Race Report: Ronde van Brisbane

Ronde was a two day ominium formatted race. I did both days. Here's my recap of what happened.

Day 1, the Crit.

The course was pancake flat and there was no wind. There was a hairpin 180 degree turn that ended up being the biggest feature on the course. Speeds would slow from 28mph going into it to 5mph to go around it and then spring back up again. There were lots of people dragging pedals and clipping wheels in the hairpin. Cat 4's, we're awesome bike handlers apparently.

The other feature of the crit was that there was really only one straight section. While there were only a few actual corners, even including the hairpin, it as always turning somewhere and because we're such good bike handlers it basically means that we have to grab our brakes going into every turn and make the speeds yo-yo as much as possible.

There were two big crashes. I avoided both. The first one I almost go caught up in because the guys closest to it swerved right so hard that I had to lean into one of them to keep us both on course. I am awesome. The second happened on the corner entering the finish straight. No idea what happened but one guy's top tube looked like somebody hit repeatedly with a bat. This crash was apparently ugly as my girlfriend said she actually gasp when it happened. When this crash happened I had already given up and was just making enough effort to stay in contact. I am maybe no so awesome.

I realized about half way through that in order to move up in this race you had to basically put a negative value on all the other lives in the race due to the lack of straights and so many corners. The only way to move up was to dive into the inside line in a corner and hope that you scared the guy who's spot you were trying to take enough to grab his brakes. Maybe that's how racing is supposed to go, but I'm not really willing to cause a massive pile up and risk injurying a bunch of dudes just because I want to move up and try and win this race. Crashes happen, sure, but they don't need to be caused because of sketchy shit. With about 5 laps to go I sprinted down the start/finish to try and move up. I moved up to the top 10 and then by the time we got back to start finish I was in the back half again because of guys diving in corners and people grabbing brakes. After that, I decided I would rather not die, and just finish in the group.

Apparently a bunch of guys were shelled, which I was surprised about because while it was quick, I never felt like it was that fast. Then again, my girlfriend did question whether or not I was even trying because everybody else apparently looked like death and I just looked frustrated.

Day 2, the Circuit.

This course had 1 big downhill, 1 climb and almost no flat. On the 2nd lap two guys attacked at the bottom of the climb. They opened a little gap but not much. Nobody seemed to want to chase so I waited a bit and then went to bridge up to them. There was a lot of racing left in the day and I really didn't then we'd stay away, however, I didn't want to finish this race feeling like I just rode in circles. I wanted to at least say I tried. When I jumped a guy tried to come with me which I thought was good since we'd have 4. However, he couldn't hang on and went back to the pack. When I made it up to the first two guys we had a couple hundred meters I guess heading into the downhill portion. In my opinion we were working pretty well together considering we were doing close to 40mph and all three of us seemed to be totally spun out in our biggest gear. One guy kept yelling to work together, but I don't know what he wanted really. I took over the front and "pulled" the rest of the "descent" and then through the hard right hand turn. When I moved over to let the another guy come through I glanced over my shoulder and saw that we were pretty much all back together so we sat up.

The rest of the race was boring with a lot of moving up on the climb and giving back spots on the descent. Oh, and being marveled on each lap at the various lines guys would chose to ride through the corners on the descent. It seems to me some guys have either never watched a motorcycle race or pros. They also forget that there are at least 75 guys around them that have to adjust their lines when they choose to use 4 to get through a corner.

On the last lap I started the descent about 20 wheels off the front. I thought if I could hold that I'd be able to quickly pass about 10 guys and try and make myself a factor for the finish. Unfortunately I let way too many people pass me on the descent and stuck myself on the left side of the pack on the climb which was the side exposed to the really gusty wind. With no option to work myself to the right I burned all my matches on the bottom half of the climb trying to move up. By the time I was starting to get to where I thought I needed to be for the finishing kick a few guys jumped and I didn't really have much left to follow. I once again watched the win go up to road because I put myself in a plethora of bad spots on the last lap.

Who Needs Journalists?

Recently I discovered Twitter. It's been out for a while but I didn't really understand how it worked, nor did I make any effort to figure it out. It was probably about the time of the Tour of California that a few cycling websites I go to regularly were using Lance Armstrong's "tweets" (I felt stupid just typing that!) as a quick way to report on his stolen time trial bike. This caught my attention and so I decided to see what this twitter thing was all about.

I've been a member now for about a month I guess and am really blown away by how much information you get from twitter faster than you get from regular news outlets. I discovered most of my favorite cyclists have accounts and while not all of them update often, it's still interesting to get their 140 character snippet of how a race went or who they're training with. General bike geek info that the normal person would find totally uninteresting. For example, Dave Zabriskie's update the other day was, "rode through a town called Bonar." Christian Vande Velde followed up a few hours later with, "Yep, rode through Bonar. It wasn't hard!" Both of these updates, while not useful bits of information, help to remind you that these are just normal guys. Normal guys that find the same things funny that any dude would find funny. Oh, well they're normal guys that ride their bikes very fast!

Shout out to DZ for finishing 3rd overall at Castilla y Leon! Could DZ win the double of both the US Road and Time Trial championships this year? How awesome would that be?

Lance probably updates more than anyone and it's been really interesting following his surgery updates on twitter from him versus what you read on yahoo!sports or other non-cycling reports. Even if they report what he said from his twitter, by checking twitter, you get the info so much faster.

There are arguments out there that the revolution of online communities and social networking is actually tearing people further apart as nobody has to actually interact face to face anymore. I don't know about all that. Nor do I really care. If people want to only exist in cyber space, that's their thing, let them. At the same time, some people see all of these things as another form of media that are driving big time papers out of business. It's unfortunate for the people who have dedicated their lives to journalism, but, I think I learned in ECON 101 that this is basically called competition and so the papers need to figure out a way to compete or, well, you know the rest.

When I first started using twitter I wasn't convinced it was really Lance Armstrong writing those updates, if nothing else because there are so many. The time frame in which an update on his broken collarbone was up after the crash made me think he pulled his iPhone out of his jersey pocket and did it while laying in the ditch. But, after reading enough of them you realize they really are from him. What a great way for him to "communicate" directly to his fans and what a great way for fans to feel connected to someone they admire so much. Without that whole camp in his front yard and wait for him to come outside sort of creepy way that I guess is the alternative.

One of Lance's updates this morning contained this link about twitter, . It's a pretty interesting article about who's really writing updates and who isn't. I think I gotta start following Shaq too!

My Biggest Critic

When I was kid I was always described as my own worst enemy. I have always been a bit of perfectionist and have always been frustrated by my lack of natural talent at basically every sport I have ever played. I have never lacked a sense of self-realization about my skills. I know I'm never the most athletic or gifted person but that doesn't make it any less frustrating for me when I'm just simply not as good as I want to be. When I was a kid all the way through most of high school, this frustration with myself would often boil over into acting out against others.

If you read this mental vomit of a blog regularly you know that on Tuesday nights I go do this really fast ride at the Port of Oakland. Recently as the weather gets a little better and more people are getting into race shape the group size grows on a weekly basis. This is both good and bad. It's good because it's really cool to see 50-75-100 people out doing this ride. It's bad because when you start adding riders not all of those riders you add should really be riding in that kind of a group. The more people the more dangerous.

It's simply a factor of the culture of cycling, but a lot of the guys who do this ride forget that it is a ride and not a race. That doesn't mean that it should be as fast as possible. But when guys are diving at other people to get them off of wheels on a Tuesday night ride at the Port of Oakland, it starts to get a bit frustrating. Add to the fact that more and more people are showing up and doing these kinds of moves and you start to wonder if the Port ride is really worth it.

Last night, very early in the ride, a guy, in my opinion, stuck me in the wind. He was coming up the inside and when the guy in front of me slowed I moved slightly to the left so not to touch my breaks and this guy immediately moved onto that wheel. This move really annoys me because I did exactly what I was supposed to do to control my speed without having to touch my brakes. Sure there was a slight opening from where he was but I wasn't falling off of the wheel. In fact, had I kept accelerating my right shifter would have hit the guy in front of me in the ass. So I wasn't swinging off opening up a gap. With him now on the wheel that I was on, I'm stuck sitting in the wind. If I had lost position vertically on the wheel, fine, no big deal, it's yours now. But I moved horizontally and so my frustration at this kind of crap happening weekly bubbled over and I yelled at the guy.

We had an "exchange" that went on for probably a minute. He saying he did nothing wrong. Me saying he did. About half way through it dawned on me that even if this guy did take that wheel when he wasn't supposed to, it was still a group ride, and why was I getting so mad about it? I was almost instantly reminded of all the times when I was a kid that my temper did nothing but set me back. I still firmly believe the guys move wasn't needed, but it wasn't worth yelling at him over. I apologized, we shook hands, and I got out of line and went to the back to float there the rest of the night.

After that I just couldn't get myself mentally back into the ride. I was too frustrated at myself for letting something so small infuriate me. I still got a good workout in by towing guys back into the ride and being on the extreme end of the yo-yo out of corners and having to do lots of sprints to catch back on. All was not lost, but it did weigh on my mind for the rest of the night. I hope that guy did genuinely accept my apology.

I guess as I get older I've come to terms with the fact that my natural athletic talent is low and that doesn't frustrate me the same way it used to. But losing my cool over something so pointless beats me up way worse than not hitting a 12' jump shot. Maybe one day I'll get control of both?

My Crazy Idea to Measure Power without a Meter, sort of...

Hypothesis:

Watts are simply a measure of how much “work” was done to move an object, i.e., bike + rider, from point a to point b.

Power meters use a “torque tube” to measure the amount of torque being applied at any given time to measure watts. However, I don’t think this is the only way.

With gps technology growing more and more accurate it’s is probable that you could use gps with preloaded topography maps to measure watts accurately over the course of a ride. You simply need the correct equation that calculates current speed over the given terrain, taking into consideration the total weight being moved at that speed. The more rapidly this equation could be calculated the more accurate the data.

PROBLEM #1: In the discussed equation, watts would still be calculated as work being done, even while coasting. The equation could take into account that you are losing elevation due to the topography and gps, however, the times you coast being in the draft of another rider would still be calculated as a more constant production of work, where the torque tube method knows you are no longer pedaling.
ANSWER #1?: Most cyclist would want this computer to have cadence as a measure anyway. Could the equation take cadence into account? Not necessarily in the equation of watts production, but as a “if/then” type of code. If cadence is registering then the person is pedaling and producing watts, If not, then no work is being done.
PROBLEM 2: What if the person is descending and pedaling but there is no resistance. The computer may assume the land speed is being generated by the pedaling when it is not. How do you measure this level of resistance without a censor on the drive train and basically making it just like any other power meter that is currently on the market?
PROBLEM 3: Headwind! In this equation headwind wouldn’t be taken into consideration unless there was some way to factor in HR or perceived exertion into the equation. Without those factors and no way to measure the amount of extra work being done due to the headwind this calculation would simply show the rider going slower with an amount of work done being grossly lower than accurate. Is there way to take a variable like headwind into account?

Given the terrain and total weight, it makes sense that to go from point a to point b in a certain amount of time (speed) a certain amount of work must be done to cover that distance. This work can be expressed as watts and should be measurable without the need of a torque tube for instant feedback.

Variables for Calculation:

· Gravity

o Is this idea of gravity simply the same as weight?

o Do you need to calculate gravity or is a variable of total weight (person+bike=tw) good enough?

o Gravity should be a constant. (g=32.2ft/s^2) This refers to falling objects gaining velocity. However, the same theory should hold true for the way the earth holds a person to the ground, which is how we measure weight. Ie., when a fat person jumps, their weight still gets pulled back to earth at the same velocity as a skinny person. It does take more force to get off the ground, to defy gravity, but that isn’t a factor of gravity, simply a factor of weight.

· Weight

o Has to be included as total weight (TW=bike+person).

o This is the total weight that will be forced to accelerate and move forward in the equation.

o Same idea as the computrainer. For most accurate results you’re supposed to weigh the person holding the bike.

· Terrain

o Using GPS and topography maps the terrain function shouldn’t be that big of a challenge.

o If the calculation of watts is going to be accurate the terrain must be taken into consideration for every computation of the equation. A difference of the road being 3% and 4% would make a huge difference in the amount of watts required to cover that distance at whatever speed.

§ I feel like this is probably going to be a problem of integration from calculus 2. However,

§ When finding tangent lines of a graph it’s possible to take smaller and smaller slices of any segment so that you can get the most accurate measure. These measures can vary for the purposes of whatever you’re calculating. In this case I think we need to know the slope of the tangent line of each computation to accurately know the grade of the road that is being ridden over.

§ In order for our “slice” to be small enough, the limits would need to be constantly changing as well.

· Speed

o This is probably the easiest of the variables to calculate. If we’re using GPS for the topography of the route, it’d give you instant speed feedback as well.

· Other Variables?

Equation for Calculating

I have now realized my math skills may not be up to this challenge. I know how to calculate all of these aspects individually.

Examples:

The terrain is what generally makes the biggest difference in the difficulty of a ride. When the road goes up, most of the time it starts to get hard. Even for the purest climber, an increase in the grade of the road is more difficult than riding on a completely flat piece of land. (All other variables being equal).

The grade of the road is a simple calculation of the slope of the linear line that expresses elevation gained divided by distance gained. Calculating slope is not a difficult thing. Everybody pretty much learns how to do it in 7^th grade pre-algebra. And, for the sake of saying the jingle that makes it easy to remember:

“Slope is easy, it can even be fun, just remember, rise over run.”

I apologize! But, the rise is the part of the road going up (y-axis), the gain in elevation, and the run is the distance we’re traveling (x-axis). The final equation would need to be constantly calculating this slope in order to get instant feedback on the grade at which were riding over.

Grade = change in elevation / change in distance.

Easy enough.

Speed is also a very basic calculation. I suppose we’re technically calculating velocity and that’s simply the measure of distance divided by time. If you travel 60 miles and it took you 2 hours, then you were traveling, 30miles/hour. Again, simple. However, that’s just an average, so what we technically want is a calculation for instantaneous velocity (iv). It’s the measure of the absolute value of the change in (delta) distance divided by the change in time.

iv = |dx / dt |.

Also easy enough because dx and dt are simply measures taken at much smaller integrals of the whole trip. But, in order to get instant feedback of how fast you’re going over the various terrain, you’ll need to know you’re instantaneous velocity.

Weight is easy to calculate as long as you have a scale available. Simply pick up bike, stand on scale and face the music. I suppose there should be something mentioned of the fact that most of us lose weight over the course of any ride lasting longer than 1 hour. Maybe the formula in the end should also come with a reminder to drink more during the work out.

Total weight of the rider and the bike is, I think, extremely important given that it is going to take much more work for a rider of 200 lbs to get over a hill than it does for a rider of 150 lbs. This doesn’t mean that the 200 lb rider can’t beat the lighter rider over the hill, but he’ll have to produce more watts (do more work) than the 150 lb rider will over the same grade.

This is where all of the variables of the equation need to start coming together and I’m not exactly sure how that happens. There are lots of websites that give formulas and even calculators for an average estimated measure of watts after you have this date recorded in another fashion. That’s not really what I hope to accomplish. Any ideas of the missing steps of this equation would be greatly appreciated, as well as the advice to simply give up because the factors I point out as problems earlier are not going to be overcame very easily.

Madera Results = Really Bad Time Trialist

They just posted the Madera results and, for sake of both my pride and accuracy, we need to make some adjustments.

If you read my race report you'll remember I got a flat in the 2nd lap of the first stage, the crit. Due to the field finishing together there were like 3-5 of us with anything but same time. I, however, am the only one with 18:12 tagged onto my time, which was the amount of time it took me to get back to my car, change the flat and then get back in.

The time trial, Stage 2, was 10 miles and while I pushed it hard, I apparently am a terrible time trialist as I got beat by close to 4:30. Not good!

The Road Race was the last stage. 51 miles, I ended up 16th out of the 66 people that started. So, I guess this isn't a terrible result and probably the only one worth remembering from the day.

Let's look at the numbers:

The group finished the crit in 45:52, while I was given 1:04:04 and that's a difference of 18:12. The crit was not fast, and unless I was unlucky and crashed I would have definitely at least finished in the group. So we can assume this 18:12 can be removed for adjustment purposes.

Everything else is where it should be I suppose. No need for adjustments on the other stages. Somehow and this is baffles me, I didn't finish in dead last place for people finishing all three stages. The only thing that makes sense for this scenario are some unlucky people got flats during the TT or Road Race and were able to walk it home. If that happened in the TT you were given the same time as the last place rider. In the road race, you could walk it across the line if you wanted to. I guess there is also the possibility that some people were dropped during the RR, but I never felt like we were going fast enough to shell anybody, and that's why there were crashes at the end, because people who shouldn't have still been there, were.

Official Results: 55th Overall out of 58 people who finished all 3 stages. My overall time was 3:32:17. Subtract the 18:12 for the flat out of that and it puts me at 3:14:05. I was surprised to find only adjusts me to 33rd overall.

This is a totally unimpressive result and I think goes to show that I'd make an excellent bottle fetcher for a pro tour team. If any of you are interested, do not hesitate to offer me a contract. Not only will I never complain about being mediocre in your line up of riders, I also tell the occasional funny joke.

If you don't trust my math, results can be found here:
http://www.velopromo.com/mdra-rl09GC.htm

Milan-San Remo

Is this weekend! 300k (about 180 miles for those of us on this system) of racing. 300k? Seriously, I'm not sure I'd still be pedaling after 300k must less have anything left for a sprint or acceleration or anything. It's the official start of the insane classic season. Lance will be there, but he won't be winning, so save that bet for another race!

Who you got?

My pick:

Pettachi
Bennati
Boonen

After they sweep up an insanely courageous break that includes at least 1 garmin boy, maybe Frishkorn.

My NCAA Bracket

Admittedly this bracket is the least informed one I've picked in years. Upon moving to an apartment with no TV and not even following Mason very closely because of that, I may have watched 3 college basketball games all season. However, with that said, I've been in too many pools where someone's girlfriend won by picking teams with cuter mascots or the most color coordinated uniforms. So, I guess you never know.

It's mostly chalk with the exception of blatantly picking all 1's in the Final Four. I didn't pick many upsets because I just don't know who's good in mid-major basketball this year. While I picked UCLA to beat VCU I will of course cheer against my own bracket during the actual game. A win in the Tourney by a CAA team lends validity to all mid-major conferences! Go Rams!

Random thoughts:
- Villanova gets to play the opening round in Philly? Is that fair? Do they even need that?
- I got Wisconsin going to the sweet 16 for no better reason that I think I remember hearing a story early in the year that they were good. But I can't be for sure.
- I have 3 ACC teams in the Final Four with an ACC championship game. This might be crazy, but I mean, it could happen!
- I am not a Cal fan. But I hate Maryland. That is probably the game in the opening round that I hope to see the biggest blow out. Gary Williams is an asshole. I hope he breaks his hip during the game and then gets trampled but a heard of elephants. Figuratively speaking of course!
- I picked Missouri to make it to the final four. My reasoning...(shoulder shrug).
- When is Mason going to turn into Gonzaga of the east?
- I tried to figure out a way to pick Mason to win it all, but for some reason, I couldn't find our name in the opening round.

Power Data

Here in Oakland we have a Tuesday night training ride at the Port of Oakland. It's basically a crit with no finish line, but don't tell that to 90% of the guys that show up in hot pursuit of the imaginary leader's jersey. In fact, there was a guy there last night with a green jersey that did not match the rest of his kit so I'm thinking he must be leading in the points competition.

Anyway, since I'm too poor to own an actual power meter I decided to estimate the power output from last nights ride. It can be found in the scientific chart below.



George Hincapie's self reported average of 290 watts over 7 hours and 5200 feet of climbing has nothing on me!

If you or any of your friends are interested in seeing actual power numbers from me throughout this season and the future I will gladly take donations towards to purchase of a real power meter. I'd even consider naming it and my bike after you. If that'd encourage you to reach for that wallet?

A Random Line of Logic That Doesn't Make Any Sense!

It's St. Patrick's Day. Until a quick wikipedia search about 10 seconds ago I had no idea who St. Patrick was. But, now I do. He's the patron saint of Ireland. I guess this makes sense, but I have to admit I was hoping for something cooler. Like the patron saint of binge drinking. It'd make the holiday make more sense!

Growing up in the south St. Patrick's day isn't really a big deal so my first experience with the holiday beyond using it as an excuse to pinch girls was in college. This is really where the holiday started to make sense and I was made aware of the great ramifications of this day.

On March 17 (and generally the weekend before if it's in the middle of the week) shows the world just how proud they are to be Irish. I've got nothing against Ireland but until I ran the numbers I just didn't quite understand what all the hoopla was about. But, by doing some simple algebra I came to learn that there are just about 60 people in America for every 1 person in Ireland. That is incredible! A country with only 1.6% of the population has somehow managed to populate ALL of America. As I thought about it more it suddenly became clear to me where the need to binge drink on this holiday comes in. If 5,000,000 people are expected to produce 300,000,000 you gotta include something to lower inhibitions and mainly standards!

So really, St. Patrick's Day here in America is nothing but a simple way for us to pay our respects to the country that did such a selfless act to ensure we simply existed! In all honesty, anybody that knows me knows that I generally like any good excuse to drink excessively and blame it on tradition. I mean, beer is delicious, enjoy it in mass (which I've been informed is actually en masse)!

A simple closing thought:

Random Pictures That Happen to Involve Cycling

Look at all those zippers! Even if her pants weren't really tight do you think having that many pockets would be useful? I could never find uses for all the pockets in cargo pants!



Would the everyday roadie please take note of the wheels that these two pretty famous bike racers are training on? They are not deep. They are not carbon. They have no less than 32 spokes. And the reason? Because it's training! Please leave your stupid Zipps at home on training rides. The jokes gonna be on you when some Fredbag takes you out and you gotta replace two months worth of salary.

Race Report: Madera County Stage Race

They haven't posted results yet, but I don't need to look at them to tell you that this stage race did not go as planned. The whole thing was made of 3 stages, 2 on Saturday, a crit in the morning and a TT in the afternoon with a Road Race on Sunday. My chances of getting a good result went out the window about 3 months ago when I asked myself, "Should I buy another set of wheels to take to races just in case?" and I answered my own question with, "Naw. It'll be fine."


Stage 1: 20 Mile Crit

If that set up wasn't good enough, allow me to spell it out, on the second lap I flatted and pulled myself over to the right side of the group. The pace at this point was a blistering 20mph and one of the local Oakland guys yelled at me to get back in, that I could make it. I was speechless because my only thought was that he really thought that 20mph was making me abandon. Weird! Sort of luckily we were about 3/4 of the way through the lap and so I walked up the finish line where I was told by the official if I didn't finish the race I couldn't go on for the rest of the week. Without extra wheels I wasn't sure what my options were and the nice guy in the fancy USAC polo informed me that I could go to my car, fix the flat, come back and get in the race. Since all I needed to do was finish they'd just tack the time I was out on my time at the end. Not optimal, but better than making a charitable donation to VeloPromo (race promoters) and having the rest of the weekend to discover beautiful Madera, California. I think I was out for about 6 laps once I finally got back. Partially due to my car being very far away and cycling shoes not being made to run or walk in and because the first tube I put in has a valve that is only long enough for a co2 pump to inflate. Of course I would discover this in a time of haste! So, two tube changes later, a freshly inflated tire and I'm back in the race, to tail gun it for like 9 more laps.

Stage 2: 10 Mile Individual Time Trial

When I think back to the time trial there are only a few things that I think are worth noting.
1) I forgot my heart rate monitor strap at the hotel so I rode the old fashioned way. I think this actually turned out to be better as I wasn't trying to consciously stay at any certain numbers. When I felt good I got on top of it, when I could feel fatigue I'd adjust and try to recover just a bit.
2) Turn 2 was less than 90 degrees. I discovered this as I hit turn 2 at 28mph, setting it up perfectly if it were 90 degrees and almost ending up in the left hand ditch because I ran out of road.
3) There were a lot of dudes with really expensive TT bikes and wheel sets. Unfortunately for me the California State TT Champ was 3 riders behind me at the start and he caught me with about 3 miles to go. That guy was flying!
4) We started at 30 second intervals. I caught two guys. I got caught by 4, but they were all on TT bikes and that's my excuse.
5) The first half of the course was flat, the back half was false flat with a headwind. While my results probably aren't impressive (I haven't seen my official time) I felt pretty strong and was happy to keep my speed relatively high through the back section.
6) My girlfriend said I looked faster than most people she saw crossing the finish line. I don't know if that's true or if she's just sweet. Probably the later.

Stage 3: 68, no wait, they changed it from what was advertised, 51 mile Road Race.

Since this was my first RR I really didn't know what to expect. Turns out RR are pretty much exactly like group rides with a real finish line at the end. In order to have parking we had to have a neutral section of about 5 miles to get up to the course. From there some guy jumped immediately. Nobody reacted and he stayed away for about 3/4 of the first lap. It wasn't a terribly difficult course and I never felt like we were really pushing it until about a quarter lap to go, but the field seemed smaller so I'm assuming we shelled some guys.

The course had two distinct features. The first was a long section of road that should not be described as paved. It should be described as gravel with some sort of hardening element poured over it. This section probably made up less than 1/4 of the course but it seemed like forever when we were on it. It provided a great place to move up in the group as most people would try and coast over the really bad sections. I was able to follow wheels to the front each time. Bottles were flying all over the place as they were getting ejected from the cages. Luckily I was able to avoid them. I can't understate just how rough this section was. My hands hurt after the race and I think my crotch will be sore for a few more days.

The other distinct feature was a set of 4 steep rollers that led there way to the finish. I thought for sure we'd all stay together through the rough section and then the rollers would be where it split the group up on the last lap. As we came through the first lap I was at the front and decided to take a good long pull to try and keep the pace high as it had been dropping because nobody wanted to do any work. I stayed on the front up the next roller that led into the feed zone and for about a mile or so after that. When I'd had enough, I pulled off, flicked my elbow and nobody came by me. When I looked back the guy on my wheel looked like death and was just following me wherever I went on the road. I literally had to take my hand off the bar and wave him through. I think he "pulled" for about 3 pedal strokes before getting off. I don't think I was setting the kind of pace that was shattering the field, but I do think it goes to show that we didn't have enough guys at the front keeping it constantly high enough to cause more attrition. The way that guy looked, I'm pretty sure 3 or 4 more guys putting in good pulls would have seen him go backwards. Too bad it never happened.

I'm not sure if I can blame the finish of the race on bad luck or on myself for being in a bad spot. We came off the rough section and I was in the top 15 or so and right as we hit the bottom of the first roller a guy shot on my right shot out of the group on the left where he did not have space. I had to hit my brakes pretty hard and swerve to the left to avoid him. I'm glad that I saw it coming and was able to save the crash but it threw off the rhythm I was in with the group and instead of riding over the first roller I was sort of thrown into chase mode to get back onto the wheel in front of me.

We went over the first as a group, I was about half way back and a guy came by me flying on the left side. If you time a set of rollers like this just right you can carry so much momentum from the down side of the last on into the next that you can get over them really fast with almost no effort. I assumed this guy had caught that timing just right and so I jumped out and followed his wheel. This is the part where I'm not sure if I can call it bad luck or just blame myself for doing this but I read his speed totally wrong. About half way up this roller he blew up and when he did he left me with nowhere to go but sit behind him. I yelled "GO, GO, GO!" to try and encourage him but he was done. He literally just sat up. I couldn't get around him on the right because I had the group going by and we were already shoulder to shoulder. The only option I had left was to wait for the entire group and chase back on.

I went over that 2nd roller about 2 bike lengths behind the main group. I glanced over my shoulder and saw a bunch of dudes had been strung out. I was pissed but thought I still had time to catch back on if I didn't panic. I basically sprinted the downhill carrying as much speed as I could get to hit the next one. When we went over the top I was back in contact and trying to see a line to get myself through the group. I chose to go to the left because it seemed a bit thinner. I'm not sure if this was right or not, but once I saw a line I hit in and kept charging through. At this point we were on the 4th roller in which the finish line was just on top of. This one sort of stair stepped so it had a tiny little false flat in the middle. As I was going up through the group I saw 3 guys that were shoulder to shoulder and the middle dude was starting to get really squirrely. This made the set of guys between them and me all stop pedaling to see what was going to happen. This didn't help my cause any as I had to go even wider to get around them. Just as I passed these guys we hit the false flat section and to my right I hear what is now becoming a familiar sound of carbon fiber and skin on pavement. I glanced over and saw the guy sliding but I kept going. I don't know exactly what happened but I'm assuming the ended up half wheeled with another guy and they hit. The guy he ran into didn't go down, but with the sound his rear Zipp 404 was making, he was definitely going to have a trip to the bike shop in his future. As he crossed the line the sound was getting worse and he start to put on an incredibly impressive verbal display of cursing. The officials at the line shouted, "Watch your language!" But really? I'd be cursing like that too if some fool just wrecked my wheels because he couldn't ride his bike in a straight line. After the crash the road seemed to open up a little bit. I think most people get freaked out when that happens and get overly cautious. I probably passed about 5 more guys.

The RR didn't go exactly how I wanted it to, especially the finish, but I guess that's bike racing. I was really glad that I didn't give up when I got caught behind that dude, stayed calm and chased back in to still salvage some sort of result. I was sort of surprised at how slow the race felt at times. My computer said we averaged 23mph but it also froze for a while so we may have been faster than that. I guess it's encouraging that to realize that after 50 miles I still had enough in the tank to accelerate through the field like I did. It must either be experience or lack of down right aggression towards other riders that I keep finding myself with good legs but in the wrong spots. I feel like I'm fast enough to win these races, or at least see myself on the podium. I think I just have to putting together the pieces so I'm in the right spot to give myself a real chance.

Overall Recap:

I guess the first stage doesn't really count since I rode a total of 10.75 laps and after the flat made no effort what so ever, but I did everything I could to bury myself in the TT and the RR and am happy with how my legs felt and responded, especially since it's still early March with a LONG season ahead.

I'm also starting to think my ambition to upgrade in a month might have been a little over zealous. While I think I'm one of the faster 4s in the area, I don't think I'm a future 2 riding with the 4s so I'm not going to just ride the group off my wheel to victory. It's still my goal to be a 3, but it might just take me a bit longer to get there than I thought.

Time to Destroy

View Larger Map

After way too much effort to put this map together it's finally done. These are the three courses for the racing this weekend. The race website gives directions to the course by saying, "same place it's been for the last 15 years." I'm not sure but that's not really what I'd describe as helpful.

While this is only a 3 stage race, it's still the first chance I've had to race for a GC. I don't see this thing coming down to anything but the TT, but we'll see. Maybe some of my old triathlon TT skills will magically re-appear. No matter the results, I just want to keep this sort of intensity through each race:



He is a bad man!

Not Again...

...was what I said as I walked up to my car at 5:30 in the evening and saw that a band of thieves just weren't happy with the new passenger window that was just installed a few weeks prior. It was clear they wanted to give me the opportunity to try a new guy.

I am also 100% convinced that whoever broke into my car this time is a teamLandall reader because I pointed out that the gps unit in my center console was still there after the last break in. Now, however, someone else is seamlessly finding their away from one destination to another.

From now on my car doors will remain unlocked at all times and I am considering posting a note on the dashboard that says, "Doors are unlocked, there's nothing left to steal."

And, just for good measure, I hope whoever stole my gps either gets lost and finds themselves in the middle of a drug cartel shoot out. Or, while using the "walking" function and holding the system in their hands, they trip and fall into a giant puddle and are painfully electrocuted to the point of 2nd degree burns.

It seems only fair.

Act Like One

I just joined the Twitter world. I've heard about it for the longest time and have never taken the time to figure out what it is. One of the bike race websites I go to had links to Lance Armstrong and Michael Roger's pages. While there I realized that basically all of my favorite cyclists had pages and some of their updates are interesting little pieces of insight into what they're doing now that the season is in full swing.

If you want to follow me, I have no idea why you would unless we share the same last name and you gave birth to me, my user name is very creative and hard to remember so make sure you write this down. It's, landall.

I will probably end up sending more updates from my phone after bike races and during rides that way I can pretend I'm a pro. I'm reminded of something I overheard my high school baseball coach say to someone on our team when they were wearing their uniform in a way that my coach didn't like. He said, "Son, at least if you're not a ballplayer you can look like one."

At least if I'm not a pro I can act like one?

Rest Weeks Blow

Yesterday I wrote about 2,000 words on the necessity of rest and recovery. Why it's important and why most people get it wrong. It included a few charts that I found so that I could express visually what the goal of a rest week is. Once I was at that arbitrary number of words I realized I was literally only about half way through and that nobody, save maybe 2 people on the planet, and they certainly don't read my blog, would be interested in such a detailed explanation. So, I deleted it and posted that little card instead. Probably a good call.

None the less, this week I am "recovering." And while I know how important it is to recover it does not make it any more fun or less annoying to go out and ride my bike for 2 hours keeping my HR at aerobic levels. My HR spiked to 164 yesterday when I was riding no hands putting my gloves back on and the road started to tilt up hill. Since I didn't have my hands on the bars to change to an easier gear I just grinded (spell check is informing me that is not an actual word. who knew?) up it until my hands were covered in $2, fashion forward, purchased from Walgreens, specific for cycling, gloves.

One thing recovery rides are good for is thinking and yesterday was no exception. I thought a lot about the race on Sunday and how I have lost all confidence in my own ability to ride solo in windy conditions. I used to be ok at it, so what happened? This made me think back to the times when sheer ignorance would put me on the front of a group ride in whatever conditions and because I wanted to earn the respect of my fellow lycra clad homeys, I'd drag their asses for miles at a time. I honestly can't think of the last time I intentionally put myself on the front of a group ride. If I wasn't on a group ride I was riding solo (obviously) and almost always doing the only bike workout I knew, ride as hard as you can until you get home. It was then that it dawned on me. As I've gotten wiser in my methods of training I have simply forgot the most basic workout.

I sit in front of my laptop for a few hours a week trying to come up with great new interval sessions that go for defined periods of time in very defined ranges of heart rate and the workouts have a very specific goal that in theory should translate to something race specific. These are important. They need to be done. But what about the good old fashioned solo hammer fest that starts out way too fast and ends way too slow because you bonked a half hour away from the end? I think that one is important too and I need to get back to it at least once per week. I can't do it this week, because you know, recovery, blah! But, I'm already looking forward to the extended pain that this type of ride always brings on. What would the notation for that workout look like on a training plan? Something like this:

1 x fast @ duration. (HR 0-200)

Have a great day peeps!

Watch out Hallmark!

I tend to be behind the times on these sort of things but today I received an e-card from a friend from www.someecards.com. I have since spent the last hour or so flipping through and laughing in a controlled manner so it's not obvious. I mean, I am at work!

Some of them are awesomely inappropriate. Well, most actually. This one reminded me of every time someone asks me for any sort of, "What should I do advice?" I have never thought that I was the person people should be going to for most all things advice related.

Race Report: Menlo Park Gran Prix, 3/8

If there is a worst case scenario for a race to play out, Menlo Park was it for me. It was windy which never bodes well for me to do anything solo. As much as I work on it, I just don't have that kind of power to ride a high tempo through gusty wind. I did everything I could to try and get a good result in this race. I moved up to the front after about 3 laps and consistently stayed there. Some friend after the race commented how impressed they were that I was always in the front 10-15 coming through the start finish. But, it was almost useless because on the back part of the course where the wind picked up everybody just sat up, every single lap. I don't blame people for not wanting to drag the group around the course. Especially into the wind, but don't put yourself on the front of the group if you're not willing to drive it. Every lap it'd sit up and the group would fan out gutter to gutter and I'd find myself boxed in as people were trying to move up on both sides. I couldn't get out so I was stuck working to make way my back up to the front group through the next half of the course. This played out on every single lap.

With 3 laps to go I found myself in a group of 6 that had simply rolled off the front of the rest of the field through the headwind. The group was comprised of 2 sets of teammates on different teams, some dude, and me. I don't think any of us really meant to get off the front, but when I looked back we had a decent gap and nobody did any real work to open it up. The rest of the group was just doing their annual sit up and take a breather routine on that part of the course. Unfortunately it was also a prem lap and for some reason the two sets of teammates were more interested in that then they were trying to win the race. Once they realized we had a gap all four of them sat up completely disinterested in doing any work. I said I'd gladly give them the prem if they'd just ride. They grunted and I realized that our group of 6 was just going to be sitting there waiting to be reabsorbed. Maybe I should have just went by myself and seen what happened but with 3 laps to go I just didn't think there was any real chance of staying away solo. So, frustrated, I sat up too. No one out of our group of 6 won the prem.

I put myself back in the front 10 with 2 laps to go and then again on the last lap but of course this did no good as the group would bunch back up in the wind and I'd get boxed in. The drag to the finish was long and so I was hoping I'd be able to follow wheels up without doing much work having other deposit me in the front 10 for the sprint. The speed jumped like it always does but usually that just means that somebody at the front got too excited and is going to blow up soon. A guy came by me on the left and so I jumped on his wheel. Unfortunately he was only strong enough to go about 2 places before he died and I watched my old place in the big line go by on the right. Another guy came by on the left so I followed him. Same thing, about 2-3 places and pop! Another guy, pop! Another, pop! At this point I was about 20-25 wheels off the front and realized if I was going to do anything I needed to just moved up myself so I went. As soon as I got to about 15th the guys the front started their actual sprints and I realized it was done. I pounded my bars in frustration and sat up to roll across the line.

I guess I could have went ahead and sprinted anyway to try and get as high of a placing as possible but I just don't see the point. There's no upgrade points after 6th place so who gives a shit whether you come in 7th of 30th. I have no idea where I ended up and they haven't posted results yet. On the cool down lap I was reminded of a Jens Voigt quote from a few Tours ago. The interviewer asked Jens why he was constantly going in breaks when the likely hood of one staying away was so small. Jens replied to the best of my memory, "I am not a guy that wins in the group. So if I stay in the group the whole day I don't have any chance. I'd at least like to give myself the chance to win. If I don't try, I'm losing before I start."

Next time, head wind be damned. If it's going to play out that way, I'll give it a go. Let's hope this weekend goes a little better!

Upgrade points: 0

"I led him out for, like, 50 miles."

Recently I've stumbled upon a bunch of interviews with pros where they are asked about their first race. Most of these guys were freaks the moment they swung their leg over a bike and so when posed with the question, "How'd you do in your first race?" More often than not, they reply, "I won." That answer is boring, even if it is impressive and true.

Yesterday I was reading an interview with Dave Zabriskie and he was asked this very question. His reponse, "I got second. I led him out for, like, 50 miles."

For those of you in the know, you immediately understand why this is funny. For the rest, allow me to explain.

A lead out is what happens at the end of a race when a team is trying to set up a win for their sprinter. Often referred to as a lead out train, a number of team mates will do their best to keep the pace as high as possible with their sprinter safely in the draft for as long as possible. Then, the last man, generally referred to as the actual lead out, although the leading out has been happening for a few K's (I feel so Euro when I write K's and not Miles), does a full out sprint to the 200 meters to go sign (this can vary). At this point the actual sprinter comes out and does his max effort sprint hopefully finding himself with at least a tire width margin ahead of the next guy. Lead outs for sprint finishes are hectic, crazy, dangerous, awesome and really impressive if done properly. Even the best teams screw it up all the time!

Back to Dave's explanation of his first race. You don't do a 50 mile lead out. The other guy was simply sitting on and Dave did nothing to make him pull through and take his fair share of turns at the front. By the time they got the finish, Dave would be wasted, the other guy would be, at least fresher than Dave, jump him in the finale and leave Dave with a second place and a extra hard day of training.

The lesson to be learned from the very wise Dave Zabriskie? Don't let people sit on your wheel.

Lance Armstrong will not win 1 bike race this year.

That's right, I said it. After a few weeks of mulling it over I've decided to make my public prediction that Lance will go completely win-less in the 2009 season. When he first made his comeback announcement the first thing I thought of was watching Michael Jordan play for the Wizards in 2001. While Lance isn't my favorite cyclist, he's certainly up there, and so I hated the idea of seeing him be anything but great.

I know you're wondering what facts have brought me to this prediction! What sort of logic did I use to step out on a limb so thin as to say Lance won't win a single race? Really, it's pretty simple.

First, was the time trial in Solvang during the Tour of California. Sure Lance was 4th on GC headed into the TT but in such a short stage race that really doesn't mean much. What it meant was that he turned in a good prologue, which for someone who used to be such a great time trialist wasn't a big surprise. Riding full gas for 4k wasn't his specialty but it wasn't a long enough distance to find out if he had recaptured his old TT form. After the prologue all he really had to do was finish in the main field with other top guys and they'd all receive the same time and he'd retain his high placing. If you're in the know, this isn't as difficult as it seems. The GC for a race like the Tour of California doesn't move around that much. But, back to Solvang. Why did Solvang make me start to wonder if Lance could win a race this year, because he finished 14th. 14th would normally be a pretty decent result for someone making a return to the sport after 3 years off. But, when you're goal is to win the Giro and they decided to throw in two super long time trials, I think you'd need to be a bit better than 14th in Solvang. And, it was a bit obvious that even the announcers were shocked at his performance. The excitement in their voices drained as it became apparent that Armstrong wasn't anywhere near Zabriskie's time as the clock ticked.

Second, Armstrong used to arguably be the best time trialist in the world, ESPECIALLY time trials in stage races. When he announced his come back I immediately said that there's no way he can beat Alberto Contador. A few of my cycling buddies posed the question, "But can Contador limit his losses in the time trials?" Which, at the time seemed like a totally logical question. But while all the media was in California following our race, Alberto was over in Portugal winning the Volta ao Algrave. And not only did he win it, but he won it through the time trial not by climbing away from his peers. Was the field at Algrave as stacked as it was in CA? No, I don't think so, but Contador put a minute into Sylvain Chavanel, who finished 2nd on GC, in the race against the clock. It looks to me that the question has been answered. Even if Contador can't beat Lance in the TT, he'll have no issue limiting his losses. And anybody that's seen Contador go up hill has to wonder if Lance can limit his losses there.

Third, and pretty much most importantly, there is the following interview at the conclusion of Stage 8 of the Tour of California. Lance spent most of the day with his Astana team chasing until they were comfortable with the riders up the road and then simply rode a hard tempo that discouraged any other riders from trying to bridge up. Lance apparently put his face in the wind and foot on the gas up the Cole Grade climb and all the riders talked about it being an impressive effort. However, when asked about it, Lance's answer strikes me as telling. Maybe the reality of riding these guys off his wheel and attacking in the high mountains has set in. If you've made this far, I'll let you be the judge.



For me, that response basically means he's willing to work as a super domestique for the rest of the year. I could be wrong, but I just don't see a win happening. Three years out of racing is a long time to all of sudden just get your race legs back under you. If Lance does win, awesome, I'd honestly love to see it, but I'm also not convinced that he needs to be on that top step of the podium in order to accomplish his come back goal, of raising global awareness of cancer. Anybody else who went to a single stage of the Tour of California saw the crowds around the Astana bus. Anybody in the real world who has no interest in cycling has in one way or another been made aware that he's back because every form of media has covered it. Sponsors are happy when a rider goes off the front on a 100k suicide break that has no chance of lasting because the tv cameras will show their logo over and over again that day. That rider has no chance of winning, but the awareness of that sponsor logo has increased. I'm not suggesting Lance is going to suddenly become one of the opportunist break away guys who flys off the front just to get his foundation in the paper. He doesn't need to do that. He's Lance Armstrong, let's not forget. Simply by showing up he's raising awareness of his cause!

Those are my reasons and that's my logic. Whether you think he'll bag a victory or not, whether you think his comeback is good for him, the sport or cancer or not, I'm sure there is one thing we can certainly agree on, he definitely needs to replace those glasses!

Champion Jerseys

Not that many (well, none really) of you care, but in cycling there is this great little tradition of wearing a special jersey that designates you as a specific champion for that year. You're only allowed to wear these special jersey's while competing in that discipline, so for example, since Dave Zabriskie is the current US Time Trial Champ every time he competes he wears his Captain America look-a-like skin suit. But he can only wear it in time trials. It can have a Captain America theme because basically the teams are given a lot of free reign over design as long as it incorporates the countries colors. I couldn't find a good picture of Dave's skin suit but this picture sort of gives you an idea:



The current US Road Champion is Tyler Hamilton. Tyler races for Rock Racing who's title sponsor is the high end fashion company, Rock and Republic. Rock's whole premise is to be flashy and give off a punk rock vibe. The first year they raced, 2007, they had the baddest kit I'd ever seen. It's actually the kit I copied as closely as I could when designing the eye pleasing "B Sample Racing" kit that everyone loves. In 2008 the rock kits were pretty ugly save for a few of the special kits they wore in specific races. Cycling, being about 90% fashion anyway, couldn't help but wonder what Rock Racing would come up with for a National Champion Road kit for Tyler to wear this year. The Tour of California, the biggest race on US soil seemed like the perfect place to show case it, but, it turned out to be more of the same from Rock Racing and they seem to not have their shit together. The US Champ kit that Tyler was wearing looked EXACTLY like the kit everyone else was wearing save for a few stars, a red and white striped background on the Rock and Republic shield and red, white and blue stripes on the sleeve bands. Look VERY closely and you can see the aforementioned details:



WTF mate? You are a fashion company for crying out loud! You can't do any better than that? I'm not even going to get into the fact that the kits get worse on a yearly basis. This one looks like it was inspired by a goth cashier at Hot Topic!

But, today I was on velonews.com reading an update on the current Vuelta Mexico and there it was, a picture of Tyler in an actual national champion kit that looks different from the rest of his teams. It's still insanely ugly but at least it's mainly red, white and blue. At least you can tell what it's supposed to be. And probably best of all, it looks like the goth cashier was having a good day when they went back into Hot Topic for further inspiration.



I guess the good thing is Tyler now has a legit national champ kit to race in, but way to drop the ball and unveil this new kit in Mexico. There are rumors that Michael Ball, the owner of Rock and Republic, can only fund the team through June or July, but we'll see. I think they're actually doing a good job of cutting back on expenses. This year the team cars were only Cadillacs (and not even Escalades) instead of Lambos like they've had in the past! Maybe they simply couldn't afford to rush the shipping on the kit they only had all off season to design and order.

And while I'm busting Rock's chops I'm actually a pretty big fan of the team. I think they're interesting and I think it's great they've given some guys a second chance after they did their time in cycling's rehabilitation program of extended vacation without pay. Here's to hoping that Rahsaan Bahati's US Crit Championship kit arrives on time. But with the budget cuts he might just have to borrow Tyler's.