it again. We slowly pedal back to Division Street and pick-up Doug. My wife takes a bunch of pics as we animatedly talk about the race. For those of you thinking about starting out in racing, TTs are the way to go. It gives you a taste of racing without the dangers of large pace lines and zooming turns. But don’t underestimate the difficulty of a time trail. They don’t call it the “race of truth” for nothing.

Monday, August 01, 2005

Finishing the Season

So what are my plans for finishing out the season? Here they are:

California State Team Time Trial Championships on August 21, 2005.

CBR Racing Posted by Picasa

This will be the first time I’ve ever tried a team TT. I’ve got 3 other riders from the A.V. High Desert Cyclists Club as my team mates. Doug, Dave, and Steve. We’ve entered the 180+ age category – this means that our cumulative ages must be over 180 and no rider is under the age of 30. This is no problem as our youngest rider, Steve, is in his early 40s. The other cool thing about this race is that it is in our own backyard. The CBR TTT race is held in the city of Lancaster, check out the link above to go to the race web site.

San Ardo Road Race on August 27, 2005

This will be my last road race of the 2005 season. It has a special meaning for me as almost 20 years ago, when I was a young racer, I competed in this race. It was to be the last race I would ever do until my rebirth in racing this year. My wife, Esmeralda, was my girl friend way back then and was at this race as one of my two only fans. She had her young son, Alex, with her and they cheered me on from the side of the road. Esmeralda has been my wife for over 18 years now and Alex is a young man of 20 years in the United States Coast Guard. I can’t wait to see how San Ardo has changed…or not.

Like last year, I’ll finish out this year with some winter time trialing. Fiesta Island, in San Diego got it started, so I would like to return this October. I’m hoping to see how a strong year of training has improved my time trial time. Piru is also an excellent TT venue and I’ll do a few TTs there as well. The Nelson Landing Stage Race in Las Vegas will get here fast in 2006 – I need to be ready!

Devil's Punch Bowl RR 4-30-05 Posted by Hello
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