Back to Tenino

The first Sunday of June found me in Tenino again for this year’s Washington State Time Trial Championships.  It was held on my favorite course and one I had ridden many times before with my most recent foray being four weeks earlier.  I was hoping for improvement over that recent time, but was realistic in my expectations for the day as my season has been hampered by a lack of training volume caused by that pesky thing called “life”.  Conditions were pretty good, although a little windy.  When riding a long time trial, this one was 40 kilometers (24.5 miles), pacing is always critical.  Go out too fast and you’ll pay for it later in the race and struggle.  Given the reality of my training and my form, I was faced with the choice of being conservative and easing into my pace over the first several miles, or ride the race as if I had good form and hope for the best.  I chose the latter figuring if I went into it conservatively, I was surrendering any hope of a good result right away.  I started strongly and settled into my rhythm quickly.

After around five miles, I had already passed the two riders who had started in front of me (unfortunately, I had also been passed by the rider who started immediately behind me.)  The race went very well for me and I must say it was the most focused and “in the moment” I have been at any race thus far this year.  I managed to take about 40 seconds of my time of a month earlier and earn an 8^th place finish in my group.  I could not have gone any harder or ridden any better on that day and that is all you can ever ask for.

Enumclaw - It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

The Enumclaw Stage Race is my favorite race of the season.  It has great courses, is well run, and usually has strong fields.  Because it is a stage race that is scored on total elapsed time rather than on points like an omnium, my time trialling ability  usually keeps me in the thick of things.  Entering the weekend, I was sure my time trial form was pretty good but was unsure how the criterium and road race would go for me.  The weekend began with all sorts of good omens.  When the time trial start times were posted, I discovered I was to be the final rider off in my category.  And as I rolled into town late Friday night, a shooting star fell shot across the sky, surely a sign of good fortune.  Saturday morning dawned clear, sunny, and with little wind and I rolled to the start line quietly confident.  The time trial went very well for me and I posted  a personal best for myself on this course.  The time was good enough for second place and I only missed my first win by two seconds!  Having placed myself near the top of the standings, now the key was not to lose time in the criterium or road race. 

After getting a call-up and getting to start on the front row due to my time trial result, the criterium started well.  As the race progressed, I thought to myself, this is one of the most civilized criteriums I’ve ever ridden.  The pace was very steady with little in the way of surges due to attacks, etc.  I avoided being caught up in or behind any of the handful of crashes and finished safely in the bunch with the same time as everyone else.  The overall leader for the weekend picked up a 3-second bonus in a sprint, but other than that no major time lost in the criterium was just what the plan had been.   Day one of the stage race could hardly have been better for me.

Sunday’s road race was going to prove to be a different type of experience.  It was dry when we woke up, but by the start of the race, a steady rain had started that would be with us the rest of the day.  I still felt good and optimistic as I had focused a little more on my nutrition this year and was five pounds lighter than last season at this race.  Surely that was going to help me on the climbs.  The race rolled out uneventfully towards its first trip up the Mud Mountain Road climb about 7 miles into the race.  I settled in near the front of the group and as we headed up the climb, felt comfortable (as comfortable as you can be climbing a steep hill in a race!).  The pack was steadily shedding riders and as we reached the steepest pitch about ¾ of the way up, only about half of us remained.  Suddenly, I went from being comfortable to being powerless.  I popped off the back of the group like a sinking stone.  It was an odd sensation, there wasn’t any period of struggling.  One moment all was fine, the next moment I had blown and was crawling up the hill.   After topping out, I tried to gather myself and hook up with other riders for the chase back on.  I had very little power though and found myself having to skip pulls to even stay in contact with the chasers.

 
As we hurtled down the descent, I smacked a pothole and my “food” bottle of Perpetuem bounced out of its cage and was gone.  I now had only a single gel in my pocket to get me through the race.  I continued to struggle and eventually lost contact with the chase group.  As a final insult, I managed to drop my remaining gel while trying to open it.  All in all, a day to forget and one that thoroughly scuttled my ambitions for a high finish for the weekend.

State Warm-up TT

This past weekend saw my teammate Karla and I headed to Tenino for the final event in the Cascade Time Trial Series, a 40-kilometer test on one of my favorite courses.  This course has been used in the past and will be used again this year for the State Time Trial Championship.  It has great variety with changes in direction and terrain and really maintains your interest as you ride it.

We both had done enough in the previous events of the series to secure podium places for the series, the only question was what step would they be on.  I needed a second place finish on the day to secure second place in the series.  With that in mind, I fired off the start line and got to work.  Within 5 miles, I’d caught the two riders who started 30 seconds and one minute ahead of me and had closed to within 30 seconds of the rider who started a minute thirty seconds ahead of me.  I felt pretty good the whole ride and it was definitely the best I’ve felt on the bike yet this year.  To my annoyance, I never did quite catch that other rider, but he made a very good “carrot” to keep me motivated and focused throughout the race.

When the finish finally came, I had posted a time under an hour and good enough for second place on the day.  The day’s finish enabled me to secure second place for the series by a single point.  Now my focus will shift a bit with the next event for me being the Enumclaw Stage Race in a couple weeks, then it will be back to Tenino for the State Time Trial Championships.

Green Valley TT - Improving a little

This past weekend was the fourth event in the new Cascade Time Trial Series and once again, my MCS - Blue Star Coffee teammate Karla and I loaded up the car and made the long drive to the west side of the mountains to Auburn to participate in the Green Valley Time Trial.  Although slightly longer than the first event in the series, the Icebreaker Time Trial, this event took place on the same road so it would provide an easy comparison as to how our form had improved.  So much goes into riding a good race and this day it seemed like it was finally coming together.  I had a full and good warm-up and rolled to the start line relaxed and focused.  I felt fast and powerful on the way out and on track for a good ride.  Soon the turn came and I headed back towards the finish.  Partway back, I had a real ragged patch and struggled with my pace and focus.  I snapped out of it when the rider that started a minute behind me came past like he was on a motorcycle.  I got my head back in the game and finished off as strongly as I could.  My time ended up being good enough for second place in my group on the day and the result moved me into third in the series standings.  As for improvement, my average speed went from 24 mph at the first race to over 25 mph at this one.  Better, but there is still work to do.  Next up is the final event in the series, a 40-kilometer time trial in Tenino on the same course that will be used for state championships later in the season.

Testing that training

This past weekend offered up some serious opportunities to test the progress of my training with two time trials on Saturday and a challenging road race on Sunday.  With the TT and road bikes on the roof of the car, Karla and I made a quick stop at Blue Star in Twisp to get a couple of iced coffees for the road and after some encouraging words from Meg headed off to the west side to see how far we’d come since the first race of the year six weeks earlier.  First up on Saturday was the Skagit Valley Time Trial held on a course overlooking beautiful Padilla Bay.  Conditions were nearly ideal with sun and temps creeping into the 50s and very little wind.  I had raced on this course three years ago, taking a second place that day, so I was hopeful of a good ride.  Of course that race was mid-season and this one was early on, but hope doesn’t trifle with details like that!  I had a solid ride and felt pretty good, definitely better than the first effort of the year.  My time was nearly a minute slower than my ride of a few years ago, so I wasn’t too sure what the results sheet would say.  It said 6^th place for me.  Faster than most, slower than some.  Five seconds faster would have gained me a couple places, but I was pretty satisfied with the early season result.

As with the morning event, the afternoon event, the Northshore Hillclimb Time Trial was part of the Cascade Time Trial Series.  I was not sure what to expect going into this one other than pain.  It would be the second time trial of the day and was nearly all uphill and under two miles in length.  It would be intense.  I decided the road bike was the correct bike for this test, but installed my deep section carbon Easton EC90TT wheels on it.  Their lightweight, stiffness, and aerodynamics were just the thing for this event.  As I warmed up, I was pleasantly surprised to find my legs responding and not feeling too hammered from the morning time trial.  Soon my start came, and I shot off the line across the short flat section before the start of the main climb.  The bike rocketed along, but soon the hill approached and the speed began to bleed off.  The course was not a steady climb and even had a flat to rolling section midway.  As I came off the steep parts, I really appreciated the lightweight of my wheels and how fast they accelerated.  Soon, I was in the final 150 meters, a very steep pitch, clawing my way to the finish.  I had survived one of the most painful six and a half minutes I have spent on a bike and began the wait for the results.  I was stoked to see that I had managed a third place with my effort.  My results from the day’s two time trials had moved me into sixth place in the Cascade TT Series standings after three of the five events.  The last two time trials are courses that I should be able to do good rides on, so a high finish in the series is in reach.

We closed out the weekend with the Northshore Road Race on Sunday.  The course in the hills along Lake Whatcom in Bellingham is a classic and challenging eight mile loop with two substantial climbs per lap.  My group was slated for 4 laps plus one more trip up the first climb to the finish at the top.  This race quickly turned into a training ride for me, as my legs were fairly trashed  from the previous days efforts and I was unceremoniously dropped about halfway through the first lap.  I eventually hooked up with another couple of riders and we worked well together throughout the rest of the race picking off stragglers as best we could.  The results placed me an even 50^th of 61 riders.  Certainly nothing to be excited about for that race, but given the results of the previous day though, the weekend was a success.

2012 Icebreaker Time Trial

My training has been in full swing for a while now and with Daylight Savings Time finally here, I’m getting in a significant volume of riding.  This is good as the racing season is fast approaching.  Those sentences are true and seem pretty reasonable.  However, the quirk this year is that I did my first race over six weeks ago.  The Icebreaker Time Trial in Auburn was the first event in a new five race time trial series this year and came early enough that I had nearly zero training for it.  As it was part of the series I am planning on doing though, I felt it was worth going to and seeing if I could score any points at all.  It was held on a dead flat 10 mile long course which was a plus for someone just climbing off the couch.  I had hoped to be under 25 minutes for the race but turned in a time of 25:13 which was good enough for 11^th of 20 racers in my group.  Not what I hoped for, but let’s face it, hope is all I had, nothing useful like training!  It was a good enough result for the start of the season and I scored some points for the series so the only way from there must be up.  The next races in series were the Skagit Valley Time Trial and the Northshore Hillclimb Time Trial in mid-April and I knew I’d be better prepared for them.

Tri-ing again

Last year, I "competed" in my first triathlon, the Try-a-tri at the Chelanman Multisport weekend in Chelan.  The Try-a-tri featured a 1/4 mile swim, 12 mile bike, and a 3.1 mile run and was intended to introduce newcomers to the sport in a non-competitive way.  Despite very challenging swim conditions and the fact that I am a very poor swimmer, I made it through and found it to be kind of fun.

Thus, early this past Sunday, I again found myself standing in Lake Chelan waiting for my wave to start.  This year, however, I was entered in the Sprint event (1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike, and 3.1mile run) and although many were there just to finish, this was definitely a competitive event.  As I mentioned, I'm not a great swimmer and knew I would be near the back when we came out of the water and would have to rely on my cycling and to a lesser extent my running for whatever result I might achieve.

The morning of the race blessed me with very calm waters and little wind which raised my confidence for the swim leg.  Soon the countdown was complete and I was underway dropping to the back of my wave with a mixture of backstroke, sidestroke, and occasional freestyle.  As the meters went by, I became a little more comfortable and gradually began to pass a few other swimmers.  I certainly wasn't threatening the leaders, but at least I wasn't going to be last out of the water.

The beach finally arrived and I headed for my bike with the knowledge that I was now going to be moving forward through the field.  I quickly got my jersey, helmet, and shoes on and headed out on the course.  My legs were a little noodly from the swim, but I was clearly going well and blasting by people like they weren't moving.  The rest of the bike leg continued well and I headed into the final leg feeling pretty good about my position.

I am lucky to not have difficulty transitioning from the bike to the run.  I've heard that it is common for it to take people quite a bit of distance to adjust to the change to the running motion, but for me as soon as I'm off the bike, I'm ready to run.  I headed out on the run and continued to steadily pass people and was only occasionally passed by others.  Passing through the final aid station with about a mile to go, I passed a competitor in my age group and soon heard his footsteps following close behind.  As the final short hill before the finish approached, I knew he would soon make his move and I just hoped I could match his acceleration.  Unfortunately, I was just unable to manage that and finished 10 seconds or so behind him.

All in all,though, my race had been a success,  I was 85th overall out of a field of 386 and 7th in my age group.  My swim leg was 358th overall ( I told you I was poor), but my bike leg was the fastest overall of the day.  I 'll have to spend a little more time in the pool before next year.