Covered Bridge Series (Team Akron)

This race series has always been one of my favorites. It's hard to turn down a road race that's only a few miles from my house and that's on some of my favorite training roads, so when I saw Brad Hanson was bringing the series back, I knew I would do my best to include as many of these races as possible on my calendar. This morning I was joined in the Cat 4 field (B race) with fellow Velo's Marshall Leininger, Chris Smith, new velo Jason Leaman and honorary member from Chicago, Pat Papczun. This was Pat's first race but anyone who's gone to Boone with us the past two years will tell you that this guy can ride and I would put him up against anyone in our field and probably most people in the A race if he had a little bit of racing experience.

Our field had about 40 people which from what I hear was a little smaller than the field size last weekend. I told Pat that the first lap would probably be pretty mellow but I turned out wrong as a couple of Orrville riders opened up a small gap early into the first lap and it was an all out chase from there to bring them back. With them safely back in the group, it would be one small attack after the other, but nothing would get away for the day. There was a strong wind coming out of the west, probably a little too strong for the small groups of two or three riders trying to get away to really make any progress so it looked like this race would come down to a bunch sprint. Going into the bell lap, I decided it was time to make my way back up front and keep myself there. Shortly after, a PDQ rider made a strong move off the front and quickly opened up a decent gap on us. Pat made a great effort and in no time he bridged up to the rider. Pat then went past him and started a solo effort with a half lap to go. Once on Riverview, the strong winds took their toll on him and we slowly started to bring him and the PDQ rider back into the group. As we neared the little climb on Riverview Rd, that PDQ rider from the breakaway exploded in front of me which caused me to get stuck behind him and allowing everyone behind me to come around. Just a few seconds earlier I was riding in the top 8 positions, now I was finding myself at the back of the field, trying to chase hard to work my way back up the front of the group. Not wanting to be one of those riders who exploits the yellow line rule to make up position, I decided not to go left of center and wait until I found an opportunity and an opening to come up through. That opportunity didn't happen until only a few hundred meters before the finish line when I was able to go on the far left and make up some spots, not enough to contest the wind but enough for me to at least finish in the top 15 places and to see Chris Smith sprinting for the victory.

At the end of the race, I was satisfied with my performance, disappointed that I couldn't have kept myself in better position for the finish, but happy that I felt decent with what seemed like an entire week off the bike.

Here's the data from today's race:
Duration: 1:09:56 (1:13:46)
Work: 962 kJ
TSS: 106.6 (intensity factor 0.957)
Norm Power: 278
VI: 1.21
Distance: 27.056 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1104 229 watts
Heart rate: 101 200 154 bpm
Cadence: 29 141 100 rpm
Speed: 2.7 35.5 23.2 mph
Pace 1:41 21:57 2:35 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 378 70 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 1547 193 lb-in