Velodrome results

It doesn't happen often - but sometimes I win. Since this is an open personal diary (more so than anything else), I'm writing this post to remember what I did in the days prior to a win.

Sunday: governor's island bike race
Monday: very easy 17 mile spin
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: podium

Wearing glasses full time also helps me see things up the road, even when there's nothing there.

This is me off the front at the Governor's Island criterium on 8/09/09. Unfortunately my position at the finish was not great, I got 11th. Note to self: look for a landmark to initiate the sprint before the bell lap.

Photo credit: anthony skorochod

And here is my favorite photo, credit goes to my team mate Wai2Fast for taking this lovely panoramic at the Kissena Governor's Island Criterium.

Crescendo, Peak, Start Over. A race report... sort of.

My last post was about over-training in order to (hopefully) bring about a peak.

Unfortunately the event I was peaking for, (NY State Master's Track championship) was canceled this year. According to the officials, the reason was too low of turnout but I think it had to do with the bad weather that was predicted for the weekend. New York does not have an indoor velodrome, although one may be in the works. An indoor velodrome would be great, and profitable if they sell food, beer, and allow gambling on site, in my opinion.

Rather than let all of that hard training go towards nothing, I wanted to find a raced suited to my training and found one. It is called the "Freedom Tour" criterium organized by high gear cyclery. It required that I hop on an NJ Transit train to Stirling, NJ then ride 8 miles to the start. It also featured a late afternoon start, which for me is a big plus.

I lined up with 42 other racers, and 25 laps later I was the first one across the finish line.

With my very basic understanding of physiology and training, I was able to bring about peak form. I raced hard, covered almost every move, and somehow still had enough juice to sprint for the finish.

I guess this means it's time to take a rest week, then begin a new 3-week cycle. The $100 prize is much less than what I spend on eating, training, and bike parts but it's the biggest prize check I've ever earned. I still don't think I'll be signing with a pro-team anytime soon (or ever). Just gettin' my ride on, here.

Velodrome 5/6/09

The muscle memory came back and I remembered how to sprint starting with the second race of the night.

My bud Al Barouh pipped me at the line for points in the first race of the evening, and I think the brain fired a signal to the engine room.

The signal was the one that triggers the desire to race hard, oxygen debt is good, and give 100% when there's less than that left in the bank.

Quite simply, there's no point in looking back.

Rode aggressively the rest of the night to help a team mate win the scratch race and held on for 5th, placed 3rd in the snowball, and 4th in the feature.

Kissena Velodrome Opening Weekend 2009

A fun filled two days of racing. Made some tactical errors, lost some races, placed in others. It was a busy event, with nearly 100 registered racers across all fields. Raced the Makino, with 32h box-section clinchers.

The kilometer is a 2.5 lap timetrial, and I would describe it as the most dreadful minute and half one can spend on a bike. The only thought going through my head at lap 1.5 is, "why am I doing this?". I think the same thought went through my head last year, at the same spot. Next year I need better mental preparation for this.

Some of Gary Berger's photos capture the determination and pain of Racing the Kilo.

The team sprint goes fine, I am our lead man riding the first lap and we have a good lead when I pull off.

In the points race, I have flashbacks of racing against Colin in a keirin race from last Fall and I follow his attack coming into the 3rd lap. I work hard to get in front of him instead of staying in his draft which would have been smarter. I work so hard doing this that I lose track and sprint at the wrong lap, unable to respond to the counter attack on the bell lap and miss a 5 man break - so I get no points at all.

Sunday is a little more consistent. It is my first time doing match sprints. The first matches are not difficult, but in the semi-final I am a little under-geared racing against Luke in a 49x15. He races smart, jumps first on the flat between turns 2 and 3, forces me to the outside before coming down into the sprinters lane and taking the win by a bike length.

The miss-and-out and the scratch races are fine, we were all feeling tired for the last race of the day (miss-and-out). I promise to try and help Al get on the podium if he can survive through the bell lap. When the bell lap rings he is already out of the race so I roll into 4th place.

Everyone showed their legs and form, and we got a lot of sun. A load of photos from the weekend.

Eloy's photostream

Gabe's Picasa set

A New York Times "Cityroom" story about us

2009 opening weekend results file (pdf)

Gary's photo sets include this one of everyone checking the results. one two.

Staying motivated

When you have to wait 4 hours for a 15 lap scratch race at the velodrome...

When you have to wake up at 5:00am to race counterclockwise loops in a park...

When this is the motopace vehicle... life must be good!

I would race faster to catch up to it, look at all of those delicious donuts.

Remember to thank officials, referees, and marshals... without them a season of racing and results would be impossible.

photo credit velocitynation.com

Keeping track

This is just to remember what I've been doing for the week.

Monday: Master's track, 3rd on the omnium. Short sprints felt good, longer efforts did not. Mike W. really helped me a lot with the win and out.

Tuesday: Floyd bennett field, abandoned on lap 9/10 after going out on a flyer. Looking at the data from this lap, HR averaged 185 for 4 1/2 minutes. It's no wonder I couldn't take it any more. There was a two man break up the road for most of the race... and that's just the type of breakaway that gets me raving mad and chasing like a maniac. On the last lap I decided we weren't going to catch them and wouldn't have anything left for the sprint. Why suffer? Highlight was the ride home, 17.8 watts/kg for 5s racing a motorbike down flatbush ave.

Saturday: Brooklyn Grand Prix masters. Eloy told me he'd go off the front early, Joe looked good at the end, and I attacked once - but with an average speed of 26.5mph for 34 miles, nobody was getting away. I thought I might have a shot in the sprint but was about 15 feet too far back and boxed in with no room to jump or finish in the top 10. Finished 15th.

Saturday's lesson: There is no such thing as a sprint for 10th place.

Success!

.... has it's ups and downs.

Ups
Two days ago (Monday) I rode as if imbued with superhuman strength at the velodrome, although I felt a bit unsure how to wield this unexpected power.


Scored two wins and a second place for first place on the omnium.

What's changed? Looking over my road racing data, I was hitting 140-150 cadence in almost every road race. I wanted to start using more muscle strength. This is the reason for changes #1 and #2.

1> 49x15 instead of 47x15.
2> Moved the cleats back a bit for greater leverage (same as moving toes forward) .
3> Raised the saddle a bit.
4> Rode hard at Unionvale (the day before).
5> Rested for two days prior to Unionvale.
6> Felt relaxed.

The last thing, #6 is also important, riding relaxed helps efficiency. I was also mentally concentrating on efficiency. And steak tartare from les enfants terribles the night before.

Downs
Today (Wednesday) I was still feeling a little spent and only got one or two points at the velodrome. Meaning that I had only one sprint (matches to burn) per race, and then spent the rest of each race holding on for dear life. It was also harder to relax in a bigger field.

Bethlehem / Masters

These boys know how to handle their bikes. Many of them have been racing hard for years, some of them still competing at the Pro/1/2 level (results). They also know how wring the juice out of a lemon, and I was that lemon.

For most of the race I was near the front but not at the front. It's a little fuzzy but I think there was a split, twice. I remember riding hard with some fellows off the front and the loudspeakers announcing we had a 35 second lead over the main field. It felt great until somehow the field caught up to us.

Then there was another split. This happened at around 30 minutes into the 50 minute crit. I wasn't in it - but desperately wanted to be. We chased hard and there was some good blocking by a big guy with a team mate up the road. He would gap off the front, get others to chase him, then he'd slow the fuck down and so would everyone else.

The second break was brought back by a strong field in the final 2-3 laps. There was a (very) short breather and then the chaos started in earnest as riders battled, attacked, and jockied for their position. I imploded on the last lap from the intensity and the field came around me.

It was a very hard effort and the reward may be some super compensation along with fatigue. Average HR was 177 for 50 minute race, average speed was 25.9 mph.

What the hell do these damn numbers mean anyway? I want to kill my bike computer. I don't remember ever looking at it during the race anyway.

Lesson: It's more satisfying to race hard and loose by a mile than to race conservatively and "almost" win.

Floyd Bennet training race

Wooo, last night was fun.

It was the first night of races at historic Floyd Bennet Air Field. The category 3/4 race was 10 laps (just over 22 miles). The finish line moved to the east side of the airfield - where the roadway is only about 1/2 as wide as before.

I tried to get away once or twice but it didn't work out. The data makes it look like I attacked 7 times, but some of the attacks were defensive, not offensive attacks. I spent a lot of time at the front burning matches with a few other guys who don't like to piddle about at 21mph. We kept the pace fairly high but our average was only 25.3mph.

Busting my ass off the front trying to make something happen. (more on flickr)


The sprint was a bit crowded and fast even though we were headed into the wind. I wanted to contest the sprint but was in a poor position and didn't.


The day before (Monday) I did 10x1 minute sprints up the great hill in central park. I should have been more tired but going for a 35 minute light and easy ride in the morning really helped clear the fatigue.

Lesson learned: Racing fast is fun, but being patient (seems to) beget victory.

Power numbers:
Max: 16.02/kg
Max 5s: 14.68/kg
Max 30s: 7.76/kg
Max 1m: 5.85/kg