Highland Rim Classic – Day 2

Race summary – 2nd place in the race today to take 2nd place in the omnium. Chris Brown (Litespeed – BMW) took the win again today after emerging together with me in a late 2-man move when the fireworks of the end game began at mile 103 in the first of NINE attacks made over a span of five miles from mile 103 to mile 108. I was lucky to be able to grab and hold Chris’s wheel to the end of the race at mile 113 where he easily took the sprint … this race is officially the longest race I have ever done.

The details – I was sitting 3rd in the omnium behind Stephen Bassett (Texas Roadhouse) and Chris. I knew that the race would be long so I wanted to make it a race of survival. Unfortunately, I did a lot of work on the first of two long laps that probably wore me out more than it did anyone else. I got into an early two man move when I jumped with Jon Hart (Friends of the Great Smokies) a mile or two after the neutral zone. We worked hard drilling it at just below threshold all the way to climb. John came off on the climb, and I knew that I couldn’t hold an 80 mile solo break so I eased up the climb waiting for what was left of the field to catch up.

At this point, our pace really dropped and I was worried of two things: 1) the race taking so long that we would all die of dehydration 2) people getting an easy ride to the finish and then outsprinting me at the end. The first concern was no problem because there was good neutral water support in the feedzone and I was able to get 3 bottles on one lap and 2 bottles on another lap – combined with the 3 bottles I started with made for 8 bottles completely drained by the end. Regarding concern #2, I attacked a couple times hoping to get somebody to go with me to share the work, but ended up riding off the front both times.

The chase – A mile or two after the feedzone, Jon Hart rode off the front again and would eventually amass a maximum lead of 3’30″. Behind him, Chris Brown and I did a lot of the work for the first 15-20 miles of the chase, with Bradley Spears (Sonic) also contributing and the Texas Roadhouse duo making some contributions as well. Two of John’s teammates were able to sit in and rest since they had their teammate up the road. Eventually, once the gap reached 3’30″, the Texas Roadhouse duo started working harder and more frequently — particularly Stephen’s teammate Andrew Dillman who stepped up to do more work while Stephen waited for the climb.

The climb – Chris was on the front leading into the climb and when we turned to go up the steep part, he lifted the pace substantially. We reached the first step of the stair-stepper climb and the pace eased off a bit, but when we reached the next steep part Stephen put in a very hard attack. Chris countered this move lifting the pace again, but by this point we were going fast enough that we were near the top of the Cat 3 climb. I held on, but was really spent by the top of the climb. We ended up losing 1 or 2 from our group and Chris pushed the pace hard across the top to make sure that we stayed away.

The chase, part 2, and the fireworks of the end game – A mile or two after we reached the top, John’s teammate Jeff McGrane attacked and got away solo. Chris, Andrew, Stephen, and I got into a good rotation and after 20 miles of chasing finally caught Jeff. Chris put in a strong attack immediately and then when he was caught, somebody else (it may have been Chris again) attacked again. This ended up shelling Stephen’s teammate Andrew. Five attacks later (it could have been by aliens for all I know considering how delirious I was at the time — but the attacks are clearly visible in the power data), and we had lost Stephen. Then Jeff put in another attack, which Chris countered and that is when we lost Jeff leaving just Chris and me for the 3 mile descent and 2 mile gradual rise to the finish. We traded pace on the descent and stayed away to the finish where Chris took the sprint.

With the ride back to the start at Cumberland Caverns, I ended up with nearly 200K of racing and riding today to cap off a 466 mile week. Tired. Here is all the data!

Heartrate summary

Annotated attacks that comprised the end-game from today’s race … doesn’t include the finishing sprint. Click to enlarge

Annotated plot of heartrate and power (30sec smoothing) – click to enlarge.

We could call this pedal force vs pedal velocity graph “the blob” – click to enlarge

New power records from the road race

Sunny King Criterium and Foothills Road Race reports

Josiah ready to race the kids race and me ready to warm-up for the pro race
Sunny King Criterium
This is a tough criterium for smaller guys like me – the hill on the course isn’t steep enough to take advantage of power to weight ratio. Similarly, the downhill is shallow enough that you have to work to keep the wheel in front of you. Making it even worse this year was a stiff headwind on the downhill and strong tailwind on the uphill. Still, this is one of my favorite crits because it is practically a home race (Anniston is about an hour away from my home in Birmingham). Chad Andrews (totalcyclist) does a great job of announcing the crit and getting the crowd pumped up so the energy in the air is palpable.

Kenda Pro Cycling dominated this third stop on the National Criterium Calendar pretty much from start to finish. Phil Gaimon (Kenda) got away on the first or second lap with an Exergy rider. Eventually Phil dropped the Exergy rider and solidered on alone. He swept up three primes in the process and was away for a lot of laps. Mountain Khakis did a lot of the chasing, and the pace was steadier and a bit easier than previous years. Still, I was struggling a bit because I was too far back in the field and the slingshot effect of this course was particularly bad coming out of turn 4 with a bit of a crosswind before the tailwind up the hill. So basically the guys at the front of the pack were flying up the hill with a tailwind while those at the back were still trying to accelerate out of the corner with a nasty crosswind.

My wife observed that the back of the race was getting closer and closer to me – i.e., I was maintaining my position but more and more people behind me were getting gapped off or dropping out. Eventually, though, I was able to move up to maybe the front third of what was left of the field. With 10 laps to go, I worked hard to maintain my position. With two or three laps to go (I lost count) I noticed that I was maybe in the top 40. Kenda, Mountain Khakis, and Exergy were all battling with their leadout trains. I knew that riders from the train would be peeling off when their turn was done so I figured I was pretty good to move up into the top 30 by the end. Our field was strung out single file flying around the course. I would be looking intently at the wheel in front of me to stay as close as possible when out of the corner of my eye a rider coming off the front. It was amazing to see them rocketing backwards as we went by at maybe 20mph faster than they were going with their job for the day done.

On the last lap, unfortunately, people immediately in front of me also started giving up. I had to come around several riders who lost the wheel in front of them. I ended up catching a few more riders in the final sprint to finish 26th. I was pleased to finish in the top 30 in a really hard race. Up ahead of me, Isaac Howe (Kenda) came out of the final corner 2nd wheel and took the sprint for the win.

By the end of the race the temp had dropped down into the 50s with a howling wind – it was very cold on the “cool-down” lap. This was Kristine and Josiah watching the race:

Josiah and Kristine bundled up watching the race.

Sunny King Criterium data

			Power (watts)
Lap	Time	Mile	Avg	Max	HR	Spd (mph)
1	01:38	0.7	367	897	159	25.4
2	01:28	0.7	317	948	173	28.3
3	01:28	0.7	279	839	173	27.9
4	01:28	0.7	236	767	172	27.8
5	01:27	0.7	282	970	174	28.6
6	01:27	0.7	316	900	177	28
7	01:27	0.7	272	855	179	28.3
8	01:26	0.7	303	1013	180	28.6
9	01:28	0.7	238	934	179	28
10	01:30	0.7	268	822	175	27.5
11	01:30	0.7	253	917	176	27.2
12	01:34	0.7	260	804	176	26.3
13	01:29	0.7	271	820	177	27.6
14	01:29	0.7	282	928	180	27.8
15	01:29	0.7	265	814	177	27.5
16	01:27	0.7	289	853	177	28
17	01:28	0.7	246	780	179	27.8
18	01:31	0.7	276	879	175	26.9
19	01:31	0.7	256	874	174	26.9
20	01:26	0.7	326	935	180	28.5
21	01:28	0.7	260	884	180	28.3
22	01:28	0.7	252	945	176	27.8
23	01:30	0.7	251	717	175	27.6
24	01:30	0.7	256	807	177	27
25	01:28	0.7	246	852	177	27.7
26	01:28	0.7	289	916	178	28
27	01:26	0.7	291	872	179	28.8
28	01:26	0.7	295	827	179	28.5
29	01:30	0.7	250	870	178	27.6
30	01:34	0.7	272	882	174	27.4
31	01:28	0.7	274	898	175	28.2
32	01:29	0.7	249	910	176	27.5
33	01:31	0.7	250	679	176	27
34	01:32	0.7	252	735	172	26.6
35	01:34	0.7	233	821	170	26.5
36	01:28	0.7	265	897	175	27.8
37	01:34	0.7	240	869	169	26.5
38	01:31	0.7	247	855	171	27
39	01:28	0.7	274	896	174	28.2
40	01:28	0.7	260	657	175	28
41	01:34	0.7	258	789	171	26.2
42	01:27	0.7	261	893	175	28.1
43	01:28	0.7	276	900	176	27.9
44	01:29	0.7	259	812	174	27.6
45	01:31	0.7	242	900	174	27
46	01:29	0.7	251	825	174	27.7
47	01:29	0.7	242	793	175	27.8
48	01:32	0.7	247	744	171	26.7
49	01:26	0.7	266	720	176	28.6
50	01:29	0.7	276	880	176	27.7
51	01:29	0.7	238	744	178	28
52	01:32	0.7	294	873	179	26.9
53	01:31	0.7	269	819	178	27.1
54	01:33	0.7	253	825	178	26.8
55	01:30	0.7	246	788	174	27.4
56	01:28	0.7	277	791	177	28
57	01:26	0.7	278	886	179	29
58	01:25	0.7	264	965	177	29
59	01:24	0.7	322	867	181	29.6
60	01:23	0.7	330	744	185	29.6

Heartrate summary – look at all the time in zone 5!

Annotated Sunny King pro criterium heartrate/power plot. Power shown has 30second smoothing filter applied (click to enlarge)

Foothills Road Race
This was my “target” race for the weekend – I was hoping to be in the top 10. I ended up missing an early move and a later move. So on the third of four Cat 4 climbs of the day, I attacked and got away solo chasing a group of about 10 riders up the road with all major teams represented. I was fighting a head/crosswind early on, but then had a nice tail/crosswind until late in the race. I kept the field completely out of sight for a long time. Once I made the left turn onto the rougher road to start heading towards the final climb, I was now faced with a strong head/crosswind again. I quickly lost time, and the field caught me at the base of the last climb. I gave it one more burst to try and stay with the group over the top, but even with a friendly push from fellow Alabamian Mike Olheiser (Competitive Cyclist) I couldn’t keep up. My legs were done. I ended up coming in with a small group a couple minutes back of the field sprint.

Strava map and statistics for my nearly 30 mile solo chase effort (click to enlarge)

Heartrate summary – zone 4 must have been feeling left out after yesterday’s crit.

Foothills Road Race annotated heartrate and power data (30 second smoothing) – click to enlarge.

Mississippi Gran Prix – Day 2 – Road Race and Time Trial

Quick Summary
My teammate Pat Allison and I took 6th and 7th in the road race in a strategic 80+ mile road race. My other teammate Justin got into a great two-man move for over half of a 27 mile lap. This forced other teams to chase and gave Pat and I a much needed break from attacking and covering moves. Unfortunately, Justin’s break-mate Russell Walker flatted towards the end of the second lap. Earlier in the race, I had my own bad luck with a broken rear spoke, but Pat and Justin stopped and helped pace me back up to the group – awesome teammates! Later in the evening, we all rocked the TT merckx style and had decent times.

The Data
I didn’t have power data from the road race b/c of the broken spoke in my powertap rear wheel. I had the iBike on, but then the wheel magnet on my front wheel slid down so the iBike shut off with no speed data coming into it.

TIME TRIAL
Dist:        2.84 mi (0:06:09)
Energy:     168.9 kJ
Cals Burn:  161.4 kcal
Braking:      0.0 kJ (0.0%)
          Min   Avg    Max
Power     223  457.6  1439  W
Aero        0  376.5   766  W
Rolling    10   35.8    43  W
Gravity  -600    7.5   327  W
Speed     7.4   27.7  33.4  mi/h
Wind      8.4   27.1  35.9  mi/h
Elev      314    341   364  ft
Slope    -5.5   0.08   4.1  %
Caden      29   79.3    96  rpm
HR        112  164.9   181  bpm
NP:443W IF:1.60 TSS:26 VI:0.97
CdA: 0.342 m^2; Crr: 0.0039
168 lbs; 4/14/2012 6:45 PM
76 degF; 1013 mbar

Tour de Tuscaloosa Power Data

First, before the power data – here’s a video that my wife got of the Pro/1/2 criterium finish Saturday night where I got 5th in the race, 4th in the field sprint.

And now for the data – first the summary data, splits, and HR/Power graph for the criterium and the road race.

2012 Tour de Tuscaloosa Criterium Pro/1/2 lap splits
				Power				
Lap	Time	Miles	Avg	xPow	Max	HR	MPH
1	2:58	1.2	245	259	871	155	25.2
2	2:53	1.2	291	286	879	164	25.7
3	2:41	1.2	353	385	996	176	27.8
4	2:53	1.3	324	331	821	180	26
5	2:59	1.3	305	313	997	175	25.2
6	2:47	1.3	223	229	814	167	27
7	2:45	1.2	284	303	941	174	27.4
8	2:54	1.2	274	285	840	170	25.7
9	2:50	1.2	269	294	856	174	26.2
10	2:53	1.3	282	310	932	172	26.1
11	2:56	1.2	310	382	877	175	25.5
12	3:01	1.2	267	288	831	177	24.8
13	3:04	1.2	208	221	720	160	24.3
14	2:54	1.2	218	233	736	159	25.6
15	2:58	1.2	232	229	727	163	25.2
16	2:48	1.2	262	271	790	170	26.5
17	2:57	1.3	248	254	920	167	25.5
18	2:36	1.2	353	352	925	179	28.8
Total	52:01	22.5	274	312	997	170	26

Annotated heartrate and power data from Saturday’s Pro/1/2 criterium (click to enlarge)

2012 Tour de Tuscaloosa Road Race Pro/1/2 lap splits
				Power				
Lap	Time	Miles	Avg	xPow	Max	HR	MPH
1	22:04	9.6	274	305	963	161	26.1
2	21:41	9.6	262	281	801	157	26.6
3	21:45	9.6	292	310	808	166	26.5
4	22:35	9.6	254	273	641	155	25.6
5	23:17	9.6	257	276	604	153	24.8
6	23:28	9.6	254	268	697	152	24.5
7	18:41	8.0	313	332	950	166	25.8
Total	2:34:57	66.1	270	295	963	158	25.6

Annotated heartrate and power data for the road race (click to enlarge)

Now for the detailed data graphs and plots … first the critical power curves for both the criterium and the road race. I tied one power record in the criterium, and I set three new personal power records for the road race as indicated on the graphs.

Pro/1/2 criterium critical power curve (click to enlarge)

Pro/1/2 road race critical power curve (click to enlarge)

Here are the pedal force / pedal velocity graphs which highlight the different amount of force being applied to the pedals at different cadences.

Pro/1/2 criterium pedal force vs pedal velocity (click to enlarge)

Pro/1/2 road race pedal force vs pedal velocity (click to enlarge)

And finally here are the power maps for the two courses:

Pro/1/2 criterium power map (click to enlarge)

Pro/1/2 road race power map (click to enlarge)

Tour de Tuscaloosa Road Race

(You will want to watch this video below with the volume turned down – I love my fanatical wife! This is me winning the 2012 Alabama State Road Race Championships (Pro/1/2) today at the Tour de Tuscloosa)

Quick thanks and shout out
Thanks to all my teammates today. We ended up winning the state championship medals in 3 categories – me (Cat 1), Justin Bynum (Cat 2), Kevin Paulik (Cat 3). Kudos also to two other riders from Birmingham taking the Cat 4 (Jason Kellen) and Cat 5 (Boris Simmonds) medals.

Race Summary
The Pro/1/2 race had about 60 in it with lots of strong teams. I attacked hard when we reached the bottom of the first hill on the course about 1/2 mile into the race. Stuart Lamp (Nashvillecyclist.com) came with me initially but then ended up pulling a hamstring before the top. Jan Kolar (HomeSmart/L5flyers) bridged up to me across the top and the two of us drilled it. Behind, a group of six had formed and caught us shortly before Sam Sutton Hill (short and steep). Our group of 8 worked moderately well together, and we were flying! But some riders were struggling and I felt our pace was going to drop soon so I attacked again on the third lap at the same spot where I had attacked at the beginning of the race and again only Jan Kolar was able to respond and come with me. He asked me “Are you sure you want to do this?”. I looked back and saw Andy Crater coming across and said “Yes, let’s go!”. Andy joined us and we were rolling hard with Emile Abraham leading the chase behind. We hit the Sam Sutton Hill with maybe a 5-10 second gap – which Emile crossed solo to us like the hill wasn’t even there. Once it was the four of us, we were gone.

We worked well together, and it was clear that a very interesting race was playing out behind us based on the time splits we were getting from the moto official. It’s the first time I’ve heard “3 minutes to the field – it’s crazy back there” as a time split. This was after we had gotten a time split of 2’30″ to a break of thirteen, 3’30″ to the field. Half a lap later, we got the “it’s crazy back there” time split. Then we didn’t get any time splits for about 2 full laps (20 miles) until we got a time split of 3’30″ to the field. We thought everything was great until maybe half a lap later when we got a time split of 2’30″ to a chase group of six. Then a lap later we got a time split of 1’30″ with a little more than one lap to go. By the top of the feedzone hill we had gotten a few more time splits (apparently the moto ref was bouncing back and forth b/t our group and the chase) and the gap went very quickly from 1’30″ to 1’00″ to 50″ to 45″. We were in full blown panic mode at this point and drilled it hard pretty much the entire last lap.

Andy Crater came into the last corner first and attacked hard on the short steep kicker section of the feedzone hill. Emile and I quickly chased up to him with Jan coming off our group. Andy sat up as soon as he was caught and neither Emile or I came around so our pace dropped to 14mph. Jan crawled his way back up to us. I was afraid of the chase group catching us at that pace, so I went back to the front and ramped the pace back up to 21mph across the false flat in the middle of the hill. As we got closer to the top, I knew that I had to attack hard on the hill because Andy and Emile would easily beat me in the flat sprint across the top. So right as we reached the steepest part of the climb when I was still on the front and our pace had dropped back down to 14mph again, I jumped hard from the front and immediately got back up to 21mph and kept it above 20mph for nearly the rest of the hill. This was enough to get a big enough gap to ease up at the 250 meter to go sign and come into the finish line solo. With my wife and kids there cheering frantically, it has to be one of the sweetest wins in nearly 20 years of bike racing.

Behind us, I found out after the race that it was Joey Rosskopf and Frank Travieso driving the six man group also containing my teammate Pat Allison. Pat ended up fourth in that group for 8th in the race, which was the 3rd place Alabama rider (bronze medal). My teammate, Justin Bynum, finished in the second chase group for 17th in the race, but he was the 1st place Alabama Cat 2 rider to take the gold medal.

After our race was over, my other teammate Kevin Pawlik took the gold medal in the Cat 3 race.

What a great day for Tria Cycling p/b DonohooAuto.com and Infinity Med-i-spa!

Pro/1/2 field leaving lake lurleen state park

Josiah with the chalk on the feedzone hill

Our final four-man break with one lap to go. We definitely needed encouragement as the chase group was bearing down on us.

Me with Josiah and Analise shortly after the finish

Me and Jan Kolar – “Let’s shake and bake, baby!”

Rehashing the race in beautiful Alabama

I had to get a picture that says “Pro state champ” even if I really was only the “Cat 1 state champ”

The Alabama State Championship podium – Josiah said he wants to wear the medal to school tomorrow

Josiah and Analise on our hike through the park while waiting for the awards ceremony.