Race at the Lakes - Round 2

Well, I stand corrected from last weeks race report, it is possible for a breakaway to be successful in the Cat 4 field at RATL. The Cat 4 field size was a bit smaller than last weeks, I guess the threat of rain kept a few of the riders from last week away which was OK with me. I for one was hoping that it would be a serious downpour as I tend to like those nasty conditions a bit better. I'm 1/1000 Belgium so I kept my eye on the heavens but of course, I also think that I'm 1/1000 Kenyan (which I'll be calling on for the Columbus Marathon later) so those two heritages actually cancel themselves so I wasn't left with much of an advantage.

Joining me in the Cat 4 field for Velo were Tim House, Josh Troche, Matt Turi, Chris Smith and Jason Leaman. With the strong wind, my plans were to stay safely in the field, keep attentive and if anything promising happened, try to follow it. Well, I found myself very early in the race going with moves that were destined to fail. One move was with a solo Summit rider (who happened to win the race later) but it was all brought back within the lap. We needed more people to make that one stick. Another move a bit later was with a few other guys with each of the teams being represented so I figured it would stick. Nope, it got pulled back too. Another move was a counter attack to Tim's initial attack. What failed my move (besides not being a great athlete) was it was also a prime lap and my attack came near the hill. I wasn't attacking to try to win $5, I was attacking so my buddies efforts weren't in vain, and I wanted to win the race. I was caught just before the line so I didn't even win the lousy $5. It was nice to see Josh counter my move right away. For a guy who proclaims that he doesn't like to climb anything greater than the natural curvature of the Earth, it was impressive to see him make the effort at the top of the climb. From here, things settled down a bit for a few laps until another move made its way off the front. Seemed to have representation of every team in it except Snake Bite. There was no immediate response to bring it back and so the break slowly gained some time on us. Matt Turi was up there representing Velo and I felt confident knowing that I could just cruise on in to the finish line as I was definitely feeling the days earlier efforts. All of a sudden I see a Velo rider coming back. Crap, now it's time to try to make a move, only problem was that I was suffering just to keep the tempo, let alone try to bring it back or bridge. Now I was cursing my earlier failed efforts, but you never know how these things work out. Chris Smith made an effort to get across but only made it about halfway in the bridge attempt before coming back. Then Jason made the effort and was able to pull everyone up to two of the breakaway companions but the days winner had shed them earlier, taking the solo win.

Looking at the data, it's no wonder why I had nearly nothing left. With a normalized power of 307 watts for the race, that's well above what I thought was my current FTP level. In all honesty, I've never had any power levels that high in any race that I've done before. The closest that I've come is 300W out at Snitgers and I would have considered that the toughest race in the area. I guess a lot can be said about racing smart and not trying to make unnecessary moves. Just shows the amount of energy and fitness needed to race really aggressive. That being said, I'll be back at it again next week as I'd rather lose the race trying to win it than be pack fodder. My racing $.02 of course.

b

Here's the power levels for the day:

Duration: 49:29
Work: 742 kJ
TSS: 98.9 (intensity factor 1.095)
Norm Power: 307
VI: 1.23
Distance: 19.901 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1098 250 watts
Heart rate: 103 188 171 bpm
Cadence: 30 141 102 rpm
Speed: 7.7 34.1 24.1 mph
Pace 1:46 7:47 2:29 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 304 72 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 1028 207 lb-in

Race at the Lakes

Wow. What a difference some sunny, warm weather will make. Seems like anyone who rides a bike in Northeast Ohio was out at Munroe Falls Metro Park this morning for the annual Race at the Lakes. This is always a fun race to be in and the Summit Freewheelers/Rainbow Inks team always does a great job at putting this series together. This morning I was joined by fellow Starkies, Matt Turi, Tim House, Marshall Leininger, Josh Troche and Jason Leaman in the Cat 4 field along with about 50 other riders. From a quick glance it seemed like all of the local teams had a major presence, Spin, Snake Bite, and Summit all had a lot more guys there this morning then we did. The history of this race is that the probability of a breakaway actually being successful is next to zero. No way, not going to happen, not in the Cat 4 field anyways. The last time I remember seeing it happening was when I was a Cat 5 and I watched Rick Parr get away Jimmy McDonald about 3 years ago. It’s not that the Cat 4 field is organized and lets something get away until the very end where it gets swallowed up in the last lap or two; it’s just that any move that is made is immediately reacted to. Possibly because this race is just that the race is so short and guys know they’re only a few miles from the finish line, even when they just roll out of the starting gate. (This is of course my best guess). Today I thought could be the exception to this rule with so many teams here. If the right move went up the road with all the major players in it, maybe there was a chance unless teams started chasing down their own teammates, which in the Cat 4 field turns out to happen more often than not. (Again, my editorial comment). My goal this morning was to ride conservatively and be attentive and see if anything happened. If I saw a move developing that had the major players in it, I would do my best to get in it as well. I decided to play it conservative and to try not to initiate it. The race started like it normally does, guys trying to get away but inevitably being swallowed back up in no time. It wasn’t until about half way through the race when I saw a move that looked promising. I quickly make the jump and bridged up to them but by the time we hit the ‘hill’ we were all back together. Turns out, every other Cat 4 wanted to be there as well. The race would follow this routine for the remainder of the race, only to be broken up by the sound of a blown tire and then a savage sounding wreck behind me. Fortunately nobody was seriously hurt. The race finished as predicted, in a mass sprint. Congratulations to today’s winners, I believe the Spin guys took first and third, not sure how the rest of the field placed. I know that I finished somewhere in the top 15 or 20 guys and Matt was the best place Stark Velo in seventh. I can’t wait until next week.

Here's the data for the race today.

b

Work: 677 kJ
TSS: 86.1 (intensity factor 1.034)
Norm Power: 290
VI: 1.24
Distance: 19.374 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 972 234 watts
Heart rate: 115 185 164 bpm
Cadence: 29 141 100 rpm
Speed: 2.4 35.1 24.0 mph
Pace 1:43 24:46 2:30 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 355 67 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 904 194 lb-in