First, I have to give a shout to Rich with the Red Rose Races or All That is Good races, or whatever he is calling himself this year. The event was run very well with the only glitch being an excruciatingly long wait for the TT results on Sunday.

I rode this race last year with Westwood Velo in the 3/4, but was no where near prepared like I was this year. I definitely enjoyed it much more this year.

Pete and I rode up Friday, and boy were we glad for that. The road race course was way different than last year and pre-riding the course was a huge advantage as I watched a number of guys slide out in the unswept corners with some serious gravel.

Road Race:
The road race started off like normal, neutral and I rolled out about mid-pack. Moving up took forever with the yellow line rule and by the time I did, a Bike Rack guy was off the front solo. We let it sit there for almost a whole lap before another Bike Rack guy moved out of the pack and up to him. With a well established break of about 15-20 seconds and the only full team (6-7 riders) represented, time to get into that break and make it stick.

I launched 4-5 times, but was marked immediately by Bike Rack guys dragging the pack up to me if I got any gap at all. A couple other folks did the same and those moves were also marked. That insured one thing - the break wasn't going to stick. I'm convinced that had the Bike Rack guys let 2-3 riders out of the pack one at a time, the break would have stuck. But, their insistence on keeping the break to only their riders only kept the pace of the pack just a little bit too fast, so as we cruised through the S/F of lap 2, the break was over. One guy did get up to the break eventually, but it only lasted about 3 miles with the two of them.

Bike Rack attempted to keep the pace up with half a lap to go and into the technical finish, but it just didn't happen. The pack collapsed on them a number of times through the technical sections inside 2km to go, and pretty much how you came out of the S-turn @ 300 meters out was pretty much how you finished. I was 12th, and settled in to watch the other races.

TT:
Pete and I drove over the TT course Sat afternoon and then rode the technical portions on the TT bikes. It made a huge difference knowing where we could take turns in/out of the aerobars and knowing what was coming. But at the end of the day, I blew the TT. I held back WAY too much and left too much in the tank. I was close to 50 watts off my goal power for the TT, and ~30something seconds too slow to take the win. On the other hand, my TT position and with full aero equipment gave me a 30 second faster time than last year at almost 40 watts less average power than I put out last year. Lesson learned, and now to train TT pacing going into the TT season of the summer. 3rd in the TT was simply not good enough.

Crit:
Knowing I had too much left in the tank, and watching the chaos in the tight crit course of the Cat 4's, I made a decision early to get out in front. 2½ laps into the race, I attacked. Absolutely no one went. I spent the next 12 laps off the front alone. One rider bridged across and worked with me for a lap, but it was too little too late, the chase was inside 10 seconds and closing fast.

I settled into the pack and held a top 20 position in the pack getting some recovery. Came through two laps to go and started to move into a position to launch again. Moving into turn two, chaos ensued in front. Photos tell the tale, as Rider A dropped chain (how in the good Lord's name you'd have to change chain rings in that course is WAY beyond me). I saw Rider B swept from his left to right in a completely different line than the rest of the pack - apparently to avoid Rider A now coming to a stop in the turn. Rider C (Rider A's teammate) goes down, even though wheels never touched. Rider D lays it down and Rider ME runs straight into Rider D now on the ground.

I got up, dusted off, checked gear and did a lap and a half solo to not be the DNF of the day. Even with that I still wasn't DFL either. I was DFL-1

GC:
Points from Road Race and TT put me in contention for GC, and finishing the crit (even DFL-1) kept me as the last paid out GC contender at 8th.

The Good
- The road race course itself ROCKED.
- The TT position is good on the bike.
- Raced with some great guys and got to know a bunch more. Look forward to racing with a bunch of these guys more in the future.

The Bad
- Blew my pacing plan
- Rode too conservatively in the road race and TT

The Ugly
- First crash in 2 years in a race.

And with that, no racing until June. On the training plan for May is a quasi-Build phase. After letting up a little bit this week, I'll focus specifically on threshold training on the TT bike, at threshold. None of this 91% SST stuff. 100% threshold efforts. I must fix my suffering in position on the TT bike.

What a rockin weekend of bike racing.

Here's the synopsis, I'll try to keep it short.

First, I've settled on a warm-up routine for crits. As a guy leaned more toward road racing that needs the legs to get warm, I've decided that I just need to get out on the bike for an hour or more of L1/L2 spinning with some rolling terrain or some 30-45 second threshold level efforts to get things rolling. This keeps me from cooling down too fast at the inevitable start line "freeze" waiting for the whistle.

Syn-Fit Crit Cat 4:
Round and round, got in a couple early moves and watched for a break to get established up the road. Nothing was going and that was really getting frustrating. In typical Cat 4 fashion, no one ever lets a guy get more than 5 seconds up the road. This kept the pace high the whole race. Callahan pulled me up to the front to get me a launch right as the prime lap was called. He thought he wasted but actually it worked out just right. The plan was to launch immediately after the "prime slow down" that happens almost always right after the prime sprint.

Launched it into turn one and got a gap fast. No one came across and with now 10 laps to go, I was on my own. I looked under the arm a couple times to see guys trying to bridge, but no one ever made it across and the inevitable failure of my one-man break happened just after the 2-to-go. Evolution was the force on the front, as far as I could tell at the end, but I take consolation that they didn't place a guy top 10 after shutting me down.

Pack finish after the pace blew up with the Bike Rack guys on the last laps and I never recovered from the break.

Syn-Fit Crit Cat 4 35+:
The team took a huge win, and - sorry to the other teams - but we man-handled the peloton. We had a good team meeting before the race and planned our strategy. With no breaks sticking all day at Syn-Fit, we didn't expect one to stick here either and planned for our sprint lead out.

I ended up in an unexpected break with an NCVC rider who was clearly suffering (and admitted as much afterward), but that made it easier to just kinda ride tempo off the front without really punishing it as I was supposed to be the last of the lead-out.

We got snagged with 8 to go and let the other teams manage the minor attacks that went from here to two to go. I had enough time to roll to the back, grab the sprinter and pull through to my lead-out's wheel. Gus nailed it through turn one on two to go and began to "stretch the elastic." New team-mate Pete Warner took it from 1 to go, summarily popping the Colavita rider on his wheel and sliding me right into second wheel. At 1km to go I got to take over and jam through the 200 meter mark. Carnage was all over behind us allowing me to coast in for fifth with a fantastic finish by Rich. Rock on Rich! Best race of the weekend was getting the team and teammate the win.

Carl Dolan 3/4:
Tired yet? Yah.. me too. We did a lousy job with strategy in this race, planning way too late. Ahler's still got a 1st place prize payout from the 4's after the split out of the results and I rolled a pack finish. Of note, moto-refs should not try to relegate someone THROUGH the field. yah, that sucked big time.

Carl Dolan 35+:
Powermeter says the 3/4 was just as fast as this race, but I don't know if anyone would agree based on perception. First, the 3/4 race was bunched up all the time, making it really hard to move around. The 35+ was lined out 2-3 wide almost the entire race. That made it really easy to move up on the side away from the wind, but getting away was a whole different story.

Kudos to guys I know - Matt for getting away in that killer break that was probably the only break of the day that had a prayer.

I got to launch off the front a couple times to bridge to the break, if nothing else to get the WWVC jersey out of the pack. This was bad for me, but good for others who took my attacks to that half-way point and then went the rest without me. Dave hooked me up with an attempt to get me half way across, but it just wasn't happening. We got some distance with two others, but Warno took off and I had nothing. My legs were cooked and I couldn't hold on full tilt at any more than 30-45 seconds.

For being "notorious" for crashes, both races were reasonable safe. The 3/4 was a huge field so there were some serious momentum issues. The 35+ was just so constantly fast that the speed alone kept it safe.

What a rockin weekend of racing. The Syn-Fit was a great venue for fast racing, and that team win was one of the most rewarding victories I've had yet.

Walkersville 35+ 4/5 (The Good)

It's nice to know when you're coming into pretty good form. It's also nice to know that you can pretty much go into a day fresh and do with your legs what you want to do with them. Walkersville was one of those days.

The race report for Walkersville isn't anything exciting for someone to read, I suppose. We set off on the course with the 20-30 MPH winds. The folks that were out there know the headwind you were getting on the long straight road. The pack was pretty content to not race. We rolled through an excruciatingly tame first lap. We rolled back into the headwind and teammate Gould was sitting on the front at a slow tempo with the pack all behind him. I pulled through and around and yanked him off the front and let some other folks feel it.

We crested the turn at the flashing light and an unattached guy (Pete) pulled up and away, not by much - maybe 4-5 seconds. Bike Rack dude and I were cruising the front side by side joking about how right about then the rider was thinking "Maybe I can take this for 35 miles to the finish?!" Hah.. right. I closed the gap with the pack on me hanging the turn to the descent, and after having given a pretty good jump to feel out what the legs would do, I figured it was time to see what was going on.

I hit the base of the stair step climbs and jammed. By the crest of the climb I was off the front by a handful of seconds, looked over the shoulder saw three guys coming across and pedaled through the descent just hard enough to stay away but still let them get over to me without crushing it.

This is where the team took over. My guys Gus and Chris were a massive force in the pack keeping the tempo back, and a lap later we were off the front by around a minute. Pete and I did the bulk of the effort in the break, but the poor fellas that were with us were probably 50 pounds lighter and the wind was just killin them. We held the gap strong until lap 4 when it came down to 25 seconds fast.

We got on the north end of the course and Pete and I dropped our teammates on the stair-step climb. We sat up and chatted to let them back on and planned some cooperation to the finish. The plan was to give it the go on the turn out of the headwind and take it to the finish.

The situation changed a little, but the plan stayed. The pack was on us coming off the long headwind stretch and when they were 2-3 seconds off my wheel at the flashing light, I attacked again. Once again, my teammates (all two of them) did the work to make the rest happen. I crested the stair step climb with 15 seconds and a Bike Doctor guy coming across the gap. He latched on at the descent and we rolled with what we had. I was spent 500 meters from the finish and told him as much. He pushed on the front and I wheel sucked my way to the second place. 72 minutes in the break according to the power file, and a great day on the road.

OVERNIGHT REST, CARBS, PROTEIN, BED EARLY

I woke up Sunday feeling remarkably fresh. Benefits of big hours means back to back hard days aren't well.. so hard.

Tyson's Cat 4:
(The Bad) 3 laps of the Cat 4 race and we're sitting at the start/finish neutralized because people make bad decisions with good intentions. I hope the guy from HPC is okay and look forward to hearing as much.

Down side of big hours is that I've always found my legs cool down remarkably quick and take a long time to get going again. Add this to a now 30 minute Cat 4 race that was full on from the go and I suffered for this race. I ducked and dodged the fodder that got popped to get myself into the pack. I gave what I had to make up some places at the end toward the finish but found myself on the wheel of a lapped rider when the two guys in front of me went left/right to avoid him. Only took a tap of the brakes and a quick dodge left to lose momentum. They really should have pulled lapped riders with 2 to go. This little bit sucked.

Three more guys got totaled sprinting for 20th (The Ugly)

Tyson's Masters:
This race was SO drastically easier - not because of power requirements, but because it was so drastically smooth compared to the earlier 4 race that the "dreaded" Turn 3 was taken full speed. I barely had to think about having brake levers in this race.

At this point I was riding for the workout. It was a pretty stacked field so I was just riding to get the pack time. About halfway through the race I realized we'd whittled down a good chunk of the field and what I perceived as middle of the pack was now "tail end." I moved myself up and got in one good push off the front with what I thought was a bridging group to a breakaway. That came for naught and we got sucked in pretty fast.

I really felt like I was opening up at about 50 minutes into the 60 minute race and that sucks. I need to find ways to get that 50 minutes of warm-up in pre-race without burning matches I'll need for the race. The reality of MABRA racing is 60 minute races, and I have to be able to show up at minute 1 ready to roll.

Free advice from the successful taken gladly. Doubled up racing for Syn-Fit and Carl Dolan in two weeks. In between I'm going to take some serious Tyson's frustration out on the bike and roads (and companions at Wakefield).

Cheers,
VW