Team Akron Covered Bridge Race 2 - 2004

April 18, 2004

This was the third race of the four race Team Akron Covered Bridge series. I had done the first race and the second race was canceled despite the organizers claim that it would go come "Rain, Shine or snow". I guess icy roads weren't in the disclaimer. By noon the race would have been fine, but at 9:30 there would have been carnage.

This week the weather finally broke. So I was looking forward to racing without warmers... hurray! Friday it was 75 and sunny with a bit of wind, Saturday morning it was 60 when I left the house... so I was really looking forward to Sunday.

Let's call this mistake number 0. On Saturday, I called for an earlier start time... 7:30. The weather is nice, so lets get going earlier I thought. I ended up with 56 miles. I wasn't overly concerned, as I am trying to train for 2 day events. So I need to get out on both Saturday and Sunday. I tried to play conservatively, and regularly sat in the group as apposed to driving... as I usually do. I also let one of the guys go on the hills... and just climbed at my own pace without pushing into the red.

Prep

I decided to get to the start early, so I could get a good warmup in. Not like the first race... I was hoping to avoid the panic when the race was quick from the gun. So I arrived about 8:10, and did a warmup lap. I then toddled around until sign-in... eating, spinning around the lot, chatting... then hopped in line as soon as they opened. I was the second B racer to signup...so I had enough time to warmup some more.

There must have been a frog or toad migration sometime recently. After passing the finish there were about 100 squashed frogs on the road. There just isn't that much traffic on that road... pretty wild.

Turns out there was an MS walk-a-thon through the CRVNRA this morning. So the organizers decided to delay the start by 20 minutes to allow the bulk of the walkers to get through. They also gave the A race a good 5+ minute lead to give the police at the towpath crossing a break between the fields.

Just as I had hoped, it was almost hot. No warmers, and no base layer, as it was about 75 at the start.

Looking around, the field was smaller than the first race. About 50 riders, with Orville, MVR, SnakeBite, Summit Freewheelers and PDQ well represented.Cleveland Chaos had 1, Dan Guggenheim, who I followed around in the first race. He was talking to Mahul about some plan of his at the start.... a little collaboration, maybe? Pyro had 3-4, and Stark Velo had 2. Then there were a bunch of unattached riders. With all the team strength (strong teams), I'm really concerned about team tactics....

The Race

Off we go... the pace seemed much more reasonable then last time. I was able to stay reasonably close to the front. So I didn't have the same panic as last time. I felt good going through the hills and descents, so I was looking forward to a decent day. Goal of a top 5.... or better. I've got the miles, probably more than most of these guys, I should be fine. (Insert arrogance factor #2 here)

As we come around past the parking lot for the first time (approaching the end of lap 1), a rather large group rolls off the front. I'm looking at the group from the second or third row. This isn't a prime lap, but it looks like a big group. I see Chaos, 3-4 MVR's, 1 SnakeBite and a few others... SnakeBite has 4 guys on the front soft pedaling... and I get nervous. One of the guys says "___ is up there, so it looks good". They've got one guy in a group of 10+ going into the START of a prime lap, and they say it looks good?

I think the group is too big, and stands a chance of going away... I jumped around the left side of the block right after a Summit rider jumped around the right... mistake number 2. Mistake 3 was I dangled shortly behind this guy through the whole bridge move. I should have gotten together with him and saved us both some energy. It was a fun bridge, and we caught the lead in no time. We connected right as we went up the hill right past the line. There was a huge gap, and I thought for sure this was the group to be in. The bad news was my HRM said 179 in the effort. My max is 182... how much is that going to hurt later?

Second lap was a prime. I was in the front group and was able to sit in and recover from the bridge. The gap was good... until we hit Riverview then the wind came into play. As we rolled around for the second lap the main group re-attached... one major effort totally wasted.

For the prime a group of 5 or so went off the front... I was feeling it, so I was about mid-pack+. I watched them go. As we came by the line, they rang the bell for another prime.... average sped was 24.5 or so. Then the pack got hungry, and the pace picked up.

I'm sure they were trying to pick up the 4 leaders. But they just stayed about a quarter to half mile ahead. I was starting to feel it. As we came around past Oak Hill, a gap started to open in front of me, and I was having trouble closing it. The StarkVelo guy came around me... and then it got worse. Note that I'm not the only one with significant space...

As we head toward Riverview the gap starts to increase... 10ft... 20ft. I'm working like crazy to close, bit it's not budging. At one point, I've somehow ended up in a pace line... there is a guy pulling, another guy in green, and me with more behind. The first guy pulls off, and the guy in green sits up! Ahhh... as I come around, I tell him to push as he gets to the front and pull off if he has nothing. I hope I didn't come off as a total jerk, but that move sucked for me.

As I pushed, I gap that group and I've got another Summit guy on my wheel... but I'm doing all the work. Finally I flick him to the front and ask for some help... he says he doesn't have much left... to which I reply "Neither do I, which is why I need some help. We start to work together... and he does a huge pull to the railroad tracks, were we just re-attach at the corner. Then we're both working to stay on as they accelerate off the corner and they gap us again. So we're back to chasing... we work together more... but now it's pretty obvious they are leaving us behind, and we're stuck in the middle of nowhere. Up the road (into the wind) I see the group of 4 then main group of 20 or so. Then there's us, and behind us, another big chase group. I asked the guy if we should wait, but I don't think we will ever catch back onto the main group, wait or not.

As the rear group catches us, I hear Phil calling the group to work together... again... just like last year at the fall challenge. I fall into the line around 6th or 7th wheel... behind the guy in the green again. We start to work, and he does it again... this time I think we hit a hill when he stalled, so I didn't say much. Yeah, I'm a jerk. I think Phil was mostly trying to breath, as I'm chatting the group on... hey, I paid for this entertainment.

Past the line, start lap 4... my average has dropped to 23+. We regrouped, and got the line going again. After my pull, I dropped back, and found we had a group of 5... with another big gap behind. Phil, an Orville, a Honey Stinger, a PDQ and me. Then we get into a nice rhythm. The PDQ guy is dying... so I tell him to take short ones, or even pass if he has to. Everyone else seems to be doing their share nicely. The main group is out of site, but I figure it's a training ride now.

We do pretty well around the fourth lap. On Riverview we picked up a PYRO guy to make it 6. We started to see gaps opening in the line though. As we'd drop back if there was a gap, we'd just fill it, giving the guy behind a break. Then it seemed like Phil, Orville and I were the only ones on the front... as we made the turn onto IRA, we saw another small group up ahead. Orville had just pulled, and I was starting. Phil said something about catching the next group... it didn't look to me like our group was going to last, as we were all over the place. But I said OK, and started pulling. Through the line... and then it was just me and Orville.

As we caught the guys ahead, I realized they were A racers.... dropped, caught and paced by the B's... Orville, me and 3 A's, worked a little together, not much, as they didn't think they should help us, though they did sit on as we pulled through. I lost contact once, and rejoined on Riverview. Then Orville and I left them behind. As we turned onto IRA, Orville rode away from me... and I could do nothing. No bragging rights today.

Post

From the Snake Bite website, it looks like their tatics paid off taking first and third.

Average speed around 23.5MPH. Mike and Todd made it into a break which Ed and I blocked for, forcing what was left of the main pack to work very hard to reel them back in.

We were all back together for the last lap when Mike jumped hard right before the school. Mike jumped so hard and fast that the sprinters who were left in the main group had to spend themselves to stay on his wheel. It proved to be too much for everyone except John Lorson of Orrville who finished second behind Mike. Patrick managed to hang on 'till the end for third.

My final average was 22.7, so I was about 2 minutes behind the finish. Completely anti-climactic, with lots of "should have"s. I shouldn't have bridged. I should have let SnakeBite do their thing, knowing that the field would not let a group that big go for the prime let alone the entire race. I should have taken Friday off for recovery... I don't think Saturday made a difference if I would have rested on Friday. I do have this graph that does indicate a little miscalculation on my part. Probably not a good idea to do a big training week right before a race... especially that big. But the weather was nice, and I was having fun... so... it's all education.

The graph does include the 50+ miles I did in total on Sunday. 14.5 easy warmup with a few efforts, 26.5 racing and a couple of cool down laps. Still I had already had one of the biggest weeks of the year before I started the race.

The other interesting thing is the HRM graph. I spent the entire race in zone 4, with the exception of my forays into zone 5, which where numerous enough.

The graph is just a huge plateau. Up to 160ish, flat line fluctuations with a few big jumps, then it drops as I crossed the line at the end (1:10). The 179 peak is right at the end of the first lap. The 175 is probably the big hill right after the second lap finish. I only remembered to hit the lap button at the beginning of the race, the end of lap 2, and the end of the race...

The remainder of the graph is my cool down. They look much more typical of my HRM charts during the week, though I didn't put any hard efforts into the cool down. My race average HR was 163, MAX 179. The min, once we really got started was 150. My guess is I've only done these types of efforts while racing. I sure haven't done them in training since the beginning of the year when I started using the HRM.

My buddy who took the photo's (thanks Rick) was at the lot when people were coming back in. He talked to a few guys that were surprised at the pace this early in the season. I don't know, but I think the first race was faster at the start. I don't know about the whole race as I was off the back for the second half. I guess I'll have to take another data point next weekend.