Race Report Thread

[Xplora]

Liking the two way reports, guys I nearly hurt myself laughing at the moral of the story Strain

[nickobec]

Moral of the story

-Know where the finish line IS, Finish There

The finish line at Dog Hill moved after a few incidents and is now further up the road than in the past. This has caught out quite a few people. Especially as it after most of the cars and people.

any differences between nicobec's report and mine are due to adrenalin, shortness of breath and narrative license

Differences are probably more due to the fact I got lazy and sat at the back halfway through the race to conserve energy for a sprint in last 200 metres and did not try my usual kamikaze attack with about a kilometer to go and stretch the bunch out, only die in the last 200 metres.

ps Only one rider cross the gap you created when you did jump, the two of you were 5 metres clear of everybody else.

[S-train]

Differences are probably more due to the fact I got lazy and sat at the back halfway through the race to conserve energy for a sprint in last 200 metres and did not try my usual kamikaze attack with about a kilometer to go and stretch the bunch out, only die in the last 200 metres

Well go kamikaze jackie 'suicide' durant next time, let me know before hand and i'd be happy to help drive us away to a fourm 1-2, i of course will be smiling and thinking i can get the jump for the final sprint but i wont be a useless bludger sucking your wheel, i wrote that on the internet so it must be true....

[foo on patrol]

^^^ ^^^

Foo

[jules21]

Sam Miranda RR, Masters C, 100km

i was determined to do better in this year's race, after crashing out last year and spending 7 hours waiting in emergency to have bits of road picked out from under my skin.

the roll-out was familiar - flat and pretty easy with a few bursts but nothing to worry the legs. at 30km the first of a couple of bumps arose. surprisingly, i easily held the leaders. i wasn't feeling great, so i surprised myself. the bunch was a bit jumpy today, with two guys who found themselves leaning on each other - narrowly holding it upright.

at 50km we hit the big climb of the day - the strade nero dirt road climb - 3.6km (AT) 6%. it was here that tactics came to the fore - the climbers decided to move ahead, while the rouleurs among us saved our energy. today i was definitely a rouleur. for some reason i expected this climb to be shorter than it was and became increasingly worried as new sections of the hill appeared around every corner. i eased the pace off just enough to stay out of the red and eventually crested the top.

from here it was a long, fast downhill. a couple of clubmates had punctured and were holding wheels - no time to stop and help! we picked up a bit of a posse on the descent and from here we started rolling turns. i assumed we were finished for the day as the leaders were up ahead somewhere, but i always feel guilty about being a passenger so joined in. we had a pretty good chain gang going and were average about 40 km/h with about 40km of flat road to go.

i had to take a quick rest at a couple of points, but mostly stayed working and we made the catch at about 70 km. from here it all slowed down as everyone resigned themselves to a sprint finish. my legs were pretty shot so i didn't hold high hopes. the finish is in the sam Miranda winery, where you make a couple of turns in the last 1 km. the first of those was a bit of chaos - i didn't see it until the last moment - a RHer - overshot the racing line (wrong side of the road) and took the LH side. this pretty much ruled me out of the win. one poor bloke lost in on the corner - the RH side was not swept and had gravel all over it.

in the end i got 11th - which was better than i expected.

[foo on patrol]

What the hell is anyone doing leaning on each other before the sprint, that is just plain dumb!

You need to back off on the work sooner Jules or just do shorter turns.

Foo

[jules21]

What the hell is anyone doing leaning on each other before the sprint, that is just plain dumb!

it wasn't the sprint Foo, it was just riding along. one guy just forgot where he was and drifted into another rider.. don't worry he was reminded of the need to pay attention (not by me).

You need to back off on the work sooner Jules or just do shorter turns.

yeah i've had a couple of people suggest that. not that i'm a hero or anything, i did take a few rests. but i always feel a strong urge to muck in when a group is rolling turns. it seems too sneaky to just sit on the back. the guy who won actually did the most work chasing, i was really happy for him - deserved win.

[macca33]

Good work Jules.

[jules21]

Good work Jules.

thanks macca!

[Ross]

but i always feel a strong urge to muck in when a group is rolling turns. it seems too sneaky to just sit on the back. the guy who won actually did the most work chasing, i was really happy for him - deserved win.

Good on you for having a go. I hate people who just sit in the whole race and do no work and then with fresh legs suddenly decide to do something in the last 50 metres. Zero respect for them as a rider (I suspect they do the same in other aspects of their life as well).

[Tarquin]

Did the time trial at the weekend, had a mixed week missing some training due to work.

I don't have a TT bike or clip on bars so just used my normal roadie. Left the power hub on to compare to the last one I did in Feb.

15.2km in 22:33, managed to break that magic average of 40kmh which I just missed out on last time we did it.

Average power of 337w which is 21w higher than Feb. I expected to perhaps have made more of an improvement and to have been closer to 350w, I know on hill climbs I've been doing 350-400w and my ten minute best is around 370w.

At the turn around I was slightly lower than my average power, 328w, I was a little worried about going out too hard, but paced it nicely. The mid section is undulating, so it's a tough call to either ride a constant threshold or push above that over the undulations and recover slightly on the downslopes.

2 minutes behind the NRS guys who were on full TT bikes with skin suit dish wheels etc, I wonder how much time one of those would save me!

[Xplora]

full TT bikes with skin suit dish wheels etc, I wonder how much time one of those would save me!

Don't go there. The answer is expensive and real.
Sounds like a great TT effort though!

[jules21]

Pop Stewart handicap, 100km, off 17 mins.

17 minutes is a decent head start. i calculated that based on scratch averaging 40 km/h, ~37.5km/h would be enough to stay away.

after arriving a bit late and running to the little boy's room just before we set off without any warm up, i got into it with our group of about 10. the course was pretty flat with one decent pinch, so we were rolling turns nicely. handicaps are always a test of team work, particularly at the slow end of the spectrum where i am - there's always a few guys who start sprinting when they hit clean air while rolling through. today wasn't too bad, but it's very annoying having to ramp it back up on the 'rest' side.

unfortunately, we started shedding riders from our group on the 1st of 4 laps and with about 2 laps down we were still alone but down to 6 riders. then 5. our remaining 5 were working pretty well together, though. unfortunately on the 3rd lap while i was craning my neck on the climb to see where our chasing group was - you could see the road where we had turned from - they overtook me on my right! i didn't expect that.

luckily i was almost cresting as they tried to shake us but i sprinted back on. i had a few turns but quickly realised i was out of my depth - we'd been swept up by a few groups including 2nd scratch. so i started sitting on. this seemed clever, but soon i was in trouble even sitting on as they powered through the gravel section. on the last lap, being hit by cross-winds, i unhitched. i rode the last lap solo, exchanging condolences with a few other stragglers.

we were passed by scratch - it wasn't their day - with a couple of Charter Mason boys having attacked the main scratch group.. animals. in the end i cruised home and was last to finish on the road.. a lot abandoned though.

[kb]

Sounds brutal.

[lock_]

At least you got your moneys worth Jules. Got dropped the 3rd time up that little hill and pulled out after three laps; legs were just done.

Pop Stewart Handicap 2014

Set off in the 8 minute bunch, averaged 39km/h till dropped, and that pace didn't let off much for the guys that took out the win. Averaged 250w for the 90minutes, that's enough to cook me. The 4 minute bunch were lapping 30-40 seconds slower, and apparently scratch just kinda exploded all over the place. Charter Mason guys weren't sticking around, but the two of them weren't going to make up that much of a gap.

Absolutely amazing day for a race, was great standing around in the sun watching the finishers roll in. Even picked up a bit of a tan.

Will be signing up for next weeks race at Pastoria, but don't really have high hopes for that one either. Training wise I'm not doing too bad, just need my race legs back.

[jules21]

that's a strong ride Lock. i couldn't hold their wheels for long at all. it was a tough course with couple of hills, the gravel and cross winds. i really only tapped out the last lap with the follow car behind me

i'm targeting next week's race. i can almost hear people laughing as i've shown nothing at NC races this season but i've been building form (in my mind at least).

[jules21]

Sunbury Trophy, Northern Combine, C grade, 80km

this race is dominated by the Mt Baldy climb which is not that long, but long enough to create splits. i think i'd overdone it a bit this week with ~13 hours ahead of the race, and the legs felt a bit dead. the bunch rolled out slowly - everyone seems to wait for the climbs to show their cards on this circuit - and there's 4 ascents so Strava says 1000m of elevation gain.

the first ascent it was pretty much altogether. the next ascent, the pace was a bit much for me. i slipped off the back. i quickly joined up with 2 others and we chased hard for a few minutes, joining up with 2 others and then the bunch. back on.. but spent a few bullets.

there isn't much to say about the bits in between the climb which were very sedate.. 33 km/h avg. speed. one rider was away since lap 1 - very impressive. we finally caught him on the 3rd time up the climb. we took that a bit slower, i just let myself slip gently off the back - a few metres only - and got back on over the top. i knew then i didn't have anything for the finale. so i thought - i'll have some fun.

into the x-winds i threw in an attack. no one responded so i kept going, building a couple of 100m lead. i was fading though and caught after 5 mins as we hit some rollers. then we slowed again, so about 5km later i threw in another attack. i had no hope, but why die wondering? no one chased, and i was joined shortly after by a clubmate, who was keen to get moving. we swapped turns a bit and thought we were caught - but it was someone else who'd bridged across. however, it wasn't to be - the bunch was winding up and i certainly had nothing left.

i rolled in behind the bunch.

[foo on patrol]

Do you tapper off towards the end of the week, Jules? I would suggest to you to do some more attacks like this, if you are not going to contest the sprints and this will toughen you up some more.

Foo

[jules21]

Do you tapper off towards the end of the week, Jules? I would suggest to you to do some more attacks like this, if you are not going to contest the sprints and this will toughen you up some more.

i'm doing an ergo program on Thu nights Foo, which is probably harming my race taper a bit. last Thu i got a bit dehydrated afterwards, which i find compromises my quality of sleep, which probably did more harm.

the ergo program finishes in a couple of weeks. the problem with doing a race every week is that you can't taper for them all or you won't much training in. i have to be more strategic about that..

[foo on patrol]

You just need to train smart Jules. Do all your hard work at the start of the week.

Foo

[jules21]

You just need to train smart Jules. Do all your hard work at the start of the week.

i'm getting a coach Foo. i'm hopeless - i backed it up with an ITT yesterday - died a slow and painful death out there on the course... i'm telling myself "pain is good, pain is good.."

[foo on patrol]

i'm telling myself "pain is good, pain is good.."

It is it is but at the right time.

Foo

[singlespeedscott]

i backed it up with an ITT yesterday - died a slow and painful death out there on the course... i'm telling myself "pain is good, pain is good.."

[Xplora]

the problem with doing a race every week is that you can't taper for them all or you won't much training in. i have to be more strategic about that..

Something I found quite illuminating from Friel's Cyclist Training Bible is the notion that you don't treat each week's race as "important". My background is squash and baseball, where you just don't train as much as a bike (you don't get to work by hitting a ball the whole way), and every single event can be treated as important. You have a number of points, you have to lift to win most of them. Cycling is one race, and there is a lot more training in the legs compared to squash or baseball come race day. Friel would have you either racing every fortnight to minimise the disruption to the training plan, or at least treat the races as a bit of fun and practice for your bigger races like the club championships for example. I personally want to win every time I pin on a number, but it leads to bad decisions in your plan - like feeling annoyed you didn't capitalise on a break, when you really are only just trying to learn something from the experience. Not the cheapest way to learn, true. But you've got to prioritise IF you want results. I know plenty of guys who are happy to just ride home with the bunch in a higher grade, and that's what makes up numbers in the race, what makes the "race". I struggle to actually do this, something about red mist, sheep stations and all that.

[jules21]

hi X - yeah, you're right. i do use races for training, but i'm not as organised with that as i should be. i convince myself that i'll recover for a race more quickly than i really can. i tend to target the big races - the state series ones (Masters C). i've had my best results in those, which is nice - as they are a higher standard than most i do. but then i'll never win if i only target the higher standard races.. oh well - road season's basically over anyway.