Tactics - Get Lapped Less Than 4 Times

The first thing I'll post on is the idea of "staying in the field". All new racers worry about this to some extent. I know that I entered my first race simply to survive, and I did.

For two turns.

By the third turn I was off the back, about half a mile into the race.

One Way Not To Get Lapped

In most normal weekend races if you get dropped you'll get pulled so you won't get lapped. I suppose that's one solution to avoid getting lapped four times (which is, by the way, an arbitrary number I just made up, it's not an actual one). If you get pulled you can't get lapped even once, unless the officials miscalculate and you get lapped just before they pull you.

So the real goal here is to avoid getting dropped.

Why Do Racers Get Dropped?

There are two conflicting ideas most racers experience in that last-gaps, hanging on for dear life moments just before they get shelled.

1. "Wow, this is hard! I can't do this for much longer!"
2. "If I keep going this hard another 2 minutes I'll blow up so I might as well save something so I can keep going after I get dropped."

The first thought leads to the second thought.

Unfortunately this is a huge mistake.

Once you're out of the draft you're going to be doing oodles more work than if you stay in the draft. It doesn't matter if it's the first lap or the last, once you're out of the shelter offered by those in front of you your power usage goes skyrocketing.

Basically no matter how hard it is to stay with the pack it's the easiest way to do the race. Easing up and getting dropped makes it much, much harder.

Why Stay In The Field?

You should stay in the field because you can do a number of things in the group that are literally impossible to work on when riding solo.

1. You can work on drafting better.
2. You can work on cornering better in a group.
3. You can get used to the idea of going faster than you ride when you're on your own.

There's another slightly less obvious benefit also. When you're drafting you can make substantial changes in speed without a matching substantial change in effort. I mean, okay, if you go from 15 to 30 mph then yes, you'll have to make an effort, but if you're bouncing around between 22 and 27 mph in the field it isn't a big deal. Doing the same thing solo would result in huge power spikes.

The reason your effort levels even out is that when you draft you reduce the effect of wind resistance. The power required to go a given speed isn't the square of your speed any more. This is why some riders will motorpace to hone their fitness. Motorpacing involves following a dedicated motorized vehicle, usually a small motorcycle. A rider can sustain substantially higher speeds, hovering at the edge of blowing up.

Why don't they do it solo? Well because if you're riding on your own at basically your limit and you have to go up a slight incline, you might have to shift down or push a bit harder, either of which take you out of your red zone. For example if you shift down even one gear you might drop down significantly in power or heart rate. Behind a moto the effects of easing or pushing harder are less significant, so you can ease a bit, slow down a couple mph, and you won't fall out of the red zone. Likewise a couple mph acceleration might not blow you up immediately, whereas if you were solo you'd go off the deep end pretty quickly.

I don't have good wattage numbers, i.e. no comparisons of me riding in the wind and then tucking into the draft on the same road in the same conditions, but my average wattage is pretty telling. I can average as low as 160 watts in a crit where I can place at the finish.

160 watts is about the equivalent of riding 15 mph on a flat road, give or take. On the trainer (I have a CycleOps Fluid trainer) it's in the 13-14 mph range. Yet I can maintain the same average wattage and finish a 23 or 24 mph race.

So what's the trick?

There are a few, but the most critical one is to stay in the draft.

How To Stay In The Field

Look at the two thoughts that I listed above. The first relates to the amount of effort required to stay on wheels, the second relates to "saving oneself" for the rest of the race.

Here's the critical part.

If you're getting shelled from the race, THERE IS NO REST OF THE RACE! Your race is done, over, finished. You're no longer racing, and in fact, if I'm shelled on a Tuesday race, I'll sometimes do some laps but I get on the sidewalk or in the parking spaces when the field rolls by me, because my race ended when I got shelled.

So don't focus on saving yourself for the rest of the race that isn't a race. Go all in while you're in the race. I'd actually say that if you can keep pedaling after you get shelled then you didn't try hard enough before you got shelled.

This is why you'll see more experienced riders come off the back and virtually come to a standstill. They used everything they had to try and stay in the race. Once out of the race they were done.

Here's another anecdote. When I pulled really hard at the end of the Tuesday race last week, I averaged something like 475 watts for a minute. That's substantially above my 160-200w average I typically hold during a race. However I only went about 30 mph.

I say "only" because in the Tour of Somerville in 2011, as a Cat 2, I averaged something like 175 watts to average 27.5 mph for virtually the entire race (I got caught behind a crash on the last lap).

In other words I was using enough power to ride along at about 16 or 18 mph but I was averaging 27.5 mph.

If I lost the draft and had to catch back on I'd have to go faster than 27.5 mph by myself. Based on the work last Tuesday it's pretty realistic that I'd have had to average in the 475 watt range to go 30 mph to catch a field going 27.5 mph average.

475 watts is a LOT more than 175 watts.

It's much, much easier to go 175 watts.

Therefore it's much, much easier to fight to stay on a wheel instead of letting it go. It may be easier at that moment to sit up, because you're absolutely redlined (and trust me, I know all about that), but the reality is that no matter how hard it is to hang on that wheel, it will become soooo much harder once you lose it.

So fight to hang on that wheel.

The Battle For The Draft

The battle for the draft isn't as the wheel in front of you starts to move away. It's before that also. I could (should) write a book on all that it involves but basically you want to have a few riders around you so that if you find yourself in a bit of trouble you can ease or rest a touch while you gather your breath. It's actually useful to get further ahead in the field if you have a chance so that you have a fall-back plan if you can't immediately respond to a move.

In this clip I have just enough in reserve to not get shelled, but I was hovering on the edge for virtually the whole race.

My first race as a 2. I felt obligated to try and finish the race. You can see in the clip how I let riders by me a couple times while I gathered myself, both mentally and physically, so I could get on the wheel. Drafting is absolutely the key to mass start racing. If we all raced on the moon, with no air, there'd be way fewer tactics. It'd be more like a running race where people go out at a pace they think will get them the win. In mass start racing that makes no sense because the guys at the front, putting down 400-500 watts to go 28-30 mph, are dragging along others who are soft pedaling, relatively speaking, at 175 or 200 watts. (Disclaimer: the more single file the pack is the less help you get from the draft. In one A race in the past Aidan of CCNS went to the front and drilled it for about four laps. I was doing something like 280 watts to hold onto the wheel in front of me. Aidan eased, dropped back to about where I was at the back of the field, then went back to the front and drilled it again. A few laps later I was out, unable to sustain the 280-290 watts required to stay on the wheel. In Somerville the field was big and offered a lot of shelter. This meant I could get away with the 175 watt output and that let me stay in the race. If I'd entered the pro race I imagine that although they only averaged a bit higher speed, the numerous times it was single file meant that I'd have had to put down 300w for minutes at a time to stay on wheels. I can't do that.) The Battle To Stay In The Field So now you know that you need to stay in the field. You need to sit in the draft as much as possible. You need to make efforts to stay in the draft, even if those efforts seem excessive at that moment. Believe me, if you don't make that hard effort to stay in the draft, like coming out of a corner, then you're going to make a much bigger effort trying to chase the field down. You'll have to think about how to draft better, how to use your gearing, how to use your position on the bike, but the you need to realize that the key to finishing races is to stay in the field at all costs. In the field = easier
Not in the field = much, much harder In the next few posts I'll deal with some of the major parts of the things I mention above - drafting, cornering, and peak speeds.
Oh, and the answer to the question, how do you get lapped less than 4 times? You get lapped many more times, focus on how many laps you do in the field, and eventually you'll get to the finish before you get shelled. (Disclaimer/note: I am putting these posts up in response to some internal requests from individual riders for advice etc. I am not singling out any particular rider or their request, and this advice works for all racers. In fact I'd claim that these pieces offer universal advice for all new mass start bike racers.)

Racing - 2013 CCNS Kermis, Cat 3s

A true week of racing - Sunday, Tuesday, then Friday. If I could do this all the time I would - maybe a Thursday race, to space things out properly before the weekend. Whatever, the fact is that I got to line up for my third race this week.

I got here as early as possible and helped with registration. When the Masters started I got to leave and prep for my own race. My one hour prep went something like this:

5:05 PM I leave registration and find the Missus. She asks if I've eaten. I haven't. She asks what I want. I want to support the vendors so I ask for a hotdog or something. She gets a steak sandwich - I inhale 3/4 of it before she reminds me that I'll be racing in what would be 45 minutes now.

5:15 I help with a victim with light road rash, a Junior that has been in the scene for much longer than you'd think. I brought my first aid supplies to the race so I could help him out with Tegaderm. The cheap stuff I forgot about, and I was out of the First Aid spray.

5:30 My socializing time quickly running out, I started getting my bike ready, my spare bike ready, pinned my number, kitted up, and got out there with less than 2 laps of the Masters race left. I took pictures of the break and chase finishing then put down the camera to go warm up (and missed the field sprint). Fortunately for me we got to do one lap of the course so that was my warm up.

FIVE Expo riders.

We lined up with a total of six Expo riders. Stan would be our default leader, the break guy. SOC and myself were sort of random guys, and Mark, Ted, and Joel would pitch in when they could. Joel was coming off of a non-racing period so he wasn't expecting much. We were all eager to support Stan who's proven to us over and over that he can make the break.

First time around the 180.

We should be 15 feet to the left.

On the first lap we almost went off the course through the cones to the right. A bit of grumbling and we were all back on track. Late apexes are great and all but it's important to turn in early enough for a 180 that dumps out to a narrow road.

Joel responds.

When the first attack went I was near the front but feeling a bit crispy from the effort out of the 180. I started wondering if one of us should go when Joel went rocketing by. We wouldn't link up with the eventual three man group until the 180.

Vicki.

On Tuesday the Central Wheel women made it a point to show up and race. Like me a few of them came off at some point but they gamely got back in and gritted it out. One rider I didn't see at the back was Vicki, a former Expo rider. We're all still supportive of her and I was pleasantly surprised to see her in the midst of the field, totally holding her own. As I've only really seen her in the B races on Tuesdays it was a huge step to be active in a Cat 3 race.

Rider slides his rear tire out.

The first few times around the 180 the corner caught out the unaware, the ones pushing the limits, and the ones simply not used to turning so hard. At least two riders slid their rear tire out, one actually unclipping mid-turn. To his credit he was clipped in and riding ahead of me long before I exited that same corner.

The break opposite us.

The 180 gave us a good point of reference as far as the break went. We could see them riding the opposite direction as we approached the 180.

I usually tend to go the outside line in turns, preferring to maintain speed over doing more bike handling type stuff inside. However the 180 was tight enough that everyone ended up a bit outside at the exit and I never got to fully utilize the outside line.

Therefore I decided that if I remembered I'd try to go inside one of these laps, to see how that went.

Ted raises his hand.

I'm actually really disappointed that you can't see the smoke around his chainstay. I'm pretty sure that his tire was rubbing and it was rubbing hard enough that it started to smoke.

Inside line!

Finally, with a couple laps to go, I managed to go inside. It was much better overall. I could turn as hard as I wanted to turn, to the point where I could feel the front tire start to lose traction, the feel of pushing the rubber across the asphalt. With my forward oriented position I could plant the front tire however I wanted. The short chainstays kept the rear planted, and I could accelerate fine out of the turn.

 I decided that this would be my approach for the finale.

Moving up the inside.

Approaching the 180 for the last time I debated going on my own. A CF Racing Junior decided for me as he made the move first. I jumped on his wheel and we both looked around, waiting for the counter-swarm. Only one other rider came by, a Bethel Cycle rider (I think a Junior as well). The two went wide, holding more of an outside line.

I went inside.

Inside line, hard.

 I didn't accelerate too hard so I could get back on their wheel. I'd contemplated going from the 180, trying to go for the line, but it's over a mile and not very realistic. Instead I hoped to back-slot into the front of the field and fight it out from there.

I made one elemental error, one that decided my race for me.

The head of the field comes up the right side.

The final straight started out with a left side crosswind, turning into a pure headwind. I had to be on the right side going into the final straight. My mistake was staying left on the course at two turns to go. Instead of having the field pass me on the left they passed me on the right. This put me in the wind and therefore I was out of the sprint long before it ever started.

It didn't keep me from trying to get to the right but the guy to my right fought hard to stay on the wheel. I fought honorably, with no contact, but the fight was doomed from the beginning. Ultimately I ended up sheltering him from the wind for a couple hundred meters, giving him a lead out. I didn't have the chance to turn around or even look down so I don't know if I could have back-slotted in a few spots back. It's too late now but this is one of those things I'll file away for the next time I'll need it.

To my happy surprise SOC rocketed by the right.

While I berated myself for getting into a tactically untenable position, SOC absolutely blasted by on the right. Riding super low he jumped where he normally does on Tuesday Nights. He knew the sprint - he's won the A Race on one Tuesday - so he treated the sprint like he did on a Tuesday. Although two guys fought hard he beat them and the rest of the field to take the sprint for 7th.

When I rode up to SOC he had a big grin on his face. Last Sunday he was just behind me going into the M35+ sprint but he sat up because "all the places were up the road". He ended up 44th; I nabbed 12th. We talked about it and the takeaway was that if the field is doing a sprint you might as well sprint. It's good race practice, it's fun, you can test tactics, and you can see how you do against the others. Well tonight he did great - he went at the perfect time for his strengths, he moved up based on his experience in the this and last year's race, and he executed flawlessly. If and when it comes down to a field sprint he'll have this experience to draw from when he approaches said sprint.

Stan, it ended up, took 5th in the break. A rider went solo, two guys were close for second and third, and the rest of the break finished just behind.

I have no idea how I finished except it was "at the back".

With the light falling during the P123 race I had to leave, unable to partake in the various festivities along the finishing straight. A fun race for sure, and one I plan on doing next year.

Just better.

Helmet Cam - July 24, 2012 @TuesdayTheRent

July 24, 2012 I did one of many Tuesday Night races at The Rent. It seems both forever ago and like yesterday at the same time. I haven't been able to edit clips due to some iMovie problems. Well, I finally got my iMovie issues solved by using the old MacBook - apparently the newer OS, the newest updates, the prevent me from editing stuff in iMovie. Specifically the updated iMovie won't import any of my helmet cam clips. This is a problem because then I have nothing to edit. The outdated iMovie works fine.

Anyway, with a season of clips in the "import movie" queue I got crackin' on a couple clips. Here's the first one, from that July just half a year ago.

Enjoy.

Equipment - Rotational Inertia

I'm revisiting the wheel inertia thing, this time with a suggestion. At some point some time someone told me that I shouldn't complain about something unless either I could do something about it or if the person I was talking to could do something about it.

In other words if your boss, say, doesn't give you a bonus, you shouldn't go complain about it to the counter person at McDonalds. You should instead either talk to your boss or talk to someone that your boss may go to for information or advice. (This is assuming your boss or boss's confidant doesn't work as a counter person at McDonald's.)

I put up a post a little while back, a stream of conscious kind (aren't they all?), and I didn't have any suggestions for a way of proving what I think is true. In the article I basically say that I think wheel inertia makes a difference but I can't prove it.

The post I put up garnered a lot of response, mainly theoretical. No one said anything like, "Dude, I am totally with you on the weight, but being a physicist I have to say that the numbers just don't prove it. I went out with two very different weight wheelsets, did some testing with my SRM, and I found that I couldn't find any difference in power requirements between the two wheelsets greater than the margin of error."

Instead there were those that felt inertial wheel weight made a difference (but like me they couldn't prove it) or those that "proved" that inertial wheel weight didn't make a difference (but no one said that using an 800 gram tire in a 8 turn, 1/2 mile course crit didn't hurt them in the least).

I also received some private responses via email. One person, a racer and a mathematician (the best combo in this case) suggested a blind test. He suggested using lead tape (used to weight tennis rackets and golf clubs to improve swing power because apparently inertial weight does matter there) I should have someone weight a wheel (or not). To keep the system weight (i.e. overall bike weight) the same, I'd need to carry the equivalent amount of weights I don't use when I ride the unadulterated wheel.

I decided that it would be more practical to use two identical wheels (which I happen to have). I'll weigh one down with lead tape, not the other, and have two identical bottles, one with the same amount of weight in it as the lead tape, the other with nothing. (I have to work on the bottles - I don't want to have the weight rattling around). This set up assures me that the bike weighs the same. The only difference will be the inertial wheel weight.

With this set up I'll do repeated acceleration tests. I'll have a helper switch out the front wheel and bottle (and you'll see who this helper will be in just a moment).

I'd weigh and swap both wheels if possible but I want to make the helper's job as easy as possible. The rear wheel is slightly more difficult to put in and it also has the cassette, and I may be able to tell the two cassettes apart. I'll just load up the front wheel with a lot of weight - I'm hoping at least one pound, and I hope to be able to get two or three pounds of lead weight under the clincher base tape.

Ironically I don't care about climbing - I know that even very light wheels don't make me climb faster in a group. When I blow up I'm just as slow, and I can't go fast enough to keep up with everyone without blowing up. This is ironic because the math proves that there is a small but substantial gain when using lighter wheels in an extended climb.

(As a rider that loses 30 minutes over a 2 hour climb on a leisurely ride, reducing that loss to just 29:30 over that same climb doesn't interest me. I'm already taking a 33% hit to finish the climb - I need to chop 20 or 30% off my climbing time, not a half percent here and there.)

I'm only concerned with how wheel weight affects me on flatter roads with a group (i.e. a crit) which is where all this debate occurs. I do crits all the time and find that heavy wheels really affect me, even if they're more aero than my lighter wheels.

Zinn theorizes (and I do too) that part of the light rim preference in racers comes from the idea that lighter wheels allow you to get shelter quicker. I think this is a big part of the inertial thing - getting to shelter quicker and more efficiently. Drafting someone will save a lot more wattage than any aero wheel out there.

In fact when I used a much higher inertia bike (a tandem, with another rider on it), I found that I couldn't maintain a close gap to the riders in front of us. I learned the hard way that I tend to stamp the pedals once or twice, soft pedal, and repeat over and over. With 350+ lbs bike/riders unit (the bike alone is about 40 lbs), my normal "pedal stamp" wasn't enough to close a foot gap quickly. Instead of snapping shut the gap to the rider in front, I found that we struggled for 50 or 100 meters to close that gap, and after a few miles of that we were off the back.

Other theories that I have include my somewhat rough pedal stroke (apparently it's common even with top riders), where I basically have two power strokes per pedal revolution. I can even out my pedal stroke when I'm riding easy, but under pressure there's a distinct "on/off" of power, two surges per revolution. Like the pedal stamping in the draft, the surges need to translate to forward movement immediately. This allows me to stay in the draft and coast when I don't need to surge.

"Coasting?" you ask. "What about the flywheel effect? Wouldn't a bit more weight keep you going better?"

That's true in the case of a time trial or some other very steady, very smooth, very solo ride. In a crit, though, I tend to have to brake going into turns, even when I try and tailgun (to avoid braking, i.e. coasting up to the turns). At my most aggressive tailgunning race, I ended up soft pedaling behind the group for a while before the best tailgunning turn. I found that I still had to use my brakes here and there, and if the group accelerated unexpectedly, I had to push hard to make up ground.

If the flywheel effect was useful in a criterium then everyone would weight their wheels. Mavic's first disk wheel, the "Comete +/-" had removable weights around the wheel (the yellow circle decals on the wheel covered the weight openings). You could add weights to increase the flywheel effect. Apparently this wheel wasn't a big hit although it would make a great wheel for the rotational inertia experiment. A friend had one and used it devoid of weights - I think you could bump the wheel weight up to 2500 grams (about 5 lbs) by filling every circle with a weight.

Let me summarize my thoughts so far:
1. Wheel inertia exists. There are wheels with less inertia than others. Generally speaking I think less inertia is better.
2. Inertia matters in acceleration. Less inertia accelerates more quickly.
3. Acceleration happens in different, unexpected places, like drafting another rider, or accelerating to find shelter from the wind.
4. Although wheel inertia and aerodynamics matter, drafting matters more. The more a rider can shelter in the draft of another, the better off that rider will be later in the ride/race. The most aero wheels will not save as much energy as the energy a rider saves by drafting others.
5. If lower wheel inertia allows you to draft quicker and more efficiently, it will save you exponentially more energy than what wheel aerodynamics can ever save you.

My idea to test all this is to have a Keirin type start - a moto goes by at a set speed, the rider starts accelerating at a given time, and the rider tries to get to shelter as soon as possible (i.e. the moto's wheel). I haven't worked out the logistics but if the moto goes by at about 30 mph, it'll take a good 100 meters or so to get into shelter. The "sprint" is over when the rider reaches the moto.

Using a power meter that records the power, speed, cadence, etc, using the same bike, gearing, rider, and just swapping the different front wheels (identical appearance but with one being significantly weighted) and bottle (ditto on appearance and weight), it should be pretty straight forward to see if there's an acceleration curve difference, if there's a time difference with each effort, etc.

By using a weighted wheel and a non-weighted bottle for the "high inertia" set up and a non-weighted wheel and weighted bottle for the "low inertia" rig, the overall weight of the bike should remain constant. The bottle weight is reasonably low on the bike too, so it shouldn't affect the rocking of the bike too much (attaching the weight at the saddle would make the bike feel sluggish when rocking the bike back and forth).

I believe the inertia math. It makes sense. I just think it's incomplete. I think that it doesn't take into account a rider's pedal stroke (typically not smooth, especially under hard efforts), the energy savings while drafting (especially when the rider is already at their limit), and the energy expenditure when fighting to get the draft.

I hope to find a suitable set up for this experiment, with enough in my legs that I can do a good dozen hard accelerations (I figure groups of 3, two with weights, two without). I'd need a partner in crime to drive either a moto (scooter) or a car (I happen to have a hatchback that has a perfect drafting rear hatch window), someone that can swap a front wheel and bottle without any difficulty (and, ideally, add the weight to one of each independently).

I figure I'll need two days of testing. Not two whole days, just two separate sessions. The first dozen sprints (Session One) will teach us flaws in our basic logistics, like if 30 mph is too slow or too fast, what gear to use to start, how to do a standing start (or if the rider should roll at 15 mph until the car draws even), stuff like that.

The second dozen (Session Two) should be better, with the details worked out. I hope to get some decent data. I probably need more data but this will be a start.

I'm really curious to see what I find and to see if it's a valid experiment. If nothing else I'll get a couple dozen hard jumps in (if I'm the rider in the equation). Now I just need takers, at least one (a driver or a sprinter, and if the former then someone that can hide a few pounds of weights on a rim or in a bottle) or two (a holder or someone that has a holder rig idea... actually I have a rig idea so maybe then we need a camera person). Anyone? Anyone? Ferris?

Training - 15 mph and a Coupla Trucks

It seems that when I start thinking "trucks" they appear. I had a very non-eventful ride on my day off, going out at the peak of temperatures, warm enough that I never wore my vest. I had on shorts, a short sleeve and long sleeve jersey, a cap under the helmet, and that's it.

No gloves (couldn't find them), no booties, no neck thing, not even Atomic Balm (I just slathered a thin layer of Vaseline on my legs to dull any biting wind).

I told the Missus I'd be out for two hours, and, honestly, my intent was to do two hours of riding. A savage wind slowed me on the way out (south), draining any reserves I'd thought about saving for the second loop. The tailwind helped, but only barely, and after doing just 7/8 of my Quarry Road loop I was pretty tweaked. My arms, shoulders, legs, they all felt really tired.

Entering town from the south.

The broken trees seem appropriate for the town that suffered almost the longest through the Halloween storm. I had to skirt a lot of branches and such sticking out into the road a bit, not a problem for cars in the travel lane but a minor one for us cyclists on the shoulder.

As I headed into town I saw a nice dump truck pull out in front of me. Heavily laden, it'd have slow acceleration, the multiple wheels offered a great draft, and the solid squareness would offer a nice platform to push off of if I got too close.

(Not that I've ever touched a truck I was drafting, this is a "just in case" scenario.)

Backing off a bit.

I accelerated a bit too hard when I caught up to it and had to back off. Just like in a pack I moved into the wind to slow myself down, then as the truck rolled by me, I tucked back in. In the picture above I'm letting the truck roll past and I'm just starting to move in behind it.

With a 30-35 mph speed limit on the road, and some traffic, it wasn't super fast, but it was fun, let me spin out my legs a bit, and the FedEx guy (who delivers to the store) honked his horn and waved.

I eventually passed the truck at a light, knowing I'd have no chance of catching it when it went past me. The act of passing a stopped "draft potential truck" is an acknowledgement that the draft ain't happening. If I stop behind a draft potential truck then I'm looking for some speed.

Because of the wind and the foreign feeling of being on the road, I felt really fatigued even before the truck. Now, with another loop ahead of me, and an hour on my legs (the loop is 48 minutes when I'm good), I decided to call it a day and head home.

Just before I made the right onto 315 I looked back and saw the most tantalizing sight - another truck, an 18 wheeler (well, 14 wheeler, but it had a long trailer). I signaled that I was going straight, rolled through the green light, and waited.

When the truck went by I jumped hard.

Again, with the truck's limited speed (35 zone, but with traffic), I overshot. I eased, tucked back in, and had some fun.

Moving back.

More settled.

As soon as I blew up I slowed, let traffic by, and turned around.

The final climb, up 315, is my Poggio, the climb before the finishing descent. Normally I roll the big ring up the thing. If I'm feeling good, it's a 53x14 all the way to the stop sign. Not as good, the 53x15, and do the last 30 meters in the 19 or so.

I was really not good at all. I started in the 44x19, went about 1/3 of the way up, then slowed dramatically, struggling to get to the stop sign without going so slow that cars a quarter mile away would get there the same time as me.

Strava has me doing the loop at 16 mph, which is about an average ride for me. I don't know how guys do 20 mph - I rarely break 20 mph on a training ride, but some guys, they can plug along at 21-23 mph all day.

The Missus called when it got a bit darker out. Surprised to reach me, she asked what happened. I told her about the ride, complained that I'm so slow, that I have no power, no strength. I told her how I used to do these super long rides to Kent (from Ridgefield) with John S, before we went to Belgium.

I thought about that for a moment, thought of the time frame.

"I think that was in 1991, so that was 20 years ago."

Holy smokes. That long ago?!

The Missus grinned.

"You know, you ought to think about maybe training with someone in the area, do some of these rides with someone."

I thought about it.

You know, she's right.

So for any of you in the area, Wednesdays and Sundays, time is kind of open, and also evenings (possibly), although those would be more Rails to Trails rides with lights. I'm thinking of riding just the mountain bike (on the road) for now, force myself to pedal more, coast less.

16 mph would be on the fast side, 14 mph on the slow.

Wait, with someone else helping, maybe 16 mph would be average. 18 mph would be fast. 1-3 hours.

I read somewhere that Zone 2 is 70% of your FTP, so my Zone 2 is about 140 watts. I'll push though and do 150 or 160 watts, if that means having a riding partner. Remember, 200 watts is really, really hard for me, as hard as the hardest summer races I've done in the last two years.

Anybody out there want to ride with me?