Tolero Criterium Series #1

You know that feeling when you've just uploaded your ride to Strava and are hovering over that "Private" button with the thought that you should not show anyone how bad you did in a race?

No, of course not. Me either, I was just speaking hypothetically.

Last year's race (dark), this year's (light)

I raced in two of the Tolero crits (the 5's and the 4/5's). The fields were small, I think seven guys in the 5's and nine in the 4/5's. My goals (in order of importance) were to not crash, work on cornering confidence, work on pack riding confidence, see how my sprint/jump was, and finish with the groups.

I am happy to report that I met almost all my goals. But I still hovered over that “private” button for a while...

The 5’s

I didn’t have a great warm-up but the first three laps were slow so it wasn’t a big deal. The forth lap was a prime and so we all upped the pace and I felt good. I decided not to go for the prime and wait for the next one with the intent of seeing how good my jump/sprint was.

The second prime came on the seventh lap. I stayed in fifth position with the intent of seeing how many guys I could pass on the sprint hill. I jumped hard out of the corner and pushed hard for what ended up being a 10-second burst. I was geared right with a good steady cadence. Surely I could pass at least one guy, right? Wrong.

And don’t call me Surely.

I had no jump, no acceleration, and no speed. I felt fresh and had zero fatigue in my legs but I just had no strength. Post-race data showed that my peak power was less than my 10-second power at last year’s Tolero crit. Ugh. I continued in the race with the sole intent of working on my cornering. I took corners at varying angles and found the good lines for staying off the brakes. I played around with tailgunning* to avoid the slowing of the other riders and was able to carry my speed through the corners and re-attach to the group with minimal effort.

* Tailgunning is when you are at the back of the group and allow a little gap between you and the rider in front of you. When you go through a corner, usually the group will slow and if you are right on the wheel of the rider in front of you braking is required (which wastes energy). By tailgunning, you can stay off the brakes and take the corner at your own speed, hopefully timing it right so that you regain contact with the group without needing to accelerate.

I felt good in the corners and loved the feel of the Noah, which is much stiffer than the Allez. The shorter wheelbase and more aggressive saddle-to-bar drop (giving me a lower center of gravity) really gave me a feeling of complete control in the turns. I’ve still got a ways to go with the cornering confidence, but I made some significant gains during these races.

I didn’t sprint for any of the other primes and instead waited for the finish. I didn’t have much hope based on my earlier “jump” and that negative mindset probably did more damage than my lack of strength. I was “lazy” on the last lap and didn’t try to move up into a good position. When we went into the final corner I was in last position, and despite all the power I could muster, that’s where I stayed.

Last.

The 4/5’s

With the discouraging results in the 5’s race I didn’t have much hope for the 4/5’s. The plan was to work on cornering some more and stay with the group. I didn’t plan on going after any of the primes and doubted that I had enough jump to follow any attacks. I had a better warm-up for this race which was good because it was fairly quick from the start.

The first prime came on the forth lap and the pace quickened in preparation for the sprint. I was near the back and unfortunately the guy in front of me let a gap develop during that lap. When it came time to close it he was able to power his way back into the group but I couldn’t hold his wheel and spent a lot of energy getting back in the group. I tried to recover but the pace was high and the accelerations out of the corners were taking their toll. After just 10 minutes I popped and watched the group slowly move away from me. Ugh.

I decided to stay above threshold and continue to work on my cornering. It sucks riding solo but after two laps I had caught another guy who had been dropped. I pulled around and told him we should work together to try to catch back on. We traded pulls for a while but I guess he was pretty toasted because any gains I made during my pull were lost when he pulled. After probably six laps I finished a pull and expected him to come around me but he was gone. I looked back and was shocked that I couldn’t see him at all. Apparently he crashed on the tight "dumpster corner" but I never heard it so I think he may have lost my wheel at some point prior to the crash. Hopefully he’s not banged up too bad.

The Dumpster Corner

I tried a few different lines through the dumpster corner. The green circle above represents the maximum-radius route, which in theory is the fastest line through the corner. When going through as a group you're limited on what line you can take, but when you're on the front or solo following this radius is likely the best option. I can recall riding over the concrete pad a couple times which is a very inefficient route.

I got back to work solo, working on cornering and staying above threshold. I started feeling very confident on the dumpster corner as well as the final corner before the sprint hill. At about the 5-laps to-go mark, I was lapped by a three-man break containing my good friend, Cody. I was bummed to get lapped but super excited for him. I looked back and couldn’t see the main group yet so I decided to work as hard as I could to stay away from them. Half a lap later and I had another dropped rider in my sight. I caught up to him and told him we should work together to stay away from the main group. We traded 1-lap pulls for the remainder of the race and on the last lap I asked him if he wanted to sprint it out. The only reason I wanted to sprint was for the practice, but he wasn’t interested. I did a half-hearted sprint to the line only semi-curious about the top number I could generate. It wasn’t much.

Second to last.

Not exactly my idea of a good race day. But all things considered, I’m happy. I really enjoy crits and cornering well is a major factor in these races. Having the opportunity to work on that was definitely beneficial. I’m not surprised by my lack of jump. Since getting back on the bike I’ve been focused on restoring my aerobic endurance -- not anaerobic. I’ll be moving out of my Base period and into my first Build period of the year soon and I fully expect to regain the jump I once had (and hopefully surpass it).