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