Power file here: DraffenTom1082007.wko
The countdown started Oct 9th, 2006. I crossed the line in 11th place at the Okayama Int'l Circuit 2 hr Enduro. The race was exhilarating on a fast 3 km loop. The course map is a bunch of turns, in the wrong condition it could be pretty dangerous. That was today.
But, for the leadup... Saturday we're driving up to Okayama to camp for the night to get some relaxation on Sunday. Half-way up, BAM! Flat tire on the RV. We sat in Fukuyama service area for 2 1/2 hrs waiting for the base to send someone up to change the tire, as they were nice enough to leave a very TINY lug wrench to take off the pneumatically installed lug nuts. By the time we left, it was well past our chance to get into the intended campground, so we camped in the next closest service area to the course and called it a night.
Sunday morning we were up and stopped nearby the course. I needed to get a pre-race day spin in and we were going to hit the onsen to get cleaned up. The bike path that goes from Bizen north was gorgeous. I got out and would normally have done 2 hrs of recovery zone spinning with some intervals but the legs felt SO good, I bumped to the bottom of Z1. The temps were great in the low 70's and a gorgeous multi-use path. I hit up my intervals and 60 km later, called it a morning. I knew then that the legs were in form. There's just something you feel.
Onsen, lunch, groceries and a trip up to the course. We settled down for the evening outside the gate. Weather had been gorgeous so far, even though the forecast was rain before we left to the circuit.
We woke up in the morning, gates open at 5 am to get to parking and setup. Pouring rain! Ahhh..
Fast forward through setting up our area, picking up race packages for me and the four kids. The kids got started with races and participated for the fun of it. Oldest came in "pack fodder" in the 12/under, while the next two oldest were last and second to last in the same race! Ah well, it was all about participation. #4 child raced last and she came in middle of the pack in her race, 9/under. They had fun, mostly - but it was a quick lesson in winning/losing/participating.
I hopped on the trainer at around 8:45 am to get warmed up. I ran through a really basic warm up. A 2 hour race was going to give plenty of warm up. When I finally jumped off the trainer, shivers went down the spine. It was all there. I've raced a little more than a handful of times this year, but today was different. The legs felt different, and quite honestly - it sent shivers. It was time to rock.
Off we went. Four races in progress: teams (white numbers), 2 hr (pink numbers), 3 hr (yellow numbers), 6 hr (orange numbers?)
The rain was still coming down, and the course was going to be very dangerous at speed. First "S" turn out of the gun, two guys off the front go down in full view. That got everyone's attention. For the next hour, there was at least one crash per lap. There were specific lines in each corner that you didn't want to take, and any time someone took it, they were guaranteed to meet pavement. I have no idea which lap it was, but at one point a guy went down right in front of me in the turn. How I didn't go down is beyond me, but as he sprawled out on the asphalt, I rolled right over his arm, felt the bump and pushed on.
After the third lap we rolled on to the straight and I decided to give my legs a stretch. My heart rate had hardly had a workout so let's see what folks have in their legs. I rolled up on the inside and no one followed. I flicked the powermeter over to current watts for some guidance, stuck it to the 300's and tapped out a rhythm. When I saw no one followed, I set a pace I knew I could handle if I was alone for the next hour and 45. 2 1/2 laps later (~15 min), a fellow I'll shall call "tri-guy" pulled up along side, dragging along a small bunch. The bunch was mostly white/yellow numbers with 4-5 pink numbers scattered in the group of about 15 riders. Some thinning out accomplished.
Tri-guy was in full blown tri-gear, aero bars and bull horns and was riding an enormous chain ring. On the flats he could hammer out a rhythm, but once the turns/climbs came, he'd fade. He was a 2 hr solo rider - marked man for me. A rider from "Team Kens" was in the group, solo 2 hr guy. He was on his feet in every uphill stretch and he was rocking like mad only 45 min into the race. Ignoring him, he's gonna pop soon. 3 other 2 hr solo riders came in and out of view. A number of the strong riders I recognized from other races had already been dropped or crashed (saw some of those, heard many more).
The next 45 minutes was a good steady race around the course. Portions began to dry up, and speeds began to increase. Our pack continued to thin and I believe by the 1 hr 15 min-ish, we were down to 6-7 riders in our "breakaway" group jamming along. Time to start to work. I pushed up on one of the turns and ramped up the pace a little. I wanted some more thinning and got it. My legs were giving everything I wanted and then some.
Half hour to go and the pace started to climb. At one point a gap opened in front of me and I let it go. Ahead of me were two 6 hr riders and 1 relay-team rider. Knowing the competition for my race were behind me in the paceline, I let off the gas to let the gap get closed. A rider was nice enough to give me a nudge and I smiled over my shoulder and waved. He gave me a push on the butt to get me moving and I soft pedaled - nice enough to grab his wheel as he put his bike in the gap.
Two laps to go, and two riders miscalculated. A rider from the six hour race took off, motioned for a 2 hr rider to take the leadout and they made the dash - hitting the start/finish line at 1 hr 56 min. Aww... too bad, too early. One more lap to go guys! Tri-guy pushed on ahead and we all grabbed for a wheel as he settled into TT mode. Back side straight and we made ready for the finish. 1 km out, and the leadout guy tried again. This time his buddy missed the wheel and I was on it. Before he knew it we were heading for the finish. He peeled off when he saw me and I gave it gas. I got a gap, avoided the road furniture in front and hammered with all I had left in the tank. It was enough! I threw both fists in the air with exuberance. Top of the podium!
This was the peak event of my fall season, and to hit the peak event "on peak," "in form," and "on the top" was simply fantastic. The final time difference was about 6 hundredths of a second after I let up and crossed the line with hands off the bars. Need to be careful about that next time! Only five of us stuck to the last lap, and only three were able to hang to the finish in contention.
And with that, 2007 season is finished. Out with a win. The calendar will soon reflect the projected 2008 season. USA, here I come!
The countdown started Oct 9th, 2006. I crossed the line in 11th place at the Okayama Int'l Circuit 2 hr Enduro. The race was exhilarating on a fast 3 km loop. The course map is a bunch of turns, in the wrong condition it could be pretty dangerous. That was today.
But, for the leadup... Saturday we're driving up to Okayama to camp for the night to get some relaxation on Sunday. Half-way up, BAM! Flat tire on the RV. We sat in Fukuyama service area for 2 1/2 hrs waiting for the base to send someone up to change the tire, as they were nice enough to leave a very TINY lug wrench to take off the pneumatically installed lug nuts. By the time we left, it was well past our chance to get into the intended campground, so we camped in the next closest service area to the course and called it a night.
Sunday morning we were up and stopped nearby the course. I needed to get a pre-race day spin in and we were going to hit the onsen to get cleaned up. The bike path that goes from Bizen north was gorgeous. I got out and would normally have done 2 hrs of recovery zone spinning with some intervals but the legs felt SO good, I bumped to the bottom of Z1. The temps were great in the low 70's and a gorgeous multi-use path. I hit up my intervals and 60 km later, called it a morning. I knew then that the legs were in form. There's just something you feel.
Onsen, lunch, groceries and a trip up to the course. We settled down for the evening outside the gate. Weather had been gorgeous so far, even though the forecast was rain before we left to the circuit.
We woke up in the morning, gates open at 5 am to get to parking and setup. Pouring rain! Ahhh..
Fast forward through setting up our area, picking up race packages for me and the four kids. The kids got started with races and participated for the fun of it. Oldest came in "pack fodder" in the 12/under, while the next two oldest were last and second to last in the same race! Ah well, it was all about participation. #4 child raced last and she came in middle of the pack in her race, 9/under. They had fun, mostly - but it was a quick lesson in winning/losing/participating.
I hopped on the trainer at around 8:45 am to get warmed up. I ran through a really basic warm up. A 2 hour race was going to give plenty of warm up. When I finally jumped off the trainer, shivers went down the spine. It was all there. I've raced a little more than a handful of times this year, but today was different. The legs felt different, and quite honestly - it sent shivers. It was time to rock.
Off we went. Four races in progress: teams (white numbers), 2 hr (pink numbers), 3 hr (yellow numbers), 6 hr (orange numbers?)
The rain was still coming down, and the course was going to be very dangerous at speed. First "S" turn out of the gun, two guys off the front go down in full view. That got everyone's attention. For the next hour, there was at least one crash per lap. There were specific lines in each corner that you didn't want to take, and any time someone took it, they were guaranteed to meet pavement. I have no idea which lap it was, but at one point a guy went down right in front of me in the turn. How I didn't go down is beyond me, but as he sprawled out on the asphalt, I rolled right over his arm, felt the bump and pushed on.
After the third lap we rolled on to the straight and I decided to give my legs a stretch. My heart rate had hardly had a workout so let's see what folks have in their legs. I rolled up on the inside and no one followed. I flicked the powermeter over to current watts for some guidance, stuck it to the 300's and tapped out a rhythm. When I saw no one followed, I set a pace I knew I could handle if I was alone for the next hour and 45. 2 1/2 laps later (~15 min), a fellow I'll shall call "tri-guy" pulled up along side, dragging along a small bunch. The bunch was mostly white/yellow numbers with 4-5 pink numbers scattered in the group of about 15 riders. Some thinning out accomplished.
Tri-guy was in full blown tri-gear, aero bars and bull horns and was riding an enormous chain ring. On the flats he could hammer out a rhythm, but once the turns/climbs came, he'd fade. He was a 2 hr solo rider - marked man for me. A rider from "Team Kens" was in the group, solo 2 hr guy. He was on his feet in every uphill stretch and he was rocking like mad only 45 min into the race. Ignoring him, he's gonna pop soon. 3 other 2 hr solo riders came in and out of view. A number of the strong riders I recognized from other races had already been dropped or crashed (saw some of those, heard many more).
The next 45 minutes was a good steady race around the course. Portions began to dry up, and speeds began to increase. Our pack continued to thin and I believe by the 1 hr 15 min-ish, we were down to 6-7 riders in our "breakaway" group jamming along. Time to start to work. I pushed up on one of the turns and ramped up the pace a little. I wanted some more thinning and got it. My legs were giving everything I wanted and then some.
Half hour to go and the pace started to climb. At one point a gap opened in front of me and I let it go. Ahead of me were two 6 hr riders and 1 relay-team rider. Knowing the competition for my race were behind me in the paceline, I let off the gas to let the gap get closed. A rider was nice enough to give me a nudge and I smiled over my shoulder and waved. He gave me a push on the butt to get me moving and I soft pedaled - nice enough to grab his wheel as he put his bike in the gap.
Two laps to go, and two riders miscalculated. A rider from the six hour race took off, motioned for a 2 hr rider to take the leadout and they made the dash - hitting the start/finish line at 1 hr 56 min. Aww... too bad, too early. One more lap to go guys! Tri-guy pushed on ahead and we all grabbed for a wheel as he settled into TT mode. Back side straight and we made ready for the finish. 1 km out, and the leadout guy tried again. This time his buddy missed the wheel and I was on it. Before he knew it we were heading for the finish. He peeled off when he saw me and I gave it gas. I got a gap, avoided the road furniture in front and hammered with all I had left in the tank. It was enough! I threw both fists in the air with exuberance. Top of the podium!
This was the peak event of my fall season, and to hit the peak event "on peak," "in form," and "on the top" was simply fantastic. The final time difference was about 6 hundredths of a second after I let up and crossed the line with hands off the bars. Need to be careful about that next time! Only five of us stuck to the last lap, and only three were able to hang to the finish in contention.
And with that, 2007 season is finished. Out with a win. The calendar will soon reflect the projected 2008 season. USA, here I come!
on October 8, 2007, 5:48 pm
Cheers
Alex
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