Crosstown Cycling: May 2012

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

MOAB Downtown Crit

Sunday, May 27^th, 2012

Murfreesboro, TN

Sunday I traveled up Murfreesboro, TN to race in the MOAB Downtown Crit. MOAB is the local cycling shop in downtown Murfreesboro and I must say they put on a great race. The hospitality and amenities were great and this is a fun course to say the least.

My strava of the course can be found here. The course was a 5 turn up and down course with a 150 degree hairpin at the far end of the course. The first .5 miles of the course involved 4 turns and was all downhill with swooping wide turns. After the hairpin, it was a .25 mile long uphill that provided a brutal serving of punishment to anyone brave enough to launch an attack there. One last turn at the top of the climb and 250m to a downhill finish.

The weather was hot, I saw a bank sign thermometer reading 101 degrees so give or take a few, it was pretty hot. I went through 2 bottles of water for a 40 minute race, that’s how humid and hot it was. Luckily Cahaba Cycles provided us with their shop vehicle and tent to keep us cool and out of the sun so we did have some respite on the day but it only added to my otherwise pronounced cycling tan lines.

The race started at 12:30 and after a good 45 minute warm-up I was ready to go. The field was in the mid 30’s and the roads were fairly wide so I wasn’t that concerned with getting a good starting position. With the course having a good uphill on the back side, I didn’t expect any breaks to stick so I went in with the mentality of sitting in top 10 and not chasing anything all day. What a difference it made, when your not up front chasing or attacking, it is a lot easier to just ride along with the group. It was really hard for me not to launch an attack but in retrospect I should have when I felt it. The problem was, Harpeth Cycles had 3 guys sitting and BPC was chasing everything that moved, as well as the Tree House Cycling guys who were well represented. I knew if I went, I would have to do it alone and I didn’t want to go that hard when I knew I was one of the stronger sprinters in the group so I just sat in and waited patiently.

With 2 to go the pace kicked up and finally the field got a little stretched out. I moved from back 20 up to top 8 through turns 2 and 3 and coming up the back stretch I sat second wheel on 5 guys spread out across the road, just waiting for the jump. BPC went mid way up the hill, I swung wide in turn 5 to keep my speed and stayed top 10. We were pacelining it and we hit the finish with 1 to go. Turns 1,2, and 3 came fast and hard and we got a gap on the back part of the field. On turn 4, the hairpin, I went to the inside as not to have anyone come under me and my rider to the outside almost lost his front wheel but recovered, this gave me just enough to come hard out of the turn and take 7^th wheel in the paceline. BPC was still hammering hard and we started to ascend the hill. Now came the counter attacks, 4 guys came to the outside hard and I jumped on their wheel and weaved my way up the hill as hard as I could go. I railed turn 5 into the uphill and came down hard to close off the inside line then stood to sprint to the finish. I managed to get 2 spots and was gaining on 2 more when 3^rd and 4^th place hooked bars and both went down, sliding across the finish line. Luckily I was able to pull up and went off the course as I went through the finish line, while the rider I was chasing I believed ran over one of the guys who fell.

Overall I ended up 6^th place and had a good time racing with everyone and watching some of the faster races. I ended up with the fastest average speed for a crit so far this year so I can only image what the 123 race was doing but it looked fast.

Thanks to Cahaba Cycles for their shop vehicle and tent! What a great sponsor to work with.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Huntsville, AL- Rocket City Omnium

Saturday/ Sunday May 19/20, 2012

This past weekend ST3 Cycling showed up in force to race in Huntsville, AL at the Rocket City Omnium sponsored by Spring City Cycling Club. We had 6 guys racing in the 4s, 2 in the 5s with this being Mike Soto’s first time racing road, and 1 in the women with Lynn racing in her first time trial. The weather was hot and sunny all weekend with not much wind either day. Here is a link to our facebook page with all the pictures from this weekend. This was my first time racing on tubular tires and I've got to thank Joseph from Pro Cyce and Tri for doing a great job re-spoking and gluing up this set for me.

Time Trial- Monte Sano State Park

The course was an 1.8 mile uphill with an average gradient of 5% for the first 1.3 miles, then it flatten out with several rollers for the last half mile. I was looking for some redemption from my last time trial at MSGP where I lost 45 seconds and took myself out of the overall so needless to say it was go time. I got a quick warm up in then lined up to go. No pre-ride left me with the mentality of just going full throttle for the first 4 minutes then holding until the finish. I was shooting for a sub 6 minute time so I knew I could push for 2 minutes if I could just get through the first 4 minutes. I was able to put up a time of 6:08 for 4^th place, although I lost almost 20 seconds to the leader, this was an omnium and based on points, not time so I was able to stay in contention in the points overall, which was more important than anything. Here is a link to my strava.

Me grinding it out going over the last roller before the finish of the 1.8 mile time trial

Crit- Downtown Huntsville (State Championship)

The course was a 6 turn .8 mile loop with 5 right turns and one swooping left at the bottom of a one block long downhill and a finish with a slight downhill. The field was in the low 30’s with BPC and ST3 Cycling being the two most represented teams. Here is my strava.

ST3 was able to keep several riders up front, keeping the pace high and chasing attacks back for the most part. We let one rider go on the second prem thinking he was just chasing it down but he was able to keep the pace high and eventually able to hold off for the win.

I was able to stay top 5-10 for the entire race and lead out several attacks but no one was willing to work and we were eventually caught every time. Every one of the ST3 riders made attacks at one point or another during the race and kept the tempo high for the rest of the field. On the last lap the field began to set up and Alan gave an attack going into turn one to get the speed back up for a brief moment but then it sat up again with the field spread across all lanes of traffic. Turn 2 came slow with me sitting on the front anticipating a jump, then spread back out across all lanes. About 200m before turn 3 an attack went and I jumped to get 7^th wheel, we hit turn 3 to the downhill and rolled turns 4 and 5 at 30+, I saw a gap open at 3^rd wheel so I shot hard to the inside on the straight away and got the spot just before the last turn. I was able to pedal through the turn without losing any speed and came out hard. By this time first and second had opened a gap of 10m and I was out of the saddle chasing as hard as I could go. 300m to the finish and it was all out and in the end I was able to hold off the chase and lock down 3^rd place.

Although I got 3^rd overall, since the first place rider was from out of state I was awarded the silver for the State Championship. This finish put me in 4^th place for the overall, 1 point behind Kyle (NSAT) and Kyle (Snapple) and 2 points behind Kevin (Steel City). This put me in a little on edge for the circuit race Sunday knowing to get the overall win I needed to make up these points by beating these other riders.

Alan keeping the pace up on the front

Taking the turn 6 on rails with my new tubulars

Stalking Kyle (Snapple) who ended up taking home 1st place

Taking my turn up front to do work

Sitting in nicely

Alan setting the pace again

Taking home 3rd place after a vicious chase

Circuit- Research Park

After carefully reviewing and re-reviewing the results and points from yesterday’s tt and crit, I felt comfortable with my position in the overall in 4^th. I was able to get a good night rest and a good warm up ride in before the race so I was looking forward to getting the race going. The legs felt great and I was ready to go get a win for the team. Here is my strava.

We had a team meeting before the race and everyone was excited and ready to help do work and protect me on the day. We had a great showing by Mick, Mike, and Mike, leading out attacks from the first lap and keeping the pace high. This kept the attacks from other teams limited and the pace high. Once we got through the first couple laps and everyone got settled in Alan came up front and began doing work. Alan kept the pace high and took several long pulls while the rest of the field wanted to sit in without working. Every time ST3 would come off the front the pace would slow to sub 20 and everyone would just sit in waiting for someone to attack. John Soto was able to get away once and get a chase to go, Kyle (Snapple) attacked and got away solo once but Soto was able to bridge the group back to him, and several others made some attacks but Alan was always quick to jump on their wheel and bring the group up to them. This kept me out of the wind for the most part and left me with only a couple attacks to chase down, thereby keeping my legs feeling great and saving them for the end.

The team was able to work great together and keep the race in control for most of the day with attacks coming from all team members, Alan stepped up with 2 to go and pulled me until ¾ of a lap to go. As he pulled off I was stuck on the front and launch a ghost attack to get someone else to pull through but no one wanted to work this close to the end. I started to get the pace up while still looking around when I noticed Soto coming up on the outside to position himself to lead me out. However an unfortunate wreck by Soto with less than 2 miles to go left me on my own. I moved to the front of the pack going in to turn 1 to keep a safe position and kick the pace up to low 20’s but still waiting for the attack to come. About half way up the hill BPC took off with a lead out of 4 guys, I was able to move in about 6^th wheel and we began hammering. We crested the hill and the speeds crept into the low 30’s. Hit turn 2 and the paceline was getting pretty strung out in single file. There was about 1km until the last turn and BPC was hammering hard, no one was able to come out and counter so I prepared for the last turn and sprint. I marked the BPC rider who was being lead out and looked for his wheel coming through the last turn. The two lead out riders pulled off over the last 500m and left two more BPC riders for the sprint. I came through the last turn and jumped Kyle (Snapple) and two other riders and was chasing Kevin (Steel City) but just couldn’t come around him. I ended up 4^th on the day but was able to lock down 2^nd place in the overall omnium.

I was extremely proud of all my teammates and their willingness to work for me all weekend to keep me fresh and protected. Great weekend all around and look forward to getting back into training this week to keep this momentum going.

Sitting in while Alan pulls me around

Sitting in on the front with 1 to go, Alan again pulling me around

Pulling though after Soto took a long pull to bring back the BBC rider who got a 300m gap early

Sprinting it out for a 4th place finish

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Chainbuster’s 6hr Endurance Race Single Speed

May 5, 2012

Winder, GA- Fort Yargo State Park

So about a week ago John Newsom and I were debating on whether or not to go down and race the AMBS race in Mobile this weekend. I have been aching to get back into MTB racing since I have been focusing so much on the road this year and this weekend was looking pretty good in the schedule, with my next road race not until May 19^th weekend. John was wanting to get a good weekend in with a lot of miles and was thinking about doing the Chief Ladiga Trail so we ended up finding the Chainbuster’s 6hr Race going on in Winder, GA at Fort Yargo State Park and doing that.

This was going to be John’s first endurance race and my first one since last fall so we were both a little on edge before the race not knowing what to expect. The turnout was awesome and even though we showed up 2.5hr early, still had a hard time finding a parking spot and had to squeeze our pit in between several bigger tents under a tree but it all worked out. Our pit setup was just basically some bottles, a toolbox, our food, an ice chest, and a couple chairs all lying on the ground. Mike Soto came along to help out with everything and was great during every stop, getting us everything fast and doing exactly what we asked every lap.

Race Summary:

The race started off with a parade lap, as all the Chainbuster’s races do, and with a field of I would guess 200 riders. I saw there were over 400 registered but with most doing 2 man teams, 200 something at the start is probably a good estimate. John and I started out well and being we were racing single speed, found ourselves mid way back of the field by the time we got to where we actually went into the woods due to the long 2 mile road parade lead out.

The first lap was slow and I found myself running several of the climbs due to pile ups from the field but soon John and I broke free after passing 50-60 riders over the first lap and made it thought safely. I kept telling John you are not going to win an endurance race in the first lap but you sure the hell can lose one if you don’t pay attention and that the goal was to get through it safely. I could tell it was hard for him to go so slow, being he races so fast usually, but it paid off as we had no chance to pre-ride the course and allowed time for us to settle into the race and learn the trail.

The first lap I skipped my pit and just pedaled through as I had still over ½ a bottle of water left and plenty of food still on me. The second lap came fast and we were making up spaces fast as many of the other riders were starting to slow down now that we were over an hour into the race. My pre-race goal was to get 5 laps in at 55 miles on the day but mid way through the second lap, John started asking if I thought he could get 6, or maybe 7 laps in. I just smiled and said get through the first 3 hours, then start thinking about attacking. Almost at the end of the second lap I dropped my chain on a smooth section about 4 miles from my pit, I told John to keep going and I would catch back up. Luckily I was able to just spin my chain back on without taking my wheel off and within a minute was back on the trail. I continued on and started trying to pull John back.

Finally by the end of the 3^rd lap I was back in sight of John and eventually joined back on with him. At this point we were about 30 miles into the race and I was feeling good even though I had hit it hard the last hour to catch back on. By the time I reached John he was sitting in first and I was in second, but we still had 3 hours left to go. We rode the rest of the 3rd lap together and most of the 4th lap then with about 2 hours left in the race, I told John if he wanted to still get a 7^th lap in he had to go now, we were turning about 55 minute laps and at this point but he needed two 45 minute laps to finish under 6 hours so he attacked. Both of us also were under the impression there was still one single speeder in front of us so at the time it wasn’t a bad idea for him to go.

I rode the last lap and half by myself and that’s when I began lapping a lot of riders, even other single speeders to my amazement, and even though they said they were a lap down, I didn’t trust anyone and would still attack until I didn’t see them behind me anyone.

Overall I ended up in 2^nd with 6 laps at 66 miles in 5hr and 27 minutes and some change. I was happy on the day with my result and glad that John was able to finish strong and grab 1^st in his first 6hr race. Results can be found here.

Course:

The course was at Fort Yargo State Park in Winder, GA and was an 11 mile loop with lap times in the mid 50’s for most people. Here is a link to my Strava with elevation and gps data.

Nutrition:

My ride nutrition for the race was fairly simple. I used Gu brand single shots with caffeine, taking one about every 45 mins. For solid food I had several bananas, some Power Bars with protein, and some of John’s Rice Krispy treats. For drinks I consumed water for the first 3 hours, then later I began drinking diluted Powerade, some whey protein mixed with Gatorade Zero, some Hammer Perpeteum, and a couple sips of Coke in the pit on laps 4 and 5. But for the most part I raced on water as I don’t like a lot of sugary drinks when I ride normally.

Bike Setup:

As usual I raced on my Bianchi WUSS with 32x16 gearing at 52 gear inches. The elevation for this course was around 1100 ft/ lap but none of the climbs were too steep nor were they very long so I was able to mash this gear without any problems. Next time I will probably go with a 32x17 just to get a little higher cadence and save my back and knees a little more. I ran my Schwalbe Racing Ralph 2.25’s front and rear with about 25psi in each with stan’s sealant.

Race Photos: Photos courtesy of Mike Soto