Steilacoom again!

On Saturday, was the first installment of Cascade Cross Series in Bellingham, put but Ryan. The course was in the Bellingham Athletic Center area. I can’t say I liked the course, it seems too much technical to me. Jumps over the curbs at least 3 times, very twisty gravel descend (wider than single-track, but to narrow to pass). There were some good things like steep hills and muddy grass after rain a day before. Twisty grass field was not bad, but lucked long enough stretches and was definitely not 3 meters wide.

Overall race felt quite hard, and legs hurt a lot in the evening after the event. Not sure what place I did end up, results are not up yet. Overall it was fun race, but pretty low key.

Next day, Sunday there was 4th installment of Seattle Cyclocross series. And it was in Steilacoom Park again!
For a change, I got to the race earlier, and pre-rode the course few times before Masters race started. I really liked the setup. I though it had right balance to test fitness and skills. There were 3 uphill sections, one very short and steep, pretty technical descend, long fast stretch of the road, where you can put power and go fast, twisty grass field with barriers.

Again, since arriving earlier I had time to do proper warm-up on the trainer and spare bike in Second Ascend tent ( our team doesn’t have one ☺), and chatted a bit with Kenton.
Then I jumped on my race bike and did course again before men 1-2 race. Afterwards, I washed and cleaned my bike a bit ( Nomad is working again!), talked with Brian ( sandbegger who won 3/35+ race and refuses to upgrade), and jumped on my bike to do easy spin. 20 minutes before the race, I changed in my skinsuit, put breath-right on, downed gel, drank water and went to the start line.

Start was fine for a change; I clipped right away, but probably was not as aggressive as I should in first minute. I felt good on the climbs, especially longer 3rd one, I was selecting lane with less people, so I can move up easier. Strange, I would think it was not really long enough to make the difference, but I guess making it few times got you tired, and it was good for me. The most problematic section was twisty descend. I just cannot do it without breaks! Brian said, that he not only did not use breaks except for the last turn, but he also spun going down. Another problem for me, was second uber-steep hill. It’s only 15 or seconds, but was real grinder. Once I made it in big chaing-ring by mistake. Anayway, I was able to pickup places I lost in callup and first minute, without loosing much (except silly speeders). I was probably loosing at least 15 seconds on each lap on descend. In the end, it was my best SCX finish this year, at least by percentile. 25 th place out of 60 people. I’m sure I could make top 10 if I can descend better! But this course was good for me, imho.
Here is the power file. I was able to post OK power of 240W/NP-276W for 46+ minutes. I wish we had 2 more laps to go.
Overall I feel that more thing went right for me this race, than wrong. We'll see what less favorable course will show.

I had to skip this weekend races in Maris farms and MFG. I was due to do tooth extraction on Friday, which ended up as surgical one. I did not want to loose stitches in all out cross effort. That plus course of antibiotics, ibuprofen and some sinus meds made my decision easy. I went for really slow steady endurance riding over weekend. It's a bummer to loose series points and I have season pass too! Well, there is race next week.

Silver Lake Cyclocross

It was interesting course at Sliver Lake, Everett today.
The course consisted of long sandy beach + steep twisty up and down hills, basically single track. It was hard, technical power course.
The race did not go so well for me, as far as results concerned. But I felt there was some improvement today. Not as big as I need, since I did not make it to midpack, but I’ll take any improvement. Plus, I did not crash for a change!
Anyway, according to Matt H you need to analyze the race to get faster, so here we go.

What went well this weekend?
The cornering/bike handling felt a bit better. Cannot say much better, but better. I probably was a bit slower too, more aware of what I’m doing.
Moving way back, beyond the saddle on descents and when using rear break helped tremendously (thanks Ned). Concisely stopping any breaking when I’m in the fast turn helped too.

What went poorly?
Riding in the sand did not work so well, I probably need to specificly practice it, though question is how many sandy beaches we have left? Will cross Nationals feature sand?
Running was just really bad. It is like all power and motivation is sucked out of you and I can hardly move. Is it because I have to carry the bike, or because bike/run/bike transition?
My speed was quite low, especially in downhill-to-uphill 180 degrees corners. I need to use less breaks!
Doing small but steep hills was painfully bad. I need to be able to carry momentum better.
I did not push enough during first lap, backed off to yearly when got gassed.
Pre-race routine is still not perfect. Need to time it better, make sure I have proper warm-up on trainer and pre-ride course a bit longer.

What do you need to work on?
Cornering at faster speed, run with the bike (uphill and bike-run-bike transition), sand, small steep hills when super tired. Passing people at every opportunity? Going all out for 1st lap?

How did your bike work?
Bike worked well, maybe breaks could be adjusted just a bit better. My Nomad portable bike pressure washer did not work though! I was hoping to clean tires before race, but no such luck. Need to fix or get replacement!
Lost my powertap after 2 laps, the black platform broke off. Some good soul found and delivered it to Bilko.

How was your tire pressure?
Pressure felt fine, to major slips. Was ~35psi.

How is your body holding up? Any chronic problems? Sore hands? Back? Butt?
Body needs more fitness! Visit to podiatrist helped, no feet pain anymore!

Two steps forward, one step back

Yep, you read it right, two steps forward, one step back. Pretty much every day this week I found time to put at least 40-60 minutes on my cross bike to practice turns, dismounts, remounts, you name it. I figured that trying to do stuff in the race, could only take you so far. I did interval workouts, core and endurance rides coach prescribed as well, so fitness is coming up, a bit.
So Saturday’s MFG#4 at Fort Steilacoom was the first test to see if I move in right direction. The course was not too technical. No run ups, some bumpy grass field with a lot of corners, false flat, hill, tricky turn, another hill, descent, pavement and then you do it all over again. There was only one set of barriers.
My start was decent, thanks to practicing it.
I hit the hill with the lead group of maybe 10. But on the tricky turn onto last part of the hill, I was trying to avoid dirt and got off the course stopped by the grass and bushes. I lost about 10 seconds and got passed by probably 10 people. The chase was on. I felt not bad in the corners and was able to pass some people back on the grass straightaway. Then on the lap 3, I put a bit of an attack on the hill and was able to pass 3 people. But on the laps 4, I lost it again in that damn corner between hills! At that point Rubicon guy passed me back. The race was on. On 5th lap on the hill I saw him fading and put another attack to go around and was able to keep the gap up until the finish. I’ve finished 13th out of 25 starters, which was not bad result. I was happy, finally mid-pack finish! I felt that if not for the corners uphill, it was possible to break top 10. It felt good to finally pass people instead of being passed.

Average power was 246W with 265W normalized. Here is the power file. First 5 minutes of the race was 285W. Not too bad, considering that one still has to corner and run over the barriers.


Second race was on Sunday; Seattle Cyclocross #2, Beverly park. It was much more technical course with steep downhill, run-up, steep off-camber section, and super twisty labyrinth of 180 degree turns. Looking at power file, I counted 24 turns per lap. I bet it was more!
Anyway, I was hoping to reproduce my mid-pack finish again, but it was not to be. The start was not bad (good), and I made it to the base of the hill mid-pack. But my running up that hill sucked! That, and I need 30 seconds recovery before I can pedal again! My turns were not too bad, but not great. What I learned after staying behind Dan for a while, that you have to standup and accelerate out of each corner to keep speed up. Unfortunately, I only tagged him for 2 laps, because my descending down that technical downhill was quite timid. I was trying to stay safe, after seeing other people crash in master race. It was probably fine call this time, considering that Steve (Garage) ended up with broken clavicle after loosing it there. On the last lap, I thought I can pick up 3 places seeing people in front fading, went around then raced too fast on that downhill, trying to build a gap on people I just passed, only to go over yellow line. Well, loosing 4 places was not fun, and I had no choice but to leave everything from that point, shifting to big chain-ring and hammering through the grass field and corners all the way to the finish. I ended up 42nd out of 58. Here is power file. Average power was quiet low 202W, with 224W normalized, but that is including run-up and descend. Also, there were no sections longer than 15 seconds, where you can put power down. Course designer really likes a lot of 180 degrees turns. Of course you can do so much given track/field boundaries. Be as it may, results really highlighted issues of poor running, cornering and descending. Something I had to continue to work on. There are still 8 weeks before nationals! I think power files in cross are quite interesting, that it actually shows how your skills were for the course. The closer you were able to push to your “road” threshold the better. I bet pro guys could even push 5-min VO2 max on the cross course. In any case, hopefully I will be able to monitor the progress through the season.
Good night.

It’s all about CROSS now

Well, this weekend I managed to do 2 races. One was Crosstberfest in North Seatac, and another, MFG#2 in Sammamish Lake Park, aka Starbucks Gran Prix.
I hate to say it, but my performance in both cases was outright embarrassing! Well, Crosstoberfest was a notch better, but after a crash on lap 3, my chain got stuck between wheel and sprockets, from that point I think everyone has passed me. But I did not get lapped. Which was not the case at Starbuck GP. My front Dugast wheel was on its last breath, with sidewalls scrubbing breaks. So I switched to different wheel without adjusting the race. So basically first turn, front break locks and I went down, then again and again, and I have to pit to swap the bikes. On the last lap only leader of the race passed me, but he must have been at least a minute ahead of the pack.

Well, there are 2 problems I think: fitness and skills. As far as fitness concerned, I confident I’ll get back with slow, but structured training program. It might take me 4 or so weeks.
My CX skills are not there, so from now on, I’ll try to put 30-60 minutes each day, when I have a time to go out on my cross bike and practice turns, dismounts, off-camber, starts, but mostly turns. It is all low effort stuff, so it should not lead to overtraining. Wednesday’s workouts at Marymoor are good to learn how to do stuff right, but it’s just not enough and to crowded to really practice the stuff. This is it. So far 5 CX practices this week, a bit of slow progress. Intermediate goal now is to move mid-pack in B-race placing.

Meanwhile enjoy video I shot at Crostoberfest!

Crosstoberfest 2009 from Dessa on Vimeo.

Cyclocross season 2009 has started

As road season was winding down I decided to start pre-emptive cyclocross training. Just before going for the Eugene Celebration Stage race, I did one session at Cycle U ‘cross bootcamp, followed by another one afterwards. And, just before departing for my yearly vacation, that separates my ‘cross and road season I did one first race, Labor-Day cross at the North Seatac park.
The race was not bad. Coming after road season I felt on some shape. Even though my cross skills were not on par with mountain bikers, I finished 18th out of 31 starters in CAT3. But after taking 16 days off, mostly spent on warm Greek islands, coming back to the racing was a shock.

Day after I arrived, still jet-lagged, I did Copper cross race in West Seattle. I decided to do masters, just to get feeling for cross again, after vacation. The course had big single-track section, where I just tried to stay upright. After a mechanical I was far back. I saw Lisa ( team-mate) , who started at the same time, catching up. Honestly that the only thing that kept me going relatively fast. I did not want get passed by a girl! In the end of the last lap, team-mate Kurt passed-lapped me. He ended up winning Men’s race and Lisa won women’s race. I ended up second to last!

Next day, we had first Seattle Cycloscross installment in Evergreen school. I was racing CAT3, and we had pretty good size field, 57 people.
My start was not that great, and I lost a bit of time on the first run up. On second lap, on the pavement I really kicked it and passed maybe 20 people. Well, I really died second time up the run-up. It was very steep run-up, not something you run but more of the climb! Third lap I was gassed! Dan passed me before tricky off-camber downhill, leaving cloud of dust. I could not see where I going and crashed on downhill. Bleeding aside, something was wrong with my cornering. Half a lap later I realized, that my headset and wheel are out of alignment after the crash. I stopped and aligned it. Bunch of people passed me. It took me about a lap to get at least some confidence after the crash. Last time up the run up, I was just crawling. I finished the race without getting lapped, but loosing almost 8 minutes, 30 seconds short of the lap on the winner. That was very humiliating experience.
Coming back after almost 3 weeks off the bike is no fun. It is like your engine is stalled and cannot produce high revs anymore. Hopefully, in 2-3 weeks I’ll be back.

On coaches’ advise, I taking this week easy. There are 2 races this weekend, we’ll see how it will go.
Initially, I thought to just concentrate on USGP and Nat as target races for my cross season. But after 2 hours of easy spinning yesterday night, I think that is not specific enough goal. You need to have something that really pushes you and is measurable/achievable target. Aka SMART ( Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound goal).
So here we go. My cross season goal is to upgrade to CAT2 in cyclocross, before season end. It is specific enough, and won’t be easy for me. I need 10 points, and only 6 places count in field 50+, 5 in 20+ people.
Here are my current standings at CrossResults
Now I have to devise a plan how to achieve it!

Bremerton Crit. The last race of the 2009 road season

Weather did not look good on Sunday of Labor day weekend. Nasty rain system was moving from south-west over Puget sound.
After a long road season, which started in February with Valley of the Sun in Arizona, spanning over 70 race days and 11 stage races, I was not overly excited about one more race. But, it was the last road race on 2009, and I had to do it. By the time I got to Bellingham, weather did not look half bad. Pavement started to dry, few sprinkles here and there, but nothing bad. The crowd was just big enough to make it interesting, and small enough to make it hard. Course is not technical rectangle with deep in the middle, so you have to go uphill and downhill twice during a lap. I had one team-mate, Guy, who is usually good in crits. Garage were in forcer with 4 people present.

First 2 laps Logan was pushing the pace, and as soon as he was done, Adam K. attacked and stayed for maybe 2-3 laps, until he was caught. I was trying to stay close in front and did not feel half bad. Just a bit later, a little later Guy went and I sit in front to let him and another rider to establish the break. There were joined by 5 or 6 more, and other people were starting to open the gap. At that point it looked like field split in 2 parts and I was in the second one. I did not want to repeat mistake of Kirkland crit and decided that it is time to come across to main pack. After very long dig of some thing like a lap, I was there, but the pack was shortly behind, and it was all together. And as soon as it happened, John S. of Garage attacked. I was recovering after a dig and did not follow. He stayed away for a lap, and up the hill Nick attacked and Recycled guy was tailing him, I reacted a bit late and was trying to go with them. After the turn I was sure the pack is right behind me and slowed down, but after quick look they were far away, just coming around the corner. So there I was in no man land. John somewhere in front, nick and Recycled trying to bride, me and the pack. I was way too far too catch Nick and another Recycled (?) guy went pass me. Well, it was a winning break with 30 minutes to go.
Wines, Patrick and me were trying to work a bit to close the gap, but Garage in the pack was effective to slow pace down every time we reduced the gap. Well, by the end of the race Morgan finally attacked, I’ve tried to make a dig too, but had not much left. It started to rain on last 3 laps, and it became dangerous in corner #4!
In the end my “sprint” was miserable after an hour of racing. But it was fun race, and I was glad I did it!
Here is the file.

Road season 2009 is over! It was not what I was hoping for. Yes, there was a lot of racing, training and traveling. Almost 70 days of racing. I did not achieve season’s goal of upgrading to CAT2, unfortunately.
On the other hand, experience of doing Cherry Blossom, Walla-Walla, Mt. Hood, Elkhorn, Cascade was priceless. I would not trade it for the CAT2 upgrade! I don’t think I would be happy focusing on local races or crits. Hopefully all those miles will pay dividends in 2010. I did improve my time-trial and had one win in Green Valley TT. If only I can improve my power!

That said, my season was derailed by flu in April, which took me too long to recover. But on upside I discovered and addressed Thyroid issue. It will take me some time before I will see results, but I think season 2010 will be great!

Eugene Celebration Stage Race 2009

Prologue
Unlike any of the stage races I’ve done before this one had a “prologue” event. Of coarse, it was not traditional prologue you see in pro races. It was short, 5K only, but it was also pretty much uphill, except for the first 800m.
Me and Brian from Haggens arrived to Eugene on Thursday, and pre-rode the course. From what I’ve seen, I felt that full TT setup will be faster, since I can pickup some seconds in the beginning section and should go ~12-13 mph on the climb. In the end, I think it was a wash, TT or road bike, with the speed I ended up going.
On the race day, I and Brian made a mistake to check on registration an hour before the race, and with trip back and forth to the hotel to pickup the bikes we only had 5 or 10 minutes for warm up. On top of that, I miscalculated my start time. I thought I had 5+ minutes to go, and was chatting with Matt before the start, when I only had a minute or so. In the end, I’ve missed my start time. Bummer! I sprinted to the start line, posting my best 1-M power of the day. OBRA official said, put your leg down, and after another guy is out you can go! Well, I was 45 seconds late in the end.
Of coarse, all that made me quite mad, and I hit it way to hard in the beginning, only to die 5 minutes later on the steeper section. I think at around 4K to go, I’ve got passed by George, guy who got second in OBRA ITT, and has started 15 seconds ( or 1:15 on official clock) behind me. Here is the file.
Well, my official time came to 14:00 minutes, slower than I’ve done in pre-ride with heavy wheels! Actual time was 13:15. Power was not great, 312W. I know I could have done at least 15 watts better with proper pacing.
Race was lost before it even started. But I decided not to give up. I still had a chance to put pretty good TT on Sunday with flat and fast course. Shit happens. All you can do is suck it up and do your best.

[Brian before departing for TT course preview]

Maxon Road Race
The race was supposed to start after 1 pm, and we hit IHOP for some real breakfast consisting of pancakes, eggs and coffee!
Organizer extended the race by 20+ miles, another lap. So we were going to make 80 miles today. Great! I like longer races. I knew the course pretty well, from the last year. There was 2-3 minute climb and one short 1-minute hill other that that it was either flat or rolling terrain. Good and fast course for me. First lap was hard and fast, but mostly uneventful.
Second time up the short sprinter’s hill there was an attack, and we had to chase a bit, doing full out sprint to catch up escapees. It was 3 minutes at about 350W. Then Gorge of Nike was attacking again, and I found myself sitting in 3rd then 2 wheel at the false climb before last time up 3-minute hill. All this effort got me gassed, and I could not go at the same W/kg last time up the hill. But being close to front I was able to sag a bit and crest the hill for the last time with the lead group.
2 minute hill:
LAP#1 380W 5.35 W/kg
LAP#2 383W 5.39 W/kg
LAP#3 372W 5.20 W/kg

Going up the spinter’s hill for the last time was fast, 486W 6.8W/kg. And pace never went down. 8 minutes from sprinter’s hill we were going NP 320W/300W AVG at 27.2 MPH. It was hard effort just to stay in the pack, after 80-miles. We dropped 10 some people at that point. I did not have much left and put only 500W for the 30-second sprint, reaching only ~35Mph.

Here is power file. I’ve finished 22. No time lost. It was good last road race of 2009 season.

[Matt and Hitch after the Road Race]

Coburg TT
It was my only chance to improve in GC after prologue fiasco. Course was good 15-miler, flat and non-technical. I would prefer to have side wind like during OBRA ITT, but it was mostly headwind or tailwind.
I’ve set in good pace for the first 10 minutes, fighting headwind and picking up 4 or 5 people who started before me. The pavement was rough chip-seal for the first 5 miles, until you cross county line, after that it was much smoother. So first 7 miles took about 17 minutes of fight into headwind, then there was right turn, and it was strong side-wind for 2.5 mile. I have to start near yellow line, slowly moving sideways to the curb pushed by wind, then back to yellow line. I passed another guy there before going in final turn with tailwind. After that, speed became 28-30 mph and I was using my 54-11. In all the excitement I shifted big chain ring by mistake and I was struggling to shift back for 20 seconds, loosing about 10 seconds of time dropping speed then going up to speed again. That was my only mishap of the race. I’ve sprinted to the finish to stop clock at 34:56, though official clock said 35:05. Close enough. Garmin/Quarq average power said 270W, but I felt it was off again by 15-20W. Here is the file.
My time was 10th best in CAT3. It was not great, but enough to move me into 15th in GC.

Celebration criterium
Later same day, it was the crit. The same non technical, wide, 4-corner course we did last year. It was uneventful except for the few attacks by Adam and (?)George. I was trying to stay upright and avoid crashes. With 3 lasp to go I was in a good position, but later I made critical mistake. I was hiding in the draft, instead of working in front, hence loosing position. I think in the crit you need to go and do all you can in front during last 2-3 laps, otherwise it is a loss.
I finished close to the end of the pack as a result, but no time lost. Of coarse I was THE only looser of the crit. Hitch, sprinted for the win. He was 16 in GC behind me, and with 15-seconds bonus for the 1st place, he jumped ahead of me by 10 seconds, pushing me to 16s place in GC.
Here is the file.

Conclusion
Overall, It was good last stage race of the season. I felt that without Wolf Creek RR this year, the SR suited me well, if only I’ve focused on it. Which I have not. My last month was dedicated to upgrade on track and cyclocross transition. Nevertheless I liked this stage race. Finishing 15 in GC is not an achievement, but I felt I did well overall during the race. It was my 11th stage race of the year after all. I only hope all the miles I did in stage races this year will pay dividends in 2010!