The season's dog days

This is an odd time of the cycling season for me. Now that all the main goals for the season are past, it's a little harder to maintain focus and a sense of purpose in my riding. My form is great. The weather is still fantastic. I feel stronger and faster than ever, but a little scattered on rides and even in races. I did a weeknight training race at Pacific Raceways this past Tuesday and although I was very strong, I ended up squandering that strength by doing too much work several times throughout the race. Without the attention to a race strategy that I might of had earlier in the season, I found myself drifting frequently to the front, pushing the pace or chasing inconsequential breaks. Late in the race my lack of focus resulted in poor positioning which left too much ground to make up on the final climb. A further symptom of this time of year for me was that I was not terribly disappointed with my lackluster effort. Earlier in the season, I would have been quite annoyed with myself.

To combat these late season blahs, I generally try to change things up a little. Overall, my training volume might remain the same, but I'll do some longer or more challenging rides during the week and fewer total rides. I might also look for some "fun ride" events to participate in for a change of pace. Last year, I took part in Ride 542, the Mount Baker hillclimb, for the first time. It's a great event for me to look forward to this time of year. It takes place in early September and has participants with all levels of abilities and types of motivations. For many, it is a race and they take it very seriously. For others, it is just a ride and the goal is merely to get to the top. As my motivation lies somewhere in between this time of year, this is the event for me. It is well run event and takes place on a highway closed to other traffic. For more information visit: http://www.norkarecreation.com/hcindex.html. If you like to ride in the mountains, check it out.

The Big Day

This past sunday was the 2008 Washington State Time Trial Championships in Tenino, Washington. I raced in the Masters C category and after a seventh place finish last year just a minute out of the medals, I had set my sights this season on bringing home some hardware. As with most of the other participants, my other main goal was to be under one hour for the 40 kilometer course. (I wish I had a nickel for everyone I overheard afterwards telling somebody, "My goal was to be under an hour.")

One of my friends had travelled to the race with me to be my "pit crew" and his help and support was very welcomed. After having nearly screwed up two TT starts this year (Wenatchee and MV omniums), I had prepared myself a schedule and checklist to guide my race morning preparations. It may have appeared a little OCD to have this itemized list of tasks starting more than three hours before my start time, but it worked like a dream. I arrived at the starting line on-time, relaxed, and focused.

We went and drove the course in the morning to refresh my memory and check for any changes to pavement, etc. in the last year. It seemed that the turn around was not in the same place as the previous year. Last year, it seemed that the general opinion was that the course was a little longer than 40k. This year, it was definitely shorter than 40k (probably more like 39.3k).

For my Eastern Washington trained body, the morning low-clouds, breeze, damp air, and temps in the 60s were a little chilly and I whined a little during warm-up about it, much to my pit crew's annoyance. Once I was on the trainer for a little while though, I got a little heat built up and felt much better about the day's conditions. Another of my friends arrived just before I finished my warm-up and joined my pit crew in supporting me.

I rolled to start line and received the usual comments about my tigerstripe skinsuit (all positive). I noticed that one of the riders I had really been hoping to better was a no show and while being sorry he wasn't there, recognized that his absence bettered my chances as he usually beats me. The clock counted down and soon I was on my way. I settled into a rhythm quickly and tried to make the best use of a slight tailwind while saving a little for the inevitable headwind on the way back. My screaming fans (both of them) drove out and got pictures of me and shouted encouragement at several points on the course. I was feeling great and clearly riding fast. I knew from my cyclocomputer that I was ahead of hour pace and I was having a solid day. A mile or so from the turnaround I caught my one-minute and two-minute men (more on that later). I was rocking!

Heading back, I kept pushing and telling myself I was on a great day. As the course turned to the west, I prepared myself for the expected headwind, but it wasn't to be found, or only in occasional puffs. I kept my pace high and kept driving towards the finish. At 20 miles in, it was clear I was going to be well under one hour. With a couple miles to go, the headwind finally appeared and I tried to use that little bit I had saved earlier for this purpose. At about a mile to go, the course turns onto a road that is of a chipseal that the Methow would be proud of. It is so slow. I was closing on my third rider at this point (who had started at least four minutes ahead of me) and tried hard to catch him. I ended up right on his tail at the finish line.

My timer showed a time of just over 57 minutes and I was psyched. I felt really good about my effort and was confident about my chance at medalling. My computer told me that the course was a little short, but I had still averaged well over 25 mph.

I rolled back to registration at the city park and waited for the results. And waited. And waited. Finally, they posted Cat 4 results which were a few classes before us, but would give me an indication of how my time might measure up. The Cat 4 winner was at 56:16 so it seemed I was in with a shout. We waited some more and finally decided to go get some lunch. We chatted about my effort and I still felt good and cautiously optimistic about my chances.

After lunch, we headed back to the park and the results were posted. I was sixth with a time of 57:01.7. What? I was a little shocked. Even allowing for the shorter course, that time would have been an easy medal last year. I looked closer and saw that two of the names ahead of me were my one-minute and two-minute men. That's not right, I caught them before the turn. I pleaded my case to the officials. They reviewed their notes and records, they reviewed the notes of the marshal who was working the turnaround. It appeared I had not caught those two riders who started just ahead of me and they stood by their results. I begrudgingly accepted it and we headed back to the car. My friends and I talked a little in the car about it and decided they had to have a finish video that would conclusively show what order we came across in. I went back and asked the official if that was the case. They said they had one and it had all been packed up but they would look at it and e-mail me. I went back to the car still sure of the riders I had seen when I passed them.

I got in the car and my friend showed me a couple pictures he took of riders on the second half of the course after the turnaround. The sequence of pictures seemed to clearly show that my minute man was still ahead of me at that point. We drove home and I began to accept that the results were accurate, but who the heck were the riders I passed? Once the results were posted online the day after race, it became clear. Of the five riders in my class who started in front of me, two were my one and two minute men who I never caught and the other three were three of the four slowest riders in my class. They started four, five, and six minutes ahead of me and I caught two of them before the turn and the other one right at the finish. The bigger irony is that the one I caught at the finish was the only one on a standard bike with no aero equipment at all.

I e-mailed the promoter and officials and apologized for being a hallucinating, whiny bike racer and thanked them for professionally listening to my questioning of their work. They both responded positively and thanked me saying that riders scrutinizing the results in a timely manner helps them make sure their work is accurate. They also sent me the finish line image showing my one minute and two minute men finishing ahead of me.



So then, for the record, I finished 6th of 18 riders in the Masters C field with a time of 57:01.7.

I was less than a minute behind the winner so you know what next year's goal is...................