Koppenberg 2015

Sorry it's taken so long to write this one . . . 

On Saturday, May 2, I participated in the Koppenberg Circuit Race in Superior, Colorado.  I did this race last year, too, coming in 3rd place in the MM40+ 5 category.  I felt like my training has been a lot better this year, giving me a good chance to do well again, this time in the MM40+ 4 category.

The race itself consists of 5.5-mile laps, about half-dirt and half-paved.  The dirt section includes somewhat rough flat roads, and a short but difficult climb of about a 17% grade.  There are usually about two good lines up the climb, with deep, rough ruts everywhere else.

The climb tends to be the defining moment in this race, where everything can be won or lost. In order to have a chance at this race, you really need to make sure you get to the climb early.  If you are too far back in the crowd, there is a very good chance that someone in front of you won't be able to make it up the hill, and have to hop off the bike and run up.  And once someone stops, everyone behind them will most likely have to stop and run, too.

In order to be at the front on the hill, you really want to be at the front at the start line.  It may take a little extra energy to get up there, but it will be worth it.

I arrived at the course nice and early, to give myself plenty of time to get ready.  I picked up my bib numbers, got dressed, and pinned on my numbers.  I got the bike on the trainer and started my usual warmup routine.  It seemed like I still had plenty of time, so everything was going right on schedule.  As I was finishing my warmup, a couple teammates stopped by.  As I was loading the trainer into my trunk, we talked a little about the course, and teammate Brad mentioned that his bike had just broken on his trainer.  Crazy.  So, instead of racing, he would be up on the hill cheering us on.  But that little bit of chatting totally made me lose track of time.  I looked at my bike computer, and saw that it was 9:30, only 16 minutes before the race start.

I quickly put the rest of my stuff away, and rode over to the start area.  Unfortunately, I also needed to make a quick stop at the restroom.  With that taken care of, I made my way to the line, only to find everyone else already there.  I was basically dead last.  Again.  This is the third time I've made that mistake this year.  Other times, I was able to take some time and eventually make my way up to the front and put in a good effort.  But this course was different.  First of all, I didn't have a full race to catch up.  I needed to be near the front for that first climb, in only about 2 miles.  And a narrow road packed with racers was going to make that very difficult.

I managed to pick up some spots during those first couple miles, but nowhere near enough.  I was in the middle-to-back of the group of 60-ish racers when we got to the first climb.  And as expected, that was a big problem.  With thirty or so riders in front of me, someone was bound to have a problem on the climb.  And sure enough, many people had issues.  As one person fell, and then another, the racers behind were forced to stop and hop off their bikes.  And once you're off the bike on that hill, you're not going to get going again.  The only option is to pick up the bike and run, cyclocross-style.  So, that's what I did.  Bike on shoulder, I huffed and puffed my way up the hill.  Once at the top, I saw a number of people pulling off the cyclocross-style mount, but I had never done that before.  As they jumped on their bikes and started cruising away, I was stopped, swinging my leg over the saddle and slowly getting moving.  To make matters worse, once I actually got myself going, I realized that my cleats were packed with mud and I couldn't clip in.  I banged my shoes against my frame a few times, and kept trying to clip in.  I eventually managed to connect shoes to pedals, but it took about 1/4 mile.  I was getting really frustrated.

Carrying the bike on the first lap.  Not exactly part of my plan.  Photo:  Scott Shoup

After getting back up to cruising speed, I pushed hard to catch back up to the group.  I think I moved up quite a bit, getting close to the back of the main pack, but never quite connecting.  But as we cruised around on lap two, I got to the hill in basically the same place as on lap one, behind a whole bunch of people who were having trouble with the climb.  And once again, I got stopped and had to run my bike up the hill.  And once again, I had trouble clipping into my pedals.  And once again I watched the field ride away.  This time, I wasn't able to catch up like I did the previous lap.

And this is how you end up in trouble on the climb.  What a mess.  I'm at the lower left, bib number 534.  Pretty sure this was taken at nearly the exact same time as the other photo above.  Photo:  Bo Bickerstaff

I managed to connect with a few people along the way as we finished this lap, and started the third.  But we were far behind the main pack.  As this point, it was just a bunch of stragglers kind of working together, but it wasn't anything organized.  I don't even know if we were in the same category.  Because we were just a small group, the third time up the climb was much easier.  It's still a difficult climb, and picking your line is important, but it goes a lot smoother when there's no one around you.  I made it up the climb just fine, and kept on cruising.  Again, I connected with a few more people, and made my way to the final lap.

The fourth and final lap was pretty much the same as the third.  Working with a few people here and there, but completely out of contention, and at this point we're all just basically on a bike ride, not a race.  We cruised around, making our way around the course a final time.  Nothing very eventful, and I eventually approached the finish with a few other guys.  I'm not sure why, but we all sprinted even though we were so far off the podium it wasn't even funny.  I ended up finished in 31st place, about 3 minutes behind the winner.

Not an ideal finish, to be sure.  Far from my 3rd place finish last year.  But I learned a valuable lesson.  Well, I hope I learned it.  I thought I learned the same lesson earlier this season, but apparently not.  DON'T BE LATE TO THE LINE!!!  After this mess, I've decided I am willing to sacrifice a few minutes of warmup time to get myself near the front of the line.

Race:  Koppenberg, Circuit Race
Category: MM 40+ 4
Result: 31/66

2015 Denver Federal Center Classic Circuit Race (updated)

Updates below...

After disappointment at last weekend's Boulder Roubaix, I'm happy to report a good result this week.  The weekend's racing got off to a sketchy start with a lot of crappy weather rolling in toward the end of the week.  A few days of snow/rain and cold temperatures caused some issues for Saturday's Clasica de Rio Grande Road Race, particularly because the route included about a mile of dirt road.  On Friday morning, they decided that the dirt section was unrideable, and canceled the race.  Although I'm a little disappointed that one of the few road races in Colorado had to be canceled, I'm not really heartbroken because I wasn't going to be able to do it anyway.  We potentially had a soccer and football game to take our kids to, so I was going to skip the race.  In the end, football was canceled, too, although soccer managed to stay on schedule once they moved the game to an artificial-turf field.  But dry weather on Saturday, and a good forecast for Sunday meant that Sunday's Denver Federal Center Classic was still on.

This is a pretty popular race on the calendar, but this was my first time on the course.  I wasn't able to do this race last year for some reason.  The course is a relatively flat 4-mile lap through the Denver Federal Center complex, with a whole lotta turns.  Probably more turns than I've seen on any other course on our calendar.  I just took a look at the map, and I counted 16 turns per lap.  That's crazy.  I mean, a road race could have a lot of turns, but that might be over like 15 miles or something.  And a crit usually only has like 4-6 turns per lap.  This was just crazy.  You can see the course in my Strava link at the bottom of this post.  I guess I would say that the course is somewhat technical.  There are a lot of turns, and some of them go from a wide road onto a narrow one, which makes things bunch up a bit.  There are also two turns that lead directly into small climbs.  I almost hesitate to call them climbs, because they aren't very steep or long, but they're there.  And the recent weather left a little loose gravel and a few puddles on the course, but nothing directly on the turns.

Another thing the recent weather front left behind was the cold.  At race time, it was about 40 degrees and cloudy.  Not a lot of fun.  But at least it wasn't raining.  I got there plenty early, but it was so cold that I really didn't want to get out of my car.  I took my time getting ready to race, but wasn't too interested in sitting on my trainer in that miserable weather, so I just hung out listening to some podcasts.  I decided I needed to get in at least a little warmup, so I hopped on the trainer for about 15 minutes.  Not sure if that was enough, but that's all I could manage today.  I headed over towards the start/finish line to see the end of the SM4, SM5 and MM40+ 5 race, then got myself ready to go.

Unlike previous races, I put myself right on the front line of the race.  I didn't want to start the race playing catch-up like my last few races.  Once the race started, I decided I was going to try to stay right around the front 10 the whole time.  That's pretty much where I was for the first lap, but I lost a bit in the corners and spent a lot of the second lap probably around 20th place.  That second lap was a "prime" lap, where they offered come kind of prize for finishing the lap in first place.  I wasn't very interested in winning primes, but since the pace was going to pick up, I knew I wanted to be closer to the front.  About 2/3 of the way through the lap, I moved up a bit and was probably somewhere in the top-10 crossing the line on that lap.  I pretty much stayed around that position throughout the third and fourth lap, but dropped a bit again on the fifth lap.  Again stuck around 20th place halfway through that fifth lap, I knew I needed to move up.  As we approached one of the left-turns that led into a small hill, I knew that the group would get strung out and I would be pulled even further back.  At that point the race consisted of about 4 riders in a line at the front, followed by a big bunch, which I was near the back of.  So, as we sped down the straightaway toward the turn, I moved to the left side and sprinted toward the front.  I could hear someone in the group yelling something like "watch out for the dive-bomber!", assuming he meant me.  I think he thought I was going to be going full-blast into the inside of the turn, which can tend to be dangerous.  It's not looked upon very kindly.  But that wasn't actually my plan, so I ignored him.  I pulled around the group, and behind the short line of riders on the front, into 3rd or 4th position leading into the turn.

Happy with my position for the time being, I kept myself right around the front for the rest of the fifth lap, and as we crossed the start/finish line, we heard the bell announcing the final lap.  I was in a good spot, and just needed to stay there for this last lap.  As we wound our way through turn after turn,  the pace picked up, but nothing unreasonable.  A few riders made some half-hearted attacks, but nothing that seemed very strong, and they gave up quickly.

At the final right-hand turn, the pace was picking up significantly, and I made it through somewhere in the top-five.  The group was growing again as we came into the final quarter-mile.  I've been training hard, but I don't have a very strong sprint yet, so I knew I wouldn't be able to out-sprint most of these guys.  So, I started really early, pushing myself to the front of the group as hard as possible.  Coming into the final straightaway, I was at the front of the group with a lot of people bearing down quickly.  Soon enough, I started getting past, but not as quickly as I expected.  My legs were spent, but with about 100m to go, I managed to get out of the saddle.  I tried to sprint, but my legs just weren't working.  I may as well have been trying to pedal with Jell-O.  I actually thought I might fall right off the bike.  I would love to see a video of that finish, because I'm pretty sure I looked ridiculous.

But as stupid as I probably looked, I managed to stay upright as I crossed the line.  I ended up finishing in 7th place, my first top-10 finish as a Cat 4 (not counting time trials).  I am very happy with this finish, and think it bodes well for the rest of the season.  Looking forward to my next race in a couple weeks.

Race:  Denver Federal Center Classic, Circuit Race
Category: MM 40+ 4
Result: 7/39 46

Update:  That guy from the Louisville Crit, Garrick Mitchell from Thump, posted a video of the last lap of this race:

Best Laid Plans . . . 2015 Boulder Roubaix

Well, that didn't go as expected . . .

Today was the 2015 Boulder Roubaix.  This was a gold-level race with a lot of Rocky Mountain Road Cup points available.  Not one of my main goal-events of the year, but a prominent race nonetheless, and one I hoped to do well at.

I put some effort into this one:

• Rode a couple laps of the course a couple weekends ago
• Picked up my race number last night, so I could just concentrate on getting in a good warmup today.
• Ate well last night
• Ate well this morning
• Got there plenty early today
• Put some thought into wheels and tires.  Decided to ride my training wheels (Mavic Ksyerium Elite) and training tires (Gatorskins) since the wheels are pretty much bulletproof and the tires are really tough.  With a half-paved / half-dirt course, this seemed like a good idea.
• I dropped my tire pressure to about 90psi front and rear, instead of the usual 110-120psi, to give me a little better traction on the dirt and soften the ride a little bit.
• For a 90-ish minute race, I figured I'd only need one bottle of water.  But with the rough road, I thought I'd carry two half-bottles, instead of a full bottle.  This would put less stress on the bottle cages from all that bouncing around.  Plus I'd still have some water left if I lost a bottle.
• I warmed up on the roads instead of the trainer.  I thought this would help me get to the line sooner.
• Talked with teammate Keith to discuss a plan for the race, and how I could help him.

And all for nothing.

I started ok, ending up in the middle of the pack for the first few miles.  There was a lot of unnecessary braking, but it was manageable.  And then - ugh.  Flat tire.  Just about 4 1/2 miles into a 37-mile race.  I pulled off to the side and watched my race ride away from me.  At that point, I had all but given up on the day.  Even if I could change a tube in a couple minutes, that would be a couple minutes of hard chasing.  So, I just took my time.  Got my tube changed in about 8 minutes, watching other categories of racers go flying past.  I got back on the bike and continued on my lap.  I still rode pretty hard, but decided my day was done.  I passed a few people here and there, but was sure I wasn't making up any ground on my group.  As I approached the start/finish line, I debated continuing for my second and final lap, just to finish the race, but decided it wasn't worth it.  I was a little concerned about being out in the middle of nowhere and possibly getting another flat.  At that point, I would have to be patching a tube, which I really didn't want to be doing.  So, I rolled across the finish and turned in my timing chip, taking my first ever DNF (did not finish) in a race.

At that point, I was able to hang around the finish line for a while to catch the end of a couple other races, getting to see teammates Keith Collins and Brad Clemmons get 3rd place in their respective races.  Keith was actually in my race, but I guess he really didn't need any help from me after all.  And Brad was in the MM50+ 4 race.

After sticking around a bit to congratulate some teammates and find out how their races went, I sulked back to the car, got changed and headed home, stopping to drown my sorrows in some pizza on the way.  Not racing tomorrow, so back to training and getting ready for next weekend.

A couple thoughts:

• Should I have sacrificed the ride quality, and put the normal amount of air in my tires?  That may have prevented the pinch flat.
• Should I have tried some puncture-resistant tubes?  Almost certainly would have prevented a flat, but they are quite a bit heavier than normal tubes.
• Should I have invested in some new 25mm tires?  Not sure that would have made a difference.
• What if I had just ridden my normal race wheels and tires?

Road Racing - Types of races

After all of last season of race reports, and the first few reports of this season, I figured at some point I should probably describe the different types of races I typically see, so you know what I'm talking about when I do these reports.  For racers, this might seem fairly obvious, but for outsiders I think it might be pretty confusing.  I know it was confusing for me before I started racing.

So, without further ado, here are some descriptions of the types of races I see during the racing season, and keep in mind this is coming from an amateur Masters racer in Colorado, not a European pro or something:

Time Trial:
A time trial is fairly straightforward, which is why I put it first on this list.  Sometimes known as "the race of truth", this consists of a rider racing against the clock.  While multiple racers are on the course at the same time, they leave the starting line at different points.  In the case of my races, the time gaps are usually about 20 or 30 seconds apart.  You ride along a set course, typically an out-and-back or a loop, and get to the finish line as fast as you can.  The entire race is about the racer covering that distance faster than the other racers, with no interference.  There are no race tactics, no drafting, no working with teammates.  It's just you versus the road and the wind.  Therefore, I think success in a time trial comes down to three things:  1) Your strength, and how much steady power you can produce over the distance of the course, 2) your weight, including the bike, since your power output is being used to push that weight around, and 3) aerodynamics.  Without being able to draft or work with other riders, it is up to the individual to fight the wind themselves.  This is often done with equipment and clothing selections.  That is why you see time trialists riding crazy bikes and wearing skinsuits and funny helmets.  It's all about reducing drag.

At the start line, one official controls the clock while another holds your bike steady so you can get clipped into your pedals.  When the starters says go, you go.  Take a few pedal strokes to get up to speed, then get into your aero position and push it until the end.  Typically, you will start off at a hard, but not ridiculous, pace, and slowly pick it up throughout the race.  You want to cross the line with absolutely nothing left in the tank.

Some riders have very specific time trial equipment.  I am not one of those people.  For a time trial, I use my standard road bike, but with a slightly modified saddle position.  I also have clip-on aero bars, which allow me to get into a fairly good aero position on the bike.  I don't have a skin suit, so I will wear my aero road kit, along with some aero shoe covers.  I typically don't wear gloves, although I don't know if this actually makes a difference.  And last fall I bought one of those silly time-trial helmets off Craigslist for $40.  I've only done one time trial this year, and it looks like no one took my picture, so I can't really show you what it looks like.  I won't be doing another time trial until about mid-May, so maybe I'll get a photo then.

Time trials are really boring for spectators.  They leave the start line, then show up again a while later.  There's no real racing action.  As a racer, it's nice to have people cheering you on, but as a spectator, there's just not a whole lot to see.

Criterium:
Criteriums seem kind of hard to understand because there is no set distance.  The easiest way to explain it is that it is multiple laps around a short course for a set period of time, and the first one across the line wins.  Easy enough.

The courses are typically around a mile, plus or minus.  The course is completely closed to traffic, so racers can take up the full width of the road.  The race is given a fixed time.  In my case, it's usually about 40 minutes.  As the race proceeds, the race officials keep track of the group's average lap times, and decides how many more laps to go until the race reaches it's designated time.  Usually there will be an official standing at the side of the start/finish line with cards showing how many laps you have left, often starting with anywhere from 5-10 laps to go.

Most of the race is spent trying to gain position while staying in the draft of other riders to save your energy.  Sometimes you are saving energy for a sprint finish, or sometimes you want to try a breakaway and leave the main pack behind.  While a time trial is about expending hard, steady power for the duration of the event, criteriums are about saving your energy and using that extra power only when you need it.  Maybe you're the strongest rider in the race, but if you're working harder than everyone else, you're not going to win.

Most criteriums also have something known as "primes" (pronounced "preems").  These are laps, usually in the middle of the race, where some kind of bonus is offered for the winner of that particular lap.  These are kind of fun because they tend to break up the monotony of the single group just going around and around for 40 minutes.  Sometimes a prime can be cash, but more often it seems to be a gift certificate to a local restaurant or something.  So, maybe someone in the race knows they aren't strong enough to win the whole race, but they might be able to spend that energy to win a box of Clif Bars or something 15 minutes into the race.  Primes also give the spectators something fun to cheer for in the middle of the race.

Criteriums are great for spectators because the racing is fast and crowded, with a pack of racers coming past every couple minutes.  There is also usually an announcer keeping things interested, giving a little play-by-play on the race.  And I really hate to say this, but there are crashes.  When you have a lot of racers packed into a small course with a lot of corners, it's bound to happen.  Like NASCAR, people won't say they come for the crashes, but you know they do.

There are usually a large number of races throughout the day, with each category on the course by themselves.  With such a short lap, it is difficult to get multiple categories racing at the same time.  Having a timed race like this allows the officials to keep the event moving on schedule.

Criteriums are very popular in the US, because they are easier to organize than other types of races.  Because the laps are so short, it requires closing a minimum amount of roadway.  This means less disruption to the neighbors, and fewer requirements for things like traffic control.  Criteriums are often held in places like office parks that are nearly empty on weekends.  They may also take place on a couple blocks of downtown streets where it's easy to draw good crowds.


Road Race:
A road race is a long race over a fixed distance.  Instead of point-to-point races like you might be familiar with, like watching the Tour de France on TV, these races typically start and finish in the same place.  They consist of a number of laps like a criterium, but the laps are significantly longer.  A race for my category might be something like 3 laps of a 15-mile course.

Road races, at least the ones here in Colorado, sometimes include dirt roads to make things interesting.  Because of the amount of road being used, these races require a lot more traffic control.  That means they often take place on the quieter country roads where traffic management is easier.  That also means dirt roads are a lot more plentiful.

Unlike criteriums, road races often include multiple categories on the course at one time.  Often they will start a few minutes apart, with the "faster" groups going first.  That way, the faster group is on the road, but the slower group behind them has less of a chance of catching up with them and causing confusion.  They will slowly spread apart on the road, but because the laps are so long, the faster group probably won't be fast enough to lap the slower group.

Typically, each category will include their own lead vehicle out in front of the lead group of riders, a follow vehicle behind the end of the race, which can assist riders who have quit, crashed, or gotten a flat tire, and an official on a motorcycle keeping an eye out for violations.

Road races typically don't completely close roads completely.  Often, the road is closed in the direction of the race, but traffic is moving normally in the other direction.  That means the race usually has full access to one lane of traffic, unlike the races you might see on TV.  The race will have a "centerline rule", which means if you cross over the centerline of the road, into oncoming traffic, you will be penalized or pulled from the race.  Even on dirt or unmarked country roads, this rule is enforced, whether there is an actual centerline or not.

The goal:  Finish before the other guy.  Pretty simple.

Circuit Race:
I have seen a couple different descriptions of circuit races.  Sometimes they say it's the same rules as a criterium, but on a longer course, usually 2-3 miles per lap.  Other times, it's similar rules to a road race, but on with much shorter laps.  I don't know.  Around here, I have seen a few races advertised as circuit races, and they tend to be more like shorter road races, not longer criteriums.



Stage Race:
A stage race is an event consisting of multiple days of racing, with your time accumulating throughout each stage.  Prizes are awarded for each race, as well as an overall prize to the winner at the end of all the stages.  This is what you see when you watch something like the Tour de France on TV.

For local amateur racing, like what I do, a stage race will usually include three or four stages.  I most often see 3-stage races, from Friday through Sunday, which include a time trial, a criterium and a road race.  You need to complete one stage to move onto the next.  If you crash out of Saturday's crit, you don't get to participate in Sunday's road race, for example.

Stage races have their own strategy, particularly if you are aiming to win the entire race.  You need to keep an eye on all the other racers, particularly those who seem to be in contention for the overall win.  If you are in a good position for the overall race and you see someone take off to try to win a particular stage, you have to determine whether that person is a threat to your position or not.  There's no point in wasting energy chasing someone who is so far behind you in the standings that it doesn't matter.

Stage races are a fun challenge, and a good test for an all-around rider.  They also tend to be much bigger events, with better prizes, bigger crowds, and racers coming from far and wide to participate.

Omnium:
In road racing, an Omnium is very similar to a stage race.  Multiple stages, with prizes for each race and for the overall.  The difference is that the overall win is not determined by the lowest time.  In an Omnium, points are awarded for your placing on each stage.  You get the most points for first place, with fewer points for each placing.  Maybe on a particular stage, the top 20 riders get a certain number of points.  After all the stages, the rider with the most accumulated points wins the event.

Unlike a stage race, this type of event often allows you to pick and choose the individual events you want to enter.  You don't need to complete one event to participate in the next.  Riders still accumulate points, but it's obviously easier to do well in the overall points classification if you place well in all the events.

As a side note, the "Omnium" is also a track racing event.  I don't really know anything about track racing, but my understanding is that a track omnium has a very specific set of events, while a road-racing omnium can be whatever the organizer wants it to be.

2015 Front Range Cycling Classic - U.S. Air Force Academy Road Race

After a hard race on Saturday at Lousiville, I headed south to Colorado Springs for the US Air Force Academy Road Race.  I did this one last year, too, and it was one of my favorites.  This is a hard course, but really enjoyable.  There aren't a ton of road races out here, but this is one of my favorites.  Certainly the most scenic.

Since this is one of the early-season collegiate races, they focus mostly on the college categories, with a few USAC categories thrown in for good measure.  At these college races, they tend to combine a lot of groups so there are fewer overall categories, and this was no exception.  There were actually three categories I was eligible for: Men 3/4, Men 4/5, and Master Men.  As a Cat 4, I had the option of racing with Cat 3s or Cat 5s.  I looked at the results, and saw quite a few Cat 4s in the 3/4 race, but I'm not sure why.  Maybe they were just looking for an extra challenge.  And Masters Men would have had me racing against my age group, but those open Masters categories tend to be full of ex-pros and stuff, and can be pretty brutal.  So, I opted for the Cat 4/5 race.  Sure, I'd be racing against some younger guys, but at least they'd be closer to my level.

Once again, I got to the race plenty early, to give myself time to relax a bit, chat with other racers, and get ready to race.  First stop was registration to get my number.  Then back to the car to get the bike set up and get dressed.  Overall, an uneventful pre-race day.  With such a long race, I didn't think a huge warmup would be needed.  For something like a time trial or a crit, you need to be really warmed up when you get to the start line, but for a nearly 2-hour race like this, you have a little time to ease into it.

I knew they were going to have lead and follow vehicles for each race, so I grabbed my extra wheels and headed toward the start.  I bring extra wheels to every race, for a couple reasons.  First, if I get to the race and something happened, like a mystery busted spoke or a flat tire minutes before the start, I can just swap my other wheel and be ready to go.  Also, if you get a puncture during the race you can swap wheels, if there is a place to get them.  In a criterium, there is usually a wheel pit.  You leave the wheels at the tent before the race, and if you have a problem, you can limp your way to the pit and swap your wheel, then jump back into the race the next time the group comes around.  In a road race, they often have follow vehicles, usually a pick-up truck where racers can throw their wheels.  If you flat, you pull over, hopefully the follow vehicle is back there somewhere, and you throw on your other wheel and try to catch back up to the race.  In this case, they had follow vehicles, and as I was standing around waiting for one to drive up to the start line, my race was getting ready to start.  There were a number of groups starting at about 5 minutes apart, so a lead vehicle would drive down the road, then the racers, then the follow vehicle.  Then, a few minutes later, the next race would line up to start, with their vehicles.  As I waited for my race's follow vehicle, the earlier groups were taking off.  And no sign of my vehicle.  I asked, and one of the people working said it would be showing up soon.  But I was getting nervous, seeing the entire group of racers lined up and ready to go.  Eventually, I gave up waiting.  I dumped my bike, grabbed my wheels and ran back to my car.  I threw them in the back and ran back to my bike.  I got myself to the start line about 2 minutes before the whistle, and I was at the very back of the pack.  Definitely not where I wanted to be.  That's two days in a row now.  I need to make sure this doesn't happen again.

After that unfortunate start, though, everything kind of went as I expected.  As I said, this is a tough course, with a lot of climbing, and I'm not the best climber.  I'm fairly strong, but I'm also hauling around a lot of extra weight.  The course consists of a 13.5-mile lap, with over 1,000 feet of elevation gain per lap.  There are three smaller climbs on the first half of the lap, with a 3-mile long climb to the finish at the end of each lap.  In my race, we did three laps.  The total race ended up being about 40 miles, and 3,500 feet of climbing.

Although I started at the back, I moved my way up through the group throughout the first lap, ending up probably in the first third of the pack as we started the big climb.  From there, you found out who the good climbers were.  The fast climbers took off, while the rest of us watched.  We never saw that group again.  Throughout the next three miles of climbing, the rest of the pack mostly stayed together.  Although we were strung out a bit, it was mostly a big pack with a few riders popping off the back.  As we came to the finish line the first time, the course leveled out, and eventually turned back downhill.  During this downhill, our chase group consolidated again.  At that point, some people were trying to put on a hard chase to the leaders.  However, my team had a rider, Joshua Gottlob, up there in that group, and I didn't want to do any work that would allow us to catch them.  I didn't know how many were up in the lead group, but I assumed around 10.  That meant that any points and prizes available were up the road in that group.  Joshua is really strong, and I wasn't about to do any work that would allow us to catch his group and ruin his chances of a top-10 finish.

We were riding fast, but without an official nearby giving us info about the time gap to the break, we had no idea if we were catching them or not.  I couldn't see anything ahead, so I assumed there had a few minutes on us.  I had a feeling we wouldn't be catching them, no matter how hard we were riding.  If the lead group was about 10 guys, they would be moving pretty fast, too.

As we climbed the big hill the second time, it was a lot of the same.  We stayed together pretty well throughout, although we got strung out a bit.  Once again, we all came back together on the downhill portion of the last lap.  And once again, it was fast and furious along the flats toward the base of the final climb, with no leaders in sight.

As we started the final 3-mile climb to the finish, I was near the front of the group, and one rider sprinted off the front.  I decided to chase, put in a few hard pedal strokes, then changed my mind.  If he was strong enough to stay away, I didn't have the legs to keep up.  If he wasn't, he would be back in the group before long.  And that's exactly what happened.  A few guys from the CU cycling team moved up to the front and picked up the pace a little, and eventually that rider was pulled back into the pack.  The pace was quicker, but manageable.  I didn't look back, but I assume we were getting strung out once again.  The CU guys were pushing pretty hard.  I managed to stay on their wheel, and eventually another teammate, Mark Bakewell, joined me.  For a while, it seemed like there were a few other guys with us, but eventually it was just me, Mark and the CU dudes.  Mark sprinted to the front of the group, hung there for a little bit, but eventually lost his legs and came back.  But the five of us seemed to be doing a decent job of putting some distance to the other riders.  I was still on the back of the last CU guy, with Mark a little behind me.  But with probably about 500m to go, the first CU guy took off, and the others followed.  I didn't have any legs left, and watched them ride away.  I took a quick look over my shoulder and saw one or two guys back there, but most of the group was still back a ways.  I pushed a little harder, and then the finish line came into view.

Looking at the finish line, I thought I might just be able to roll up there without being challenged.  But in a few seconds, I heard another rider sprinting up behind me.  I assumed it was Mark, and was a little annoyed that he was trying to outsprint me to the line after all that climbing.  But as he went past, I realized it was someone else, followed in a couple seconds by another guy.  Crap.  I didn't really have much left, but got out of the saddle and pushed as hard as I could, overtaking one of those guys just before the line.  I looked back, and Mark was just a couple seconds behind me.

Rolling through the finish, I saw Joshua ahead and rode over to see how he did.  Turns out that lead group had nine riders, and he finished 7th.  Nice!  Looking at the final results, it looks like that group splintered at the end, with the nice of them crossing the line spread out over two minutes.  From there, it was about 3 minutes until the CU guys crossed the line, with me about 10 seconds after that, in 14th place.  I was pretty happy with that result, considering I finished in 29th place in this race last year.

I wish I had some pictures or something to show, but the photogs don't really come out for these long races.  Unlike a crit where the racers tend to show up every few minutes, road races tend to be way more spread out, without a lot of opportunities for exciting photos.  And especially with the race being farther away from the metro Denver area, I'll bet they didn't want to make the long trip for the limited photo opportunities.  Too bad, because like I said, it's a beautiful course.  So, you get a lot of writing, and no fun pictures.  Sorry.

Race:  USAFA Road Race
Category: SM 4/5
Result: 14/74

2015 Louisville Criterium

I think I squandered an opportunity with this one.  Coming off a rest week, I was feeling good and was hoping for a really good result in this race, but it didn't come together the way I planned.

This was my first criterium of the season in a 40+ age group category.  My other crit, at CSU, was an open Cat 4/5 race, so I had to race with the "kids".  In this race, I would be racing other Cat 4 guys, age 40 and up.  For my category, this is a 40-minute race around a 0.8-mile course.  I'm not sure if I've really explained criterium racing in this blog, but essentially it is a lot of short laps over a set amount of time.  You race a bunch of laps until the officials determine your average lap speed, and then with somewhere around 5 laps to go, they start displaying a lap counter at the start/finish line, so you know how much farther you have to go.

I got to the race plenty early, and picked up my number from registration.  After chatting with a teammate for a while, I got dressed and pinned my number on.  I had a bite to eat, and started my warmup.  I probably managed about a 20-minute warmup, continuing to eat and drink.  It was a chilly morning, but I decided I would be working hard during the race, generating some heat, so I would wear the normal kit along with some arm warmers.  Typically during a race, my legs are doing enough work to stay plenty warm, but the arms tend to just sit there, so I like to wear the arm warmers to make sure they don't get too cold.

As I was finishing my warmup, my wife and kids showed up to watch, which was cool.  With two kids in spring sports, it can be tough to manage bike racing, soccer and football.  I sometimes have to miss some races to go to games, and if I do race, it can be tough for them to come watch.  But it all worked out for this race; football had a bye week, and soccer was right around lunchtime, so we could finish the race and head right to the game.  And besides, crits are just fun to watch.  It's fast, the racers pass by every couple minutes, and there tend to be crashes, if you're into that sort of thing.

After the previous race finished, I rode one lap of the course to get a feel for the turns, and got myself in line.  Once again, I was kind of near the back, but wasn't too concerned about it.  Forty minutes is a long time, and I didn't think I'd have much of a problem moving closer to the front within the first couple laps.  After a review of the rules from our race official, the blew the whistle and away we went!

The first few laps were a little sketchy, particularly in the corners as we were still in a large group and had a mix of faster and slower racers.  That means there were people who wanted to cruise quick and smooth through the corners, and those who maybe wanted to take it a little slower.  That tends to mean a lot of unnecessary braking and people who aren't holding their lines.  But after a few laps, the people who aren't cornering well tend to get weeded out, and you end up with a much more cohesive group.  You generally take your laps with that same group for a while . . . until someone decides to make a move.

At some point during that first half of the race, someone took a flyer off the front.  I never saw it happen, so I assume he broke away before I got up there.  At certain times, I could see that lead rider and the lead moto up ahead, but I couldn't tell what team he was on.  In my opinion, a single rider away that early in the race would probably burn himself out, and eventually get pulled back into the group without much effort, so I wasn't too concerned.  But as a few more laps went by, and teammates on the sidelines were yelling out the gap as we rode by, I realized the guy was actually gaining ground, not losing it.  If we were going to be fighting for first place, instead of second, we would need to work together to reel him back in.  I started yelling to the group to pick up the pace and chase him down.  I wasn't going to do all the work myself, so I was trying to get guys to rotate through the front as a paceline.  And here I made my biggest mistake of the race . . .

As I mentioned, I couldn't see who was in the break.  Maybe I could have asked the other riders at the front, but it didn't occur to me.  As we completed laps and sped through the start/finish banner, I could hear the race announcer for a split second.  It's hard to hear exactly what he was saying, but a number of times I heard him mentioning "RealD", another team in the race.  I assumed he was saying that a RealD rider was away in the break.  Looking around, I couldn't see any RealD riders with me, so I figured we should all be chasing.  Unfortunately, misunderstanding the race announcer caused a big problem.  It turns out the leader wasn't from RealD, but from Thump Cycling.  And one of the riders I thought I was "working" with was also from Thump.  I had spent much of the race riding behind him, starting into his seatpost-mounted GoPro.  He had no interest in chasing down his teammate, or helping the rest of us do the same.  So, while I was sitting there getting frustrated that our group wasn't making any progress, the Thump rider was doing exactly what he needed to do, taking it easy on the front of the pack, doing his best to disrupt any plans we had to try to speed up the race.

Out front for a bit.  Looks like I'm breathing pretty hard.  At the far left is Garrick Mitchell, the Thump Cycling guy who spent most of the race keeping us from catching his teammate. Photo: Brent Doerzman

Still out front.  Doing more work than I should be.  Photo: Craig Perez

With a few laps to go, it was obvious that the break was going to stay away.  At that point, it became a race for second place.  I decided to follow through on my original plan, which was to try to take a flyer on the climb at 3 laps to go.  As we started the climb, I got out of the saddle and tried to put some distance between me and the rest of the group.  I'm not exactly sure, but I think I spread out the group a bit, and made it through the start/finish line in second place with 2 laps to go.  I stayed in this spot throughout the penultimate lap, and thought I was doing ok.  I glanced back, and the rest of the field was still there, though.  After the start/finish line, there is a long downhill, and I took the turns as fast as I could.  I could see/feel one other rider behind me, and was hoping it was just us.  But as we made the final turn and began to climb, I looked back, and saw that basically everyone was right there.  And I had spent so much energy during the last half of the race that I didn't have a whole lot left for the climb.  I did the best I could, and I'm sure everyone was somewhat tired, but as we climbed toward the finish line, they started to swarm around me.  I gave it my best shot, but there was nothing left in my legs.  I didn't even have the strength to get out of the saddle for the sprint.  I rolled across the line about a second or two after the 2nd place finisher, in 14th place.

Think this might have been the start of the final lap.  I had broken away from the main pack with this one other guy.  But you can still see the pack back there, and they caught back up quickly on the downhill.  Photo: Brent Doerzman

Post-race run-down with teammates Gordon Smith and Robert Tarrall. Photo: Brent Doerzman

Although the result wasn't what I was hoping for, it was a good learning experience.  Since the race ended, I've been trying to thing of what I could have done differently.  Some random thoughts on this race:

• I needed to be closer to the front at the beginning of the race.  If I have been there, maybe I would have seen the break go away, and known who was in it.  But I wanted to get in my pre-race lap to see the course.  In the future, I won't wait until the break before my race to scout the course.  I'll try to go earlier in the day, between some other races.
• I need to talk to other riders more.  Maybe one of them knew who was in the break.  I was just going by what I heard the announcer say as we crossed the start/finish line at every lap.  I wouldn't have expected the guy's teammate to keep me in the loop about his plans, but someone up there probably knew something.
• Try not to do so much work so early.  Other riders weren't helping, so I was trying to keep the group moving, taking too many pulls and spending too much time on the front.  I mean, I knew this, but I also wanted to try to catch the break.
• When you're at the front of a pack, people tend to take your photos more often.  Stuck in the middle of a group, you end up kind of nondescript, and it's harder to show up in pictures.  There are usually a number of photographers at these things, and I seemed to show up in many more photos than usual this time.  However, the pics I've included here are from friends and teammates, not the pros.

As an interesting coda to this race, I ran into the Thump guy at the Air Force Road Race the following day (report coming in a separate post), and talked to him for a minute while we were riding.  I had recognized him as "Thump Guy With GoPro", and asked if he was at Louisville.  We introduced ourselves, and he mentioned that the video from his GoPro was on YouTube.  I checked it out when I got home.  It's interesting to see this view of the race, and his commentary on his own strategy compared to what I was thinking.  It is also just a good look at what happens inside a criterium.  Enjoy, there is a lot of me in this video.

Race:  Louisville Criterium
Category: MM 40+ 4
Result: 14/56

Hard ride during a recovery week

Even though this is a "recovery week", that doesn't mean I'm doing nothing.  Just less than usual.  In fact, today was a really hard workout.  The idea behind the recovery week is that my overall week will be significantly less stress, but that can come in many forms.  Generally, my workouts this week are shorter and easier, but they still threw one really hard interval workout at me.

TrainerRoad - "Striped"

As you can see, there are a lot of high-intensity, but relatively short, intervals.  A decent amount of stress, but not unbearable. This ended up being a somewhat high stress score (TSS) of 81.  But my last two workouts were only 43 and 20, so extremely low.  And I'm not scheduled for any kind of workout tomorrow.  This easy week, combined with my total rest day tomorrow, should leave me well-rested for my two races this weekend.

Today's Power Management Chart

As you can see from the above chart, my "form" (the gray shaded area) is still going up, even though I worked pretty hard today.  Come back in a few days to see how I ended up doing in this weekend's races.