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.

Rouge Roubaix 2012

Race summary via a video (watch the whole thing (it’s worth it) or scroll to 2’20″ to watch George Hincapie’s first puncture, scroll to 4’40″ to watch a glimpse of what my race was like yesterday – Hincapie alone with two Domo-Frites riders who have a teammate alone in the lead up the road. Then scroll to exactly 5 minutes to watch Hincapie’s second puncture and watch from there until the end and you have a good summary of my race at Rouge Roubaix yesterday. Even the finish placing at the end was the same — we both got a disappointing 4th place.) Disappointed? Yes. Happy? Yes. I have always said that just finishing Rouge Roubaix is a victory.

Race summary in words It was a smaller than normal field with maybe 40 riders and several teams represented, but the strongest and deepest team was clearly Plano Cycling from Texas. With a strong tailwind and constant attacks, none of the early suicide breaks would stick so it was pretty much all together with a small break about 30 seconds ahead going into the first dirt section. I entered the dirt in second or third position and came out of it first after we caught and passed the small lead group somewhere in the middle of the dirt section. I attacked the last hill to get a good 5-10 second gap on the field for the Strava segment challenge. 40 miles and LOTS of attacking later, I was sprinting (and grabbing) the $100 bill at the top of Blockhouse Hill so I think I was fastest on the Blockhouse Hill challenge segment. I was with another rider (Eric in green jersey) and we worked well together for the next 20 miles all the way through the third dirt/gravel section. At the end of the third dirt section, eventual winner Adam Koble (Plano) caught us and just as we were getting into a rotation I pinch flatted my front wheel. The motorcycle neutral support was right behind me, and I was riding again 34 seconds after stopping. I started riding just as a chase group containing two Plano riders and Jason Snow passed. I quickly caught back up to them, but Jason was cooked and the two Plano riders couldn’t work because they had a teammate up the road. I was starting to bonk pretty bad and Jason gave me a Clif bar (thanks!!) which I ate as I sat the front driving the pace hard to try to catch the two leaders. Then the Plano riders started to attack to try to get away so that they would have another rider up the road instead of just Adam. I believe Jason came off of our group during one of these attacks. We were closing in on them when I see Eric pull off to the side of the road just ahead of us with a flat. This motivated me to push the pace even harder because now Adam was having to work by himself as the lone leader up the road. So here I was pulling the two Plano riders back up to their leader when “psssssssttttttt” I get a puncture on the replacement front wheel. The motorcycle wheels were behind us again so I was up and rolling 24 seconds after stopping. Eric caught me right after I got started again so the two of us worked together to catch the Plano riders. This was less than 3 miles from the finish with one more hill left (Mahoney Hill) – I hit the hill hard to try and pop one or both of the Plano riders but only ended up with Eric coming off the pace. I was first wheel going into the sprint when Plano #1 (Ryan Dromgoole) attacked out of the corner with 500 meters to go. He got just enough of a gap that I couldn’t grab his wheel and even as I closed in on him 25 meters from the line, Plano #2 (Corey Ray) who had been on my wheel came around me to take the last step of the podium. Kudos to Team Plano for riding an awesome, aggressive, strategic race. Kudos to the whole team! I wonder if two records were set yesterday? 1) fastest rouge roubaix ever 2) podium sweep by a single team

The detailed report with pictures, short video, maps, and power data

The first 25 miles
Normally in this race, there is a 3 or 4 mile neutral section, followed by a number of attacks that fairly quickly establish the early suicide break. This year we had a strong tailwind and a smaller field so even though there was lots and lots of attacking, nothing would stick. I rode aggressively and tried to get in a move but couldn’t do it – and my legs felt awful – I thought for sure I had a flat or that something was binding in the drivetrain. A few miles before the first dirt section, a break of 3 finally established itself with Stephen Mire (S3), Scott Kuppersmith (Indian Cycle Racing), and one of the Plano riders taking a 45 second gap into the first dirt section.

The first dirt section
The first dirt section was really rough – especially at the beginning with some nasty washboard. I lost a full bottle of gatorade (175 very important calories) here. And even though it was really rough, we were still going fast. Plus, unlike previous years where you had one or two strongmen laying down a killer pace that keeps the group strung out, this year the pace was more manageable opening up the opportunity for attacks – of which there were plenty even on the dirt! I covered some of these moves. Each one would shed more riders from the lead group. Towards the later part on one of the downhills, my speed sensor fell down the fork and was bouncing into the spokes. I thought for sure it was going to get lodged between the spokes and the fork causing the front wheel to stop or breaking some spokes, but within a half mile or so the speed sensor settled down so that is was hanging down sideways outside the hub but no longer hitting the spokes. Towards the end of the first dirt section, I had moved to the front and attacked hard on the last hill to try to get some time for the Strava challenge segment and ended up finishing a few seconds in front of the group.

The long, hard 40 mile road section between the first and second dirt sections
Back out on the road it was constant attacks from many different riders including me, but mainly from Plano riders. I would chase some attacks and try to counterattack, but I think I was being watched too closely. All of the attacks, though, did create a split in the group with about 8 of us in the front split and 10 in the chase group. I was in the front split which worked well together but we were eventually chased down by the chase group. Once the two groups merged again it was attack/attack/attack. This time I instigated a lot of the attacks as I was really tired of trying to respond to the Plano attacks. Nothing was getting away, though. Then as I was sitting on the front pushing an easy 175 watts and admiring the big flood plain off the to right, I turned around saw that I had a 50 meter gap! Once I realized I had a gap, I immediately attacked knowing that the turn was coming up in less than half a mile.

The second dirt section – Blockhouse Hill
I had a small lead and was pushing a steady tempo when Eric Stubbs (GearLink Racing) caught me. He rode my wheel for a second and then attacked hard. I couldn’t imagine what he was doing, but then I remembered about the $100 sprint at the top of the hill. So I pulled it together to try and chase back onto him. I caught him about 2/3rds of the way up the hill. He was still pushing hard though and he came over to my side of the hard-packed mud double track. He was still with me as I approached the man holding the $100 bill, so I had a brief thought wondering if we were going to physically battle for the $100 but I put in a little surge and got there first to grab the money and stuff it as far as I could inside my jersey pocket to make sure it didn’t fall out. My coffee shop cleat covers which I had brought in case I needed to run up any of the hills acted as a nice paperweight. We worked really well together through the remainder of the short dirt section and out onto the paved roads again. I was hoping we had insurmountable lead by this point, but every time I looked back you could see a lead vehicle for a chase group. We got one time split shortly before the start of the third dirt section, which indicated we had a 50 second gap.

The third dirt section – Tunica Hills
I struggled in the 3rd dirt section not from lack of energy but from lack of technical skills. The gravel was kinda rough this year with a bit of mud, too, and I found myself taking the worst possible lines. Even on the opening steep climb, I was on the wrong side of the double track and my rear wheel slid sideways in some gravel about halfway up the climb. Fortunately I was able to push through to the harder packed side, make the nearly 90 degree turn back up the hill and resume pedaling in my 39×28 all on a 12-15% incline at 4-6mph. Across the top it didn’t get much better as I ended up off the road at least twice coming to a near stop before having to sprint back up the next hill to catch back up to Eric who was descending awesomely showing me the perfect lines which I would proceed to not take b/c of some sort of technical brain malfunction.

Flat #1 – front wheel pinch flat
Towards the end of the third dirt section, the lead vehicle that had been behind us was nearly up to us. There was only one rider, though, eventual winner Adam Koble from Team Plano. Just as we were getting into a rotation, I pinch flatted my front wheel on one of the washed out gravel sections that we hit at close to 30mph. The motorcycle neutral support was right behind me, and I was riding again 34 seconds after stopping. I started riding and latched onto a chase group containing two Plano riders (Ryan Dromgoole and Corey Ray) and a third rider – Jason Snow. Jason was cooked and the two Plano riders couldn’t work because they had a teammate up the road. Jason offered me a Clif bar as I was starting to bonk so I was able to drive the pace and begin to close the gap to the leading duo of Adam and Eric. As we got to another hilly section, the Plano riders tried a few attacks, but I was able to chase down each one and even put in a counter attack or two. Jason came off during this section.

Flat #2 – front wheel puncture
So it was me leading the two Plano riders back up to their leader when we went through just a tiny bit of gravel when I hear the dreaded “psssssssssstttt” of a front wheel puncture with less than 10 miles to go. This was an even quicker change than last time (24 seconds from flat to riding again). Eric caught me right as I was pulling out, and the two of us worked together catching the Plano riders again with about 3 miles to go. I pushed the pace super hard on the last hill (Mahoney Hill) hoping to drop one of the Plano riders, but only Eric came off leaving me again with the two Plano riders. I led them into the sprint hoping that they would make some mistake that would enable me to get onto the podium – but when Ryan attacked with 500 meters to go, he gapped me and I spent nearly the entire sprint trying to catch his draft. When I caught his draft maybe 25 meters from the line, he gave it one more burst that not only prevented me from coming around but also allowed his teammate Corey who had been on my wheel to pass me for third.

Kudos and records
Kudos to Team Plano for riding an awesome, aggressive, strategic race. Kudos to the whole team! I wonder if two records were set yesterday? 1) fastest rouge roubaix ever 2) podium sweep by a single team

Critical power curve with a new power record from about 3 hours to 4 hours 45 minutes

Pedal force – velocity graph – all over the place even more so than normal

Before – note the wheels that are on the bike and the relative cleanliness

After – note the front wheel and the dirt

After – trying to get a self portrait with my bike too – aim a little off

Beautiful large spring azaleas

Cars and people starting to gather at about 7:15AM before the start

Annotated power map

Camp Sumataunga Training Race WIN

Video of a very tired me crossing the line after more than 40 miles on a solo break (Video taken by Russell Fulmer’s wife – thank you!)

What a great way to start off the racing season – with our team taking 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th. I won on a long solo break after my initial break companion, Joe from Florence, came off the pace on the hill before the transition back to smooth pavement. We already had a somewhat sizable gap so I couldn’t just sit up and wait – instead I really didn’t have any choice but to put my head down and ride as hard as I could for the next 2 hours. My teammate Justin Bynum put in a late move and got away with and then outsprinted a Velocity rider for 2nd. My teammates Pat and Chris Allison took the top two spots in the field sprint for 4th and 5th. What a great start to the season!

Here are my iBike stats from the race -

---------Selection Stats---------
Dist:       48.51 mi (2:05:38)
Energy:    2338.3 kJ
Cals Burn: 2235.5 kcal
Climbing:    1708 ft
Braking:     -2.9 kJ (-0.1%)
          Min   Avg    Max
Power       0  310.2   681  W
Aero        0  253.9   774  W
Rolling     0   42.4    61  W
Gravity  -645    3.0   479  W
Speed     0.0   23.2  33.6  mi/h
Wind      0.0   23.1  37.9  mi/h
Elev      671    770   856  ft
Slope   -11.2   0.04   8.8  %
Caden       0   75.5   107  rpm
HR         99  165.4   185  bpm
NP:332W IF:1.11 TSS:257 VI:1.07
CdA: 0.342 m^2; Crr: 0.0055
168 lbs (includes bike, clothes, equipment); 2/19/2012 2:32 PM
45 degF; 1015 mbar

Here is my Powertap data (yes I had both my iBike and my powertap for this race) including the new personal power records for the entire range from 20 minutes to 2 hours!

New power record from 20 minutes to just over 2 hours (click to enlarge)

Interesting “Y” shape on my pedal force / pedal velocity graph. I’m used to the spike in the middle, but not the strong underlying portion – I guess the darker CP curve section is b/c of the steadiness of the flats/downhills and the vertical portion is attacking the hills

Power map – annotated with the really intriguing wind directions caused by the channeling effect of the ridges

I arrived really early so I could do some of my favorite climbs in the area, including the 231 climb which is just awesome after/during rain b/c there are waterfalls pouring off of every cliff … the panorama below doesn’t even include the ones you can see as you are climbing – I hiked off the road to a kudzu cliff (that’s the way kudzu looks in the winter) to get the picture of this large waterfall.

Panorama including waterfalls with Chandler Mountain just barely visible in the far upper right of the picture

Looking towards Chandler Mountain

Finally, here is a topocreator map of the entire race plus my warm-up climbs up 231/Blount Mountain and the always steep Chandler Mountain climb.

Topocreator map – such intriguing topography … the standalone nature of Chandler Mountain plus the “hidden climb” from northwest to southeast from atop the Blount Mountain ridge line