Racing - CCAP Tuesday Night Worlds, B Race, May 20, 2014

Last week's B race prompted some discussion, and after some offline talks with riders (on Expo) as well as some online debate, I approached this race even more as a "helper" than as a "competitor".

I'm a realist, and last year, when I raced the Tuesday Night races, I don't think I finished a single one. This year, with even less training, I'm not optimistic about my ability to hang tough with a bunch of flying Cat 1s and 2s (and 3s, to be completely truthful).

In addition Junior's schedule is such that if we want to eat dinner (we can't before the race due to the timing of things) we'd need to leave shortly after the A race starts, so my options are pretty limited.

My one worry this week was that because I didn't ride for 6 days (and 23 hours) before the race, I hoped that I wouldn't cramp. That's my main non-training effect, my legs cramp in 5-10-15 minutes.

Pre Race Stressors

I felt extremely stressed getting to the race. One of our cats peed on a couch (technically on a blanket and a towel on the couch) just before I had to leave to pick up the Missus, Junior went Number Two (which necessitates a change, unlike a simple Number One). With throwing the pee stuff in the wash, cleaning the couch, tracking down Junior (he got into some stuff that was supposed to be off limits) the "hey I'm getting ready an hour before we have to leave" turned into "we're 15 minutes late".

After some rushed driving and fortunately lighter traffic we got to the venue with a good 15 or 20 minutes to spare, enough time for sure. I got dressed (I was all dressed minus jersey, helmet, gloves, shoes on the way over, number pinned at home too), got the bike together (pumped up the tires at home, on both the primary and spare wheels), and registered. Because Junior roll out takes a minute or three we got to do a lap or two before the race started.

Course Conditions (i.e. Wind)

The wind felt brutal going into the final stretch. Since said stretch curves left the wind started on the front, even front right at times, and the turned into a pretty decent right side crosswind. This was quite the opposite of last week's race, where the headwind was after Turn One.

Since the finishing stretch is much longer I knew that the wind would wreak havoc in the field, mercilessly sawing off the unfortunate or inattentive.

Massive headwind here, at the beginning of the final stretch.

This is the beginning of the headwind bit. Wyatt (to the left) is bearing the full brunt of the wind. I'd have helped him except I was redlined going into the wind also. I had to be close to the rider in front, like less than a meter or two, else it would take me 50-75 meters to get on the wheel.

Helping Others

With my goal to help as much as possible I tried to give shelter to those around me, even riding past in the wind to offer shelter. I ended up at the back, trying to keep riders from losing contact with the group.

My final resort was to actually push riders back up into the group. It is technically illegal but if it buys a bit more time (and therefore experience) in the field then it's worth it for me to offer it to someone else. It's not uncommon for one rider to give another rider a friendly shove to, say, close a gap.

You have to be careful though - the pushing rider accelerates the "pushed rider" by giving away momentum. In other words the pusher goes backward, and if there's a field behind you it's not good. In my case I was at the back of the field and I said so, telling the guys, "We're at the back of the field, you gotta get on the wheels!"

Trying to help a couple Juniors.

I'm giving Tom a push and had just given Wyatt a push also. I got Tom in the field but I think Wyatt was way in the red already. To his credit Wyatt has a good position on the bike, he's not sitting upright at all.

I tried to impress on them the importance of staying on the wheel. I couldn't verbalize it but that third turn, leading into the final straight, was absolutely critical. In fact, at the end of the straight above, Tom let a small gap go in that critical third turn and the wind pretty much picked him up and blew him off the back. I was helpless to do anything except try to stay on wheels.

Race Craft

The other thing I discussed was helping some of the Expo guys with race craft. Although Tuesday Nights are races, a lot of riders use these races for training. Therefore it was understandable to see guys at the front, Expo or not.

Unfortunately some of the Expo efforts ended up a bit misguided. For example we had guys at the front for literally laps at a time, pulling their hearts out… while an Expo rider struggled just 50 meters ahead trying to escape the field.

Expo riding after Expo

The above picture is an example of a couple lap effort by an Expo rider, chasing an Expo rider (and one other) in a break.

I made a big effort to move to the front to tell the Expo rider to ease up.

A little talk up front and we eased.

You can see the gap stretching out already.

So here's the race craft bit, and it applies to everyone, not just Expo guys. I'm using Expo as an example because, well, I'm an Expo guy.

Racing Vs Training

There are two opposing things at work here.

1. Training

2. Racing

It's great that most of the Expo Cat 4-5s are so much stronger than me. They can ride me off their wheel easily, as demonstrated in a group ride I did earlier this year. Training is great, making big efforts is great, but if they're properly directed it's even better.

That brings us to the racing bit.

Racing is different from training because, at some level, there are riders who want to win the race (the crit in this case), and in fact everyone that starts the crit is eligible to win.

It isn't nice to chase down a teammate, just from the point of view of undoing all their hard work. It's like if I'm trying to put together a track for Junior and he's at the other side ripping things apart.

It's also not really effective in terms of race craft. If an Expo pulls hard for two laps to bring back an Expo, then no one else has to work to bring back that breakaway Expo. The other riders ("opponents", technically speaking, but at Tuesdays everyone is pretty friendly in that respect) can now counter the break and go away on their own.

Expo, with one guy who just pulled his heart out in the break, another guy who just dragged the field along for two laps, is now down two guys. It's a luxury to have 8 or 10 riders in a field but if it was just three Expos (not uncommon in a regular race) then using up two to neutralize each other… yeah, that doesn't make sense.

So let's return to training. What about the training aspect of things?

Well, it's very possible to train even better while working as a teammate.

The Expo rider in the break is gone, he's in the break, he's both training and racing. Let him do what he wants up there.

The Expos left in the field ought to let the others take responsibility for chasing. Those Expos should sit in, rest, recover, and get ready. For Junior I'd be saying, "Ready, Set…."

If/When the breakaway Expo rider comes back, then the other Expo riders go. For Junior that's when I say, "GO!" and he goes (or jumps or swings or whatever we're doing).

Now that the Expo guys in the field are more rested, more recovered, they can make a much sharper attack and hold a much higher initial pace. Instead of dragging the field around at 23 mph they can launch at 30 mph and hold 27-28 mph for a bit.

That lets a rider train as well as race. It's better training because the peaks are higher, the speeds are higher, and this lets them build the flexibility to handle a wider range of race situations.

Me Too Attacks

(Ironically I can't find the post where I describe the Me Too attacks so I had to write a bit on it, else I'd have just linked to the post.)

The other thing I saw Expo doing was a number of "Me Too Attacks". All too often a strong teammate in the field will want to "offer their help" to the teammates in the break. They'll ride up to the break, offer their teammate a wheel, and pull really hard.

This is very thoughtful, very nice, and completely the opposite of what you want to do.

What they don't realize is that in the act of riding up to the break they drag the rest of the field up, if not literally on their wheel then at least just behind as the field collectively scrambles to get on the wheel of "the guy riding up to the break".

So the first part ("riding up to the break") results in the break getting pulled most of the way back, if not all the way back.

Then, when the fresh rider bridges (at a higher speed than the break) and offers a wheel, it's super demoralizing to the break rider. Said break rider has been in the break for a while, is getting pretty gassed, and is at the limit.

It's not simply a matter of accelerating a few mph and getting on the wheel. It's a combination of being gassed, of seeing a teammate (of all things) bridge to the break, and then a quick peek behind to confirm that your teammate brought everyone in the field up to your break.

This can be pretty overwhelming and makes it hard for the redlined break teammate to go even harder.

Instead of doing the Me Too move, a teammate can sit on wheels, let others chase, and then make a move on their own. They'll be fresher, their opponents will be just a bit more tired, and who knows, maybe that's the break that will stay away.

The ideal situation for the teammates in the field is if someone launches a big move and goes clear of the field. The resting Expo rider can immediately jump on the wheel and go up to the break while sitting out of the wind. Once at the break the options open up - wait to see what happens, pull hard, etc. Typically the original break guys will be gassed so if you don't want to immediately drop your break teammate you need to give them a moment to recover.

On the other hand the guy that just pulled you across the gap is probably a bit gassed and he's really strong, so it might be worth it to push super hard to try and get rid of him.

These are the things you have to think about when you're active in a race.

Corollary to the Me Too Attack

The main thing I pointed out in the yet-to-be-found Me Too Attack post is that if you see a few of your teammates go up the road then you shouldn't try to go with them, unless that's the plan (like they're supposed to pull you clear).

Instead you should not react and force those behind you to close the gap.

This is especially true if your teammates at the front are putting in huge digs, going 100%. You don't want to help keep everyone together if your teammates are trying to blow things apart. The idea is to help one another, not neutralize one another.

Again, following rival team moves is great tactics, it allows you to sit in and keep your reserves while others are working, in a sense, for you.

Leadout

Someone commented after the race that "3s are so fast!" It's not that I'm so fast but it's more that the others were pretty gassed. I'll get to that in a bit.

After a bunch of failed break attempts (not helped in any way by the Expo guys dragging the field back to the Expo-populated breaks), it came down to a field sprint, at least with a couple laps to go.

(Here, if one of the Expo guys had been sitting in all race, he could have made a move to try and solo the last couple laps. With at least half a dozen Expo guys not chasing in the field, such a move might have worked…)

I was intent on offering a leadout to someone, anyone, and I found Nick nearby. He and I talked a bit at our fortuitously scheduled team meeting the night before so I knew he was up for doing something.

Rolled up to Nick and told him to follow my wheel.

I don't know if he heard me but within about 50 meters he wasn't on my wheel. I think I need to be more clear, even if the riders around us get the same message ("Hey he's leading out Nick, get on Nick's wheel!").

Next week maybe I can try again, but at that moment I needed to offer my help to someone else.

Nick wasn't there so tried to help Heavy D and Co here.

I found Heavy D leading a string of Expo riders as we approached the bell lap. I rode just past him, told him to get on my wheel (with the assumption that everyone else would follow), and started rolling hard.

On the hoods, upright, to give a better draft.

I went to the hoods to offer a bigger draft but Heavy D was blown from earlier efforts (sound familiar?). So too were the guys on his wheel. This meant that none of them were on my wheel within about 50-75 meters.

One rider did get on my wheel and hung on for dear life. Since he wasn't an Expo I didn't feel the need to offer him as much shelter. Once I realized that he was the one I got into the drops and drilled it,  although had I known how tall he was maybe I'd have sat up more.

At any rate my legs were screaming and I had to get lower to maintain my speed.

One guy left on my wheel (riders to the right were getting lapped).

The one guy hung on as we passed a group of lapped riders. The shadows were pretty long and there was no one from the field visible when I looked down.

This was good.

A good leadout gifts the sprinter the race. It shouldn't even be a contest, the second guy should be able to pedal somewhat leisurely to the line and win, so to see the big gap was nice.

When I rounded Turn Three I yelled at him to go. I knew the wind would zap his legs but I hoped he had enough to get to the line. His expression, his pedaling style, his reluctance to go, they all signaled he was about to detonate, but he gave it a shot.

One guy left, I'm blown, into the headwind.

The guy was tall so I felt bad for trying to get low and fast. I should have sat up more, given him more shelter, but those thoughts had gone out the door once I realized that I was gifting a lead to a non-Expo guy. In this situation, with the massive headwind, I think he'd have been better off sitting and trying to get aero, but he stood up and practically stopped moving.

The next two guys. I think they caught him.

You can see the gap he had to the next rider, and the guy that I led out was struggling hard to keep going. A good leadout gifts the sprinter the race. A good way to counter a good leadout is to have a guy that can not only hang on to the sprinter's wheel but also sprint around the the sprinter getting the leadout. Another way to counter a good leadout is to do one of your own. That's almost never the case in a Cat 3-4-5 race but sometimes you see drag racing leadout trains in the pros. Quite the sight for sure.

My leadout wasn't that fast for a 3, and would have been ineffective in a Cat 3 race, but in the B race it worked really well, leaving just one rider when I pulled off.

As it was the field had blown apart behind me. Obviously the racers were collectively struggling already, with virtually no reserves. Two guys looked good and smooth and I think they overhauled the first guy (the one I dropped off at the last corner).

If I'd gone another 50 meters, into the wind, I think he might have hung on for the win, but I was really zapped and wanted to get out of the way.

Junior, with his shoulder baring Flashdance shirt, checking out my brake lever after the race.

I rolled back to the Missus and Junior, my "cool down" simply soft pedaling down the finishing stretch. Although my heart rate had averaged 171 in the leadout I was at 145 when I got to Junior (based on what I could see on the helmet cam clip).

Strava link here.

Strava playback here (you have to choose more riders to have in the playback).

Junior instinctively reached for a brake lever. People do that to bikes on the showroom floor so a good rule of thumb for a bike shop is to have the brakes adjusted so they feel firm and responsive. We always wondered why people did that. Now I know that it's partially wired into our brains.

We packed up and headed home. I'd talked to a couple of the Expo guys about everything I posted above, so it's not new to them, but race craft is race craft. Maybe by the end of the summer we'll see some good team duals as different groups of riders try to get the upper hand in a given race.

(Final note: Although I put forward the idea of not chasing, at some point this is a training race. My take is that once a break gets half a lap at the Rent then it's now just a "break", not necessarily a break with teammates. I'd start working to catch the break, partially because I know I won't - haha - , partially because it's easier if no one laps the field, but also because it's good practice to chase down a break as a team. Once the gap closes a bit, so the break isn't half a lap up, then I'd ease off as the break members regain their team identities. In the A race this isn't the case, as I'm ineffective in such races, but in the B race I'll chase any break that's more than half a lap ahead. Ultimately it's better for everyone involved to have both active as well as passive racing. Active means chasing, attacking, leading out. Passive means sitting in, not chasing, stuff like that. If everyone raced passively then races would be 12 mph and really boring. You need both to make a good race, for the racers as well as the spectators.)

Racing - CCAP Tues Night Worlds, B race, May 13, 2014

Ah, Tuesday Night Worlds. It's really my favorite part of the season. The races are low key, it's social, and you get to get some good racing done. For me it's been tough for a few years because the A races are so hard. In fact I don't think I finished a single race in 2013 and in 2012 I don't think I was much better. I have to go back to 2011 for a finish. Even in 2010, my banner year, I only finished a couple races here and there.

Things have evolved. After some changes behind the scenes of which I know virtually nothing, there was an apparently friendly change of hands and CCAP is now running the Tuesday Night Races. With it came some changes - they added a Junior race (CCAP's main focus), they now allow Cat 3s to enter the B race, and some extra stuff outside the race (music tonight, baby sitting 5 year olds and up through activities, BBQ next week).

Having been sick last week I just went to watch and take pictures. It was a different world compared to last year. The A race was insanely fast. A lot of the guys I race with got shelled pretty quickly. The B race looked more like a Cat 3-4 race and had many of the racers I line up with on the weekends. I decided that I'd try the B race, if I could make it to the races on time (6 PM instead of 7 PM), instead of doing the A race.

Between last Tuesday and now I've gotten a bit better, enough to ride an hour and a half one on Sunday. This put my month's total at about 4.5 hours, and combined with April's 6 hours, put me at about 10.5 hours for a month and a half, 4 hours of those spent racing.

Not much, right?

Still, though, I figured the Bs should be doable, pending getting there on time.

We left pretty quickly, tried using the HOV lane, and learned that there are a lot of exits off the HOV lane going north but virtually none going south. Of course we were heading south. After some shenanigans the Missus got us to the race with a few minutes to spare.

Typically she'll drive to the Tuesday races so I can change in the back, and one of us sits in the back with Junior anyway. As I tell people one of the reasons I married her was because she knows how to drive well. Few people make me feel at ease in a car but she's one of them, and even with all the back and forth (we both agreed on trying the HOV lane), I never felt uncomfortable.

Once there I hopped out of the car to register while the Missus parked the car. After a short jog to the car I got the bike together while the Missus distracted Junior, who wanted me to hold him (as he does in any new or busy environment). I got everything together, started Strava, turned on the Contour, and went to line up.

Fortunately for me there are a few changes in the way they do the Bs (at least compared to the As last year). First there are a couple neutral laps, so that was nice. Second, with the 3s in there, the field was pretty big, and I could count eight teammates in the group.

(Of course I hadn't talked with anyone so there was no plan.)

My goal was to "participate" in the race, as much as possible. I had this fantasy that I'd spend a bulk of the race at the back, helping the newer riders stay in touch, keep gaps closed, stuff like that. Then when the lap cards came out I'd go to the front and try and help my Cat 4-5 teammates do a good finish.

For me, personally, winning wasn't the goal. It just didn't seem fair for me to race 100% against the newer racers. Plus I'd rather enjoy trying to help others become better bike racers.

With that I lined up.

 

The start. A great sized field.

After a couple neutral laps the official blew the whistle and the race was on. The field immediately overcooked it going into the first turn, with some nice bobbling going on. Fortunately no one hit the deck, a few riders made some good saves, and everyone realized they need to turn in a bit harder when the speeds are up on the prior straight.

First turn bobble.

At this point I realized that my fitness didn't give me much room for generosity. I tried to find some room to blow my nose (still have a ton of stuff coming up/out).

Moved over to clear my nose.

I didn't want anyone to even run over the stuff so I really moved over.

The race started breaking up, attacks going up the road. With so many Expos, and with a lot of strong ones, inevitably an Expo would get up the road. One group, with Lance and SOC from Expo, seemed to hold some promise, but the field never really let them go. When a few more riders bridged, and then the field started to splinter, I figured I should get up there.

The view when I passed the front of the field.

I'm actually not sure where the break is in this picture, but they're up there.

I never meant to counter as much as I wanted to move up and cover the inevitable move that would bridge the gap. I didn't realize that I'd be the one making that move, and I'd make it on my own.

I did a "little" jump, which ends up being the biggest wattage of the night (a touch over 1000w). I rolled up hard on some lapped riders, who were inexplicably pretty far into the middle of the road. I had to yell "RIGHT!" at one because I couldn't go to his left, and if he moved right we'd collide. Although the rider jumped a bit he stayed on his line and I passed on his right.

Shortly after I rolled up on the back half of the break - apparently it'd just split. I pulled the back half to the front half and then totally exploded.

Rolling up on SOC in the back half of the break. Lance is up the road.

A lap later I was groveling in the field, wondering if I should drop out.

Ultimately I kept going. A few laps of good shelter, staying tighter on wheels, a general slowing of pace, and I was okay.

I was too far back and got caught up in either lapped riders or riders coming off the back. At one point I had a decent gap to close, and I did.

Gap to close after getting around some other riders.

 It took a lot out of me and I realized that my fantasy world of dragging the others up to the field wasn't going to happen. I'd make the move, as conservatively as I could, and the only thing I could do was hope that everyone sat on my wheel.

Bobble by a single speed rider on the left. I think his chain dropped, ironically.

I noticed that one guy had a single speed. Which is fine, but ironically he bobbled pretty badly when something happened with his bike. I think his chain dropped off the cog. He had no derailleur to keep it in place so if the chain line is off just pedaling will eventually pull the chain off the cog; also if the chain is loose it can fall off simply because the bike is leaning to one side.

(It's ironic because one of the reasons to go to single speed is for the mechanical reliability - no derailleur to adjust or break. I once dropped a chain on my track bike because I set it too loosely, but fortunately nothing bad happened.)

He couldn't pedal but veered to the right, directly into my path. I yelled (again) and he held his line. This time it wasn't five fee to the curb, it was more like a foot and change.

At any rate I didn't realize it was the single speed guy that almost high sided off of his bike until I looked at the clip.

With all the various interesting things going on, with the pace that was somewhat human (even if I contemplated quitting), and with a shorter race, we hit the 5 lap to go mark sooner than later. I decided that I'd sit back a bit, let things play out, do one big move on the last lap, and see what happened.

I moved up a bit with two to go but at the bell I was still in the back of the group of riders really gunning for the sprint. I didn't move up much for the first two turns as things weren't playing out well, meaning gaps didn't appear magically. This meant that I'd have to do a lot of work in the sprint, which was fine by me.

Last corner, just the sprint to the line to go.

Lance is at the front. He wants to lead out.

At this point I didn't have a plan. I just wanted to move up and do a jump. My goal was to navigate the field, to get in an effort, and see how I felt. I'd recovered from my bridge and my gap closing; now I could see how that work affected my sprint.

Although it didn't dawn on me at the time, I realize now that I didn't cramp or come close to cramping, so that was good. My Sunday ride was good. My recovery was good. My lack of consistent sleep for a number of days didn't really affect me.

It also meant I had a good jump left in my legs.

Exiting the corner. A lot of work for me at this point.

Leaving the corner things were a bit blocked. The wind was coming from our left, sort of, and as the course curved left it'd be a cross tailwind of sort. This meant that, hopefully, the left side would open up. Plus it's shorter to go on the left side, if there's a gap there.

However I was buried in the field so I needed to move up.

A gap opened (the rider in front of me went right).

As the rider in front of me moved right I started to move up. He moved back left, closing the gap a bit, but there was still a lot of room for me to move by (keeping in mind that I might be sprinting past a Cat 5).

Once through the gap I wanted to go left since it was so clear over there, but it'd be a big move so I had to check first. Generally speaking if I move over less than half a bike width I'll do it on my own, taking into account anything I hear and my last check of my six. If I move over more than half a bike width that's swerving (to me anyway) so I'll check my six first to make sure it's okay to swerve.

Check my six before making a big move left.

It was clear so I moved left, basically a lane and change over.  I lined up behind a guy who was starting an effort, which meant that I had no room to go. I had to wait.

Now waiting for things to open up again.

At this point I still hadn't used my jump and, in just about 150 meters of road, I was much closer to the front of the field. Lance, at the front was just about to pull off, and I could tell the guy on his wheel would go as soon as Lance eased.

Opens up, now I go.

The guy went. As my marker (the guy I was following) eased to the right, leaving a gap on the inside, I jumped.

It wasn't a great jump. It felt weak, I wasn't getting the speed quickly, and I'm pretty sure that even if I sprinted all the way to the line I wouldn't have won. After looking at the power data my jump was pretty low (peak was about 1000w, less than my bridge effort jump) and my sprint was in the 560w range (15 seconds). A normal sprint for me is 1200w peak and 1000w sustained for about 18-19 seconds. This meant that my peak power in the race, for one pedal stroke, was about what I normally do for 18-19 seconds.

At this point I've decided to get around that hump/bend (3rd fence post or so in the picture above) and sit up.

I didn't want to place highly in the sprint so once I jumped I tried to pick a line so I'd be really close to the inside curb after a pretty hard "hump" in the bend. Everyone at speed goes wide after the hump thing because it's literally impossible to hold the curb around that hump. If I went a touch wider at first, then went left, I'd be next to the curb. It's a spot that riders really won't get to in a sprint.

Once I got there I sat up, hoping that others would jump past me.

They did.

A bunch of guys passed me just before the line.

I have no idea how I finished but it was well back, maybe 8th or 10th or something. Which is fine. I could check off all the things I did:

 - bridge to a break

 - huge effort then recover

 - bridge a gap

 - move up in the field

 - do a tactical sprint

 - don't win

I can also list things I didn't do:

 - help a newer less experienced racer

 - didn't work with my teammates (no lead outs offered or given, etc; I didn't race against them, I just didn't race with them)

 - no real plan going into the race

On the other hand I had a fun time on the bike. It was challenging (I saw higher heart rates tonight than I have in any recent memory), I got to put my nose in the wind, I got to do some field stuff, and I could take a pull or three. For me that's much more fun than groveling at the back of the field and then trying to do a sprint. It's more fun to get involved.

We had to get going to eat before Junior fell asleep so we left a few laps after the A race started. First, though, we had to take care of business.

Some things take precedence over, say, hanging out with other racers.

In this case it's a diaper change.

All in all a really good evening at the races. I'm definitely looking forward to doing more.

Training - Clearing the Lungs Out

So for the past week and a half I've had a pretty bad cold. Junior had it too, before me, and I think the combination of staying up much of the night while holding him closely has made it only natural that I get the cold also.

I've been pretty fatigued as well, with four or five wake up calls sort of common. Usually I get a couple hours of straight sleep but often I've been up a number of times during the night.

To top it off my back has been pretty tweaked. I think it started when I sat through much of the night holding Junior in my arms. I did this before, when he was an infant, and my back really went out, to the point that the Missus shoveled the walk a number of times. Fatigue makes my back worse so all the interrupted nights haven't helped much.

At any rate I really haven't been able to do much of anything. With such a runny nose I did manage to go through a couple boxes of tissues and even a few rolls of TP (which is much less expensive than tissues). Sunday, when the temps were supposed to hit about 80, the Missus asked if I wanted to go ride. Initially I thought no, but later, as the sun really came out, I changed my mind.

This would be the first training ride outside in forever so I had to gather my "training kit". I decided to use the Jet 6/9 set of wheels simply because they have fresher tires on them. Just as a note I ran 100 psi front and rear, in 23c tires.

I also thought that I'd put a 60 mm valve tube and an 80 mm valve tube in my spare kit, from the rides down in Florida. When I finally found them (basically where I put them after returning from Florida) I took a picture for posterity sake. I also checked to make sure everything was still in there, since the bag has been in "Junior" territory for half a year (i.e. Junior can reach it, even if I think he hasn't).

What I carry, from the left, going clockwise.

Saddle bag

SRM computer

Planet Bike Super Flash (2)

Tube (80 mm valve)

Spare rear dropout (on top of tube)

Multi tool including 8mm Allen (for pedals)

Spoke wrench, black (for most higher end exposed spoke nipples)

Two tire levers

Tube (under the tire levers, 60mm valve)

Multi tool including chain tool

I realize now that the KMC Missing Link is, well, missing. That's the easiest way to connect a broken chain. You still need the chain tool, to remove any damaged links (like if you twisted your chain); the Missing Link then lets you connect the chain without having to carry an assortment of master pins.

All packed away, except the tail lights, SRM computer, and that tube box on the right.

I actually carried an extra tube, an extra metal-core tire lever, money, driver's license, some money, and cardboard (tube box, for booting a slashed tire). You can see it to the right in the picture above. I did this "just because".

I although brought some food, my phone (for Strava), and one bottle on the bike.

I carry all this not necessarily for me but because a lot of other riders don't carry stuff. I've used my own stuff, of course, but often I end up using my emergency supplies on other riders' bikes.

Jet 9 with 80mm valve tube.

Jet 6 with 60 mm valve tube.

Just as a note I prefer to have my valves extend just past the rim. This way I can close the valve nib but it doesn't stick out further than necessary. I use a valve extender (strapped to the frame) to pump up the tires and put it back on the frame when I'm done.

After gathering everything I finally got out the door. I decided to bring the mini Blackburn pump instead of the full size Park frame pump simply because I didn't want to spend any time looking for the straps to hold the pump on the frame.

The ride itself wasn't very notable. After the initial half mile descent I spent much of the first 45 minutes in the 44x23 or the 44x21.

I've been trying to see what sort of rpm I do when I'm just tooling around. In a headwind low effort spin state it seems that I'm in the 96-98 rpm range much of the time. In a tailwind low effort spin it's a bit higher, like 104-108 rpm. When I go "slow" after a mile or two of the faster rpm I'm at 90-100 rpm, so about 4-8 rpm lower than when I'm pedaling sort of fast.

At 115 rpm I felt like it was inefficiently fast.

I could barely breathe at first - it felt like I was trying to breathe while someone poured water over my head.

I spent a lot of time blowing stuff out of my nose.

I coughed a lot.

After about an hour I ran out of stuff in my nose and my lungs, and for the first time in eons I felt like I could breathe sort of normally. I could feel air stream into my nose.

This brought me to the end of a lap of my Quarry Road loop. I wanted to keep going so I decided to do a half loop extra.

My head started getting clogged again.

I ran into a local rider that I've run into a few times this year. My main memories of him are when he slaughtered me at Bethel one year, when he killed it at the Nutmeg State Games another year, and then when he crashed with me in the Big One. He and his son were sitting by the side of the MUP (Rails to Trails, or Multi Use Path, or MUP). I stopped, noticed the prevalence of poison ivy right there, pointed it out to them, and after a brief chat we went our separate ways.

Father and son rest stop.

The yellow spots are poison ivy that I highlighted.

Most of the shoulder, that I could see, was about as densely afflicted with the evil weed.

I put some test spots on the road, but there's no poison ivy there.

I headed back home, a pleasant easy ride done. I wasn't spinning quite as freely, now using the 44x19 or 17, but still, no real pressure on the pedals. Ultimately I'd average 143 watts (one moderate effort netted me a bit over 800 watts so it was pretty minor), 155 bpm (which is actually close to race pace for me - 160-165 bpm is about my limit - so I think my lungs were more clogged than I thought), and 83 rpm (indicating my pedaling really slowed down at the end).

Bike Friendly Community sign.

I didn't know it but after I got home my head and lungs would get congested again, my back would become almost useless (the Missus had to pick up Junior for much of the rest of the day).

I'll see how things go with my back and my breathing passages in the upcoming days. If I'm feeling slightly better I'll give the CCAP Tuesday Night Race a shot.

Tactics - Strava Playback

So the other day on bike forums someone mentioned that Strava lets you playback rides and such. I saw something about this but it didn't seem relevant to me. Meaning I almost never ride with anyone else and the majority of my training rides are indoors on a trainer, so Strava is more a public training diary than anything else.

Then someone said that he "watched" the playback of a race and saw someone stop for a lap and then jump back in, saying it was sort of funny to see it right there in "real life" if you will.

This made the "playback" feature seem a bit more interesting to me because I'm always curious about analyzing race tactics after the fact. Rehashing a race fascinates me because I have some solid data, like my power and heart rate numbers, my "perceived effort" memories, and a better understanding of what was happening around me.

I went to look for the "playback" feature on my Strava pages but couldn't find anything. Google rescued me - it's not really a "feature" yet, it's sort of in testing.

So this is how you do it.

First you need to go the Strava Laboratory.

The Strava Labs screen.

From there click on Activity Playback. This brings you to the Flyby Page.

The Flyby page, with a box up at the top right for putting in a URL.

Based on the name and the notes it seems that Strava put this in place so that if someone rides by you ("fly by") you can look for your activity and any Strava riders near you. I suppose that you could use this to learn about and follow a local rider, see if the rider that blew by you turned off and stopped, stuff like that.

For me, though, since no one rides past me while I'm on the trainer, my interest sits in recreating a race.

To look up an activity you need to go to one of your activities and copy the URL.

For my sake I'm going to use the last Bethel, the Zwiedzanie Bethel. The URL for my activity is
http://app.strava.com/activities/129982402

Copy/paste the URL/address from your actual activity.

I copy/paste that into the activity field in the Flyby Page.

My activity copy pasted into the Flyby box.

This brings up my activity plus a list of riders that were at the same location that day. Each name has three columns. The first is the green "C", for correlation. The higher this number the more likely the rider actually rode with you. For a race if the C is too low then the rider probably did a different category race. As a rule I find that anything over 50% is pretty good, it means they usually rode with me.

The second column is the purple "S", for spatial. This means the rider rode the same roads as you did. Obviously if they did a crit on the same course then the S will be high. I ignore this for race reviews since everyone does the same course, at least the ones I race.

The third column is the red "D", for distance. This just tells you how far the particular person rode. This is a sanity check since some riders will do a couple races or warm up for an hour or get shelled in a few minutes. I tend to ignore this also, but I think it would make sense if you were, say, checking to make sure riders completed a required loop (like in a road race, time trial, or gran fondo). It would help catch out those that sit out a few laps or do a shortcut.

Finally you can hover over each name to get the title of their ride. For the Bethel race I did the Cat 3-4 race so anything with some reference to that gets picked. Those that say M45 or P123 etc get skipped.

For me, then, I check off all the riders whose C value is over 50%, seeing if their activity title matches the Cat 3-4 race. A lot of people put non descriptive titles so it's hard to tell (like "Bethel race"). Obviously I recognize a few names so I make sure to get them checked off.

Then I hit play and see if it makes sense.

Each rider shows up with their avatar/picture in a circle. If you selected one that wasn't racing (or whatever) you can hover over the circle, get their name, and uncheck them from the list.

So during the race you can see things develop.

It also plays in fast forward so it's not an agonizingly slow thing. In fact you need to use the arrow buttons next to the play button to advance a frame at a time, else it's virtually impossible to watch detailed bits of playback.

Tip: the elapsed time seems to adjust automatically so you can sort of ignore it. For example I turn on Strava on my phone pretty early so that it's on when I go to the line. After I turned on Strava I took some podium pictures and such so there's a lot of time where I'm not moving at all, hence the weird time at the start of the race.

Start of the race.

If you do the same event as my example you'll see everyone lined up and waiting as I take some podium pictures. I hustle to the line and we start immediately.

The break develops.

In this particular race a massive break of 14 riders went clear. Since not everyone has Strava it's not clear but it would be cool to see a fully-Strava-equiped field in replay mode.

Field sprint at end of race.

In the field sprint we come close to catching those off the back of the break. I'm leading the charge up the hill and there are some break guys that are already at their cars. Others are blowing up at the line and barely moving.

So that's my short tutorial on Strava Flyby, the playback feature available on Strava.

Racing - 2014 Mystic Velo Crit Cat 3s

Mystic Velo. It's the first of the Ninigret Park races that I could do, falling the Saturday after the last Bethel. During Bethel it's hard to get out and do anything on a Saturday so I have to miss those Saturday races during the Series.

Although during the prior week the weather forecast seemed pretty dismal it ended up okay. From "raining and 50 degrees" it went to "partially sunny and 60 degrees". In reality it was more like sunny and 75 degrees so a great, great day for racing.

The one thing that I didn't like was the wind, specifically the wind direction. It was blowing pretty hard into your face on the finishing straight. In the last couple years I've raced here it's been a tailwind sprint, one that favors me, and I've done okay. Today it would be tough.

Due to the wind I decided to race the 60mm Stinger 6s, versus the taller, faster, but more wind-sensitive Stinger 7-9 wheels.

We arrived at the race a bit tired. Junior had been up pretty much the whole night, hacking and coughing, and I really didn't get that much sleep. The Missus handled him most of the time but as we were all staying in the same room (at SOC's house) it only meant falling back asleep feeling bad that I wasn't helping.

I also didn't feel great in the morning, a tickle in my throat, a bit blah in terms of energy. Nonetheless we headed out, had a good breakfast, and got to the course with plenty of time before our race. I hoped to get a good warm up in since I hadn't touched the bike since the last Bethel.

For me getting there early meant that I simply delayed getting ready. At Ninigret I'll usually get a few laps of the parking lot under my legs but instead I rode my bike from the car to the start line. 

The start.

With a small field I expected a break to go up the road. Expo had a slew of riders - Stan, Mike, Joel, SOC, and myself. Stan and Mike were probably our strongest riders so they'd go for breaks. Joel would try to do something similar. SOC would mark breaks but he can also sprint, so he could be more versatile. Me, I have to sit in for the sprint so that was my plan.

Waving to Junior, although you can't see my hand.

The Missus and Junior were around and with the wide open area around the course (it used to be a WW2 airfield) Junior had plenty of room to go hiking around. I tried to wave once, and once he was pointing at me as I rode by.

Junior pointing at Daddy.

Mrs SOC, Joel's Missus, and Joel's daughter there with the Missus.

Stan spent a lot of time at the front, trying to break clear of the field. One move he made had serious promise but about half the field eventually bridged, putting him at a distinct disadvantage since he doesn't sprint well. In some of his more promising moves SOC, myself, Mike, and Joel would mark the counter-moves, and Joel brought back some moves himself. One such effort spent Joel - he dropped out shortly after it.

Because of the wind we rode closer together than normal. Although I never felt really squeezed I noticed a lot more points where I was really tucked up into other riders' drafts.

There was one corner where the guy to the outside moved in suddenly. The guy to his inside moved in, and I moved in to avoid him. The guy to my inside I think unclipped and almost put his bike down but there was no crash. I'm glad the guy made it, that's for sure.

It reminded me of something important - when you're cornering you should follow the line of the rider to your outside. This avoids the natural instinct of cutting the corner short. It's fine to cut the corner short if you're alone but in a field it's not.

Close quarters. I never felt like it got too close ever during this race.

Remember that the wide angle lens makes things look farther than they are.

The airfield history of the course means that there are no curbs and such. In the old days they had stacks of tires for the corner apexes and single tires lining the rest of the course. If you swerved off course for whatever reason you ran a pretty good risk of hitting one of those tires. In the corners riders would regularly hit their knee or shoulder or something on the stack of tires (think Casa Della Tires from Cars).

When the velodrome money (we used to pay a surcharge for each race entry for a future velodrome) didn't pan out they used the funds to pave the course and plant grass. This meant that the course was smoother pavement (it all used to be like the warm up area - you really, really didn't want to crash at the old Ninigret), there was grass, and the tires went away.

That in turn means that when it gets dicey you can just cut across the grass.

Grass surfing on the second last lap.

Approaching the bell it was pretty tight. The field was together, there were a few riders that thought they could win the sprint (I specifically thought of two CF riders who I think won the race), and the wind would mean a very tactical last lap that favored the smartest strong riders, or, conversely, the strongest smart riders.

This didn't take into account the "stack of the race", to use a quote from the tape of the Tour du Pont.

Crash One, some wiggly stuff to the front right, basically under the green tree in the picture.

Crash two - note the knee coming out mid-right field.

Crash three - now you can see a break in the field as guys are slowing hard.

Some guys had already hit the deck.

Crash four - guys tumbling to the right.

Crash five - making it past.

Crash six - closing the gaps.

After the crash Stan looked like he was still around but way over geared. I gave him a "let's go!" yell and rolled by him. The field quickly regrouped, now going fast. Cat 3s are merciless when it comes to crashes, that's for sure.

Post crash, second turn.

I knew I had to move up a bit but I also knew that the headwind would turn the sprint into slow motion. I felt comfortable that if I was at the back of the main group I could do well in the sprint. I figured one of the CF Juniors would win the race but I could get inside the top 6 and maybe the top 3 if I was in the group. Therefore my tactics revolved around staying in the group while saving as much as possible for the sprint.

I should have gone but I eased instead.

Hard tailwind at this point.

Here the rider in front of me is making an effort but fading hard. Instead of zipping around him I chose to wait a bit. I really should have gone but my conservative plan gave me an excuse to sit in just a bit more.

I hesitated here, a big mistake, especially given the tailwind.

You can see the huge hole here. We're coming up on the second right turn (there are two rights and five lefts) and the wind was howling from our backs. A little jump in the 53x11 and I could have moved up pretty hard and fast, even using my momentum through the turn and into the next straight.

Instead I waited.

Exiting the second right turn. Wind is from the right, very strong.

The howling tailwind became a howling crosswind on the next straight, so much so that a few times I found myself teetering on the edge of the pavement, trying to find shelter. When I hit the straight on the wrong side (the right/windward side) I sacrificed a bit of time to move into the sheltered position.

I suppose I could have moved up but the wind was such that I'd have dug into my sprint to do so. In hindsight it might have been worth it to use up some of my reserves. Instead I eased and moved left.

Within a few seconds I move to the left, to the sheltered side of the rider in front.

Note that if I'd moved up I wouldn't have had any shelter - everyone was echeloned to the left.

I moved left efficiently and immediately got into a sheltered position. The rider in blue/yellow is now shielding me from the wind. Ominously he's left a gap and he's not getting any shelter. I should have read this and moved up hard - with no shelter his legs would have been screaming, increasing the chances of him leaving a gap.

Exiting second last turn, wind is from the left, I have no shelter.

The second last turn dumped us into a short straight that I can never read right. I think the wind swirls due to the trees on the left and the tall bushes on the right. What I didn't realize is that it was a major crosswind from the left here and so I was getting no draft. Normally I follow pretty closely but I needed to get right to draft and there was no room right so I just stayed behind.

Before the last turn you can see the gaps in front of me.

Now you can see my mark is losing the wheel in front, and two guys in front of him there's a gap opening up. I saw this but prayed and hoped that it would come back together in the last bend. At this point I didn't have the reserves to make any effort and still have a sprint so I had to wait.

The gap going into the massive headwind sprint.

When I realized that the gap wasn't closing I had to go. I chose to go to the right, the protected side, for that little bit of drafting help, but it was a big gap considering the massive headwind.

I stayed seated and churned my way up to the "main group", the 10 or 15 riders actually fighting it out for the win.

At this point my hopes are fading but I'm still optimistic of pulling out a good sprint.

Trying to close the gap as the sprint starts.

Of course no one's going to wait for the sprint and as it started I wasn't on yet. Therefore I had accelerate while seated, trying to save my jump until the last possible moment.

After closing the gap, two guys were winning the race.

I jumped here.

After what seemed like an eternity I got onto the wheels and immediately went left to try and go around. At this point I stood to sprint, knowing I only had about 15 seconds left in the race.

Sat up as I wasn't going to pass too many riders. Meaning any.

As I sprinted I realized that the two guys way up the road had it in the bag. The guys I was trying to pass weren't cooperating with my plan - I was cooked from closing the gap before the sprint and they weren't blowing up.

So I sat up a fair bit from the line, coasted in, and did a practice bike throw. Based on the count back I think the guy to my right beat me at the line.

9th place. If I kept pedaling a little I'd have gotten 8th.

Ah well.

Pins were from my last number at Bethel.

I never unpinned that jersey so I just switched over the pins onto a clean jersey.