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.
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| 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.
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.
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| 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).
