Fall 2012 Season Catchup...

Well what was without a doubt the most challenging semester of law school yet (hardest semester of my education for that matter) is finally over.  Im not sure if it was working at the Court of Appeals again, the course, or law review; but, which ever contributed the most to the suffering, the summation of the wounds was quite severe. Now all I can do is wait to see if I passed. Pray for me.

So my last post was after the state crit champs, but my season didn’t end there. I took a couple weeks off to regroup and train for my late season. I came back in late August to do my second mountain bike race of the year at the finale for the Southern Classic Series in my hometown trails at Dark Mountain.  I had been wanting to do this race for a while, but the schedule or fitness never was right. This year though I went in with decent fitness and high motivation to have my best mtb race to date at a trail that I know better than any other. As I lined up I noted the guy who beat me in the state games earlier in the year and figured he was the favorite.  As the start came I easily sprinted to third wheel right behind my main rival in the brief gravel section before we hit the singletrack leading out of the parking lot. As soon as we made the first turn I felt the rear get squirmy and in the next 10 yard I realized I was flat. I had burped all the air out of the rear in the first 100 yard of the race.  I was upset to say the least, but I knew I could have put down a pretty good time, so I ran back to the car pumped the tire back up with a co2 threw a tube and tools in my pocket and went back out just after the next Cat 3 30+ group had started. This meant I had a five minute gap. I knew it was a long shot, but I charged as hard as I could. I weaved my way through the 30+ group and ended up passing 1 guy from my race. I ended up putting down around a 38 minute lap, which would have put me right there with the winner, and was my best time there by over 4 minutes from the same course at the same time last year.  I really enjoy racing at Dark Mtn and will try to make it back again next year.

After that I switched thing up a bit. Iv been thinking about racing cross for a while, but have just never committed, but this year was the year. Berger Hardware bike was having a cross series for three weekends in September less than 10 minutes from my apartment, so I had no excuse.  I transformed my bike with an awesome carbon Niner rigid fork and some cross tires and set up for a brief cross season.

I decided to do the first two of the Berger Series (there was a school conflict with the third) and see where I stacked up.  The race was a Cat 3/4 mix field of 60+ racers. The first race I started near the back and just worked my way through the field.  I definitely pushed myself harder than I ever had for the duration of the race (even dry heaving at one point on the final lap) but it was a lot of fun. I ended up 30^th overall and 8^th in the Cat 4’s which was a surprisingly good result I felt for my first race. The next week I tried to start closer to the front and see how it worked that way.  In the end it all shook out with my finishing at almost the exact same spot.

 After that school started to pick up, but I did sneak in one more race at the Wilkesboro Cyclocross festival in early November as we just happened to be in town for a wedding.  The course was unbelievably hard both climbing and technically, but even with a lack training I made the front group for the first two laps of the race.  However, during the third lap I blew up hard and started to slip back. The front 5 went off and I settled into a group loose group of 4 that was the chase group. At the end though the others had more kick than me in the last quarter lap and I finished 9^th out of about 20 or so. I may do one more cross race in early Janurary to try and get some speed and intensity back in my legs after my base period and that will be my first cross season.

I cant say im hooked and ill start planning my season around cross, as I still prefer crit racing. However, I do think I will try and make a conscious effort next year to plan to have some fitness for some early season cross next year and build on the decent results I put up this year.

So that’s how my 2012 season came to an end.  This was without a doubt my most structured and serious racing season, and accordingly the fastest iv ever been. My first year was well, not much of a year at all with a few mtb races and even less training. The next year a bit more training but no structure and maybe 1 or 2 public races with the collegiate season. This year though, I had a good base, and had some structured intensity.  I felt fast in the early season and actually got my first win in a collegiate crit. Unfortunately after that I had to take off for spring finals and then the training to get back on track was hard while at the Court of Appeals over the summer. Nonetheless, I had some respectable results and even felt like I made my place in the peloton and at some local group rides. I feel like I actually have something to build off of for next year for the first time in my racing “career” and Im looking forward to it.

There will be changes for next year that im excited about, but more on that next time. 

NC State Crit Championships

So the weekend before last was the North Carolina State Criterium Championships.  I guess if there was one race I could say was my “A” race for this season, this was it. The one I wanted to do well in and had planned to peak for.

Unfortunately, the whole training thing was less than structured so coming to a tapered peak wasn’t realistic. The race was sold out with a full 50 man field. Of course the goal was a podium, but realistically I wanted a top 10 taking into account my lackluster training. I got to the venue in downtown highpoint only about 45 mins before the race start and immediately set out to find registration. After searching forever I found it in a building off to the side and by the time I got back to the truck I had less than 30 mins before the race start. I got in less than a 15 min warm up before I had to get the jersey on and dump water all over myself to try and keep cool. (I found that if you go ahead and wet everything down it helps to stay cooler).  I got rode over to the start finish and got there only 2 mins before our race was to start, however the U23 race was running late so I had an extra 10 min or so before doing my up lap.

This was by far the best venue Iv ever raced at. It will serve as the venue for the 2013 and 2014 National crit championships and it is up to the task. The start finish was under a huge awning coming off the side of a convention center in downtown, which made for a nice shady spot to watch the race. The court was 1.4 miles in a figure eight with rolling terrain, but mostly slight grades except for one brief steeper climb. The finish came about ¾ of the way through a quarter mile gradual incline. The place was packed with racers and spectators who had come out for the festival type feel of the event.

I lined up on the second row and when the whistle blew I took off and settled in about 20 spots deep.  The pace was really high from the gun and the field was stretched out single file. It seems there several folks that come out for just 1-2 crits a year and are really a lot stronger than Cat 5 but never upgrade.  I settled in on the first lap but by the time we got to the start finish I saw the guy in front of me was letting a gap go so I pulled out to go around and got the devastating news. About 3 guys up there was about a 20 sec gap to the rear end of the front 15 or so guys. I smashed it as hard and began chasing knowing that if I let them go the chances of that top 10 were out the window.  The front was still putting a lot of pressure on and it took all I had to get around the guys in front of me and close the gap about half way over the course of the next half lap. I glanced back and saw Cameron (who’ve I v raced with before) on my wheel so I pulled off to let him chase and got on his wheel.  We went hard for the rest of the lap but the gap just wasn’t coming back. I saw that a group of about 15 of us had formed as the chase group, but after my first pull I felt burned out and honestly was just hanging on the chase group with all I had. Within the next lap it became apparent that we just weren’t going to get across to the front group as the time check came in at 35 secs. At this point I decided to just settle into this group and see what happened. The next several laps were rather un eventful with me just hanging onto the chase group. As we came up to get the bell for one lap to go our group had been whittled down to 10 guys. This is the point I will normally set up knowing there is no chance for a decent placing and sort of mentally giving up when the pace ramps up for the sprint. Not this time though, I wanted to see how I would fare in a sprint finish so I took a big gulf of Gatorade and dumped the rest of the bottle down my back to cool off. I was toward the rear of the group so I knew I had to move up.  I tried to coast up the side on one of the downhills, but everyone was guarding their spot well at this point. Half way through the lap we came to the only steeper climb and I stood up to give it a go here. Another guy came from the rear with me and I moved up well slotting into third wheel. Unfortunately, the other guy didn’t slot in but kept attacking and got a good gap on us. As we hit the incline to the finish I was in great position. We rounded the final corner the two in front of me opened up the sprint. I came around the first guy easily and settled back into the wheel of the leader. I saw Cameron start to come around me so I gritted my teeth hit another gear and pulled away from him to get third out of our group behind the attacker and the other sprinter in front of me.  I ended up 20^th overall in the race with the 17 guys who had got away at the first of the race.

I was pretty happy with my finish after the unfortunate split at the beginning. What can you do. I know I should stay toward the front of the group, but from now on you better believe I will be in the top 10 until group settles. It was a very fun race and I probably pushed myself harder and further than I ever have before to try to close the gap, hang with the chasers and then sprint at the end.

So that’s it for the summer season, but the late season still looms. More on that, including some awesome new mtb parts next time.

All that Jazz Crit and NC Road Race Champs Report

Well Iv been off the grid for the past month or so after starting my internship at the NC Court of Appeals.  Who would have though sitting in front of a computer in a silent library for eight hours a day would be so exhausting and time consuming.  Needless to say its taken some time to figure out how to fit in rides of the evening when all I want to do is come home and relax and I certainly haven’t felt like writing any more after toiling over judicial opinions all day. Today however, I have come home to no power after a storm rolled through so all I can do is sit here. Guess there’s no better time than now to share the story from my past couple races (cross my fingers the power comes on eventually so I can actually post this).

Just before I began my clerkship I did the all that jazz crit in Cheraw, South Carolina.  I actually typed up a blog recounting in detail this race, however it was lost (either I didn’t save it or I cant remember what I saved it under) so Ill tell the tale again just in much less detail. This was my first road race back after taking time off for exams and then tryin to train for a month or so. It was also my first Cat 5 only crit. The thing I remember most about this particular day was the heat. It was about 105 degrees at 2 oclock when the race started and with the heat bouncing off the asphalt the heat index had to be over 110. The field was fairly small but a few guys jumped on the front at the start and kept the pace high.  I felt really comfortable despite the heat to start, just sitting in the group.  I was able to stay with the surges put in when one particular guy always came to the front.  As we neared the end with three to go I found myself in the front 5 or so. I still felt strong, so I decided to stay there and go for the sprint. I had been debating before hand whether to attack with about a lap to go or whether to just sit in for the field sprint, but at this point I decided I was in perfect position for the sprint. As we came to two to go I was sitting third right behind two teammates as the field stretched. I was confident. I figured the one teammate was there to take the second to the line for the sprint and I was going to set on the second teammates wheel. I stayed focused but the heat was starting to set in, I had chills and a bit of a headache.  Nevertheless I maintained position and when we rounded turn four to get one lap to go both the teammates sat up. Why I don’t know. Suddenly I found myself on the front. I certainly wasn’t going to pull to the finish so I sat up as well. The field spread across the road as we got the bell. I didn’t know what was happening as everyone stalled. Just then the two guys on either side of me went. I tried to jump in line but everyone was stuck to their wheels. In a matter of seconds I went from first to the tail of the field. The pace was at the top end so there was no chance of me goin on my own now and I was to far back to sprint. So as I came to the line I sat up behind the sprint and coasted across the line for a disappointing end to a race with so much promise.  As soon as I crossed the line the heat hit me like a wall and I almost went into the hay bales as I got dizzy.

Looking back when the field stalled with one to go I wish I would have attacked with everything I had just to see what would happen, but I was already in sprint mode so it didn’t cross my mind at the time. Overall I was pretty happy with my ride as it didn’t feel that hard for a crit even though we averaged a bit over 24mph for the race.

After that crit as I said I started my clerkship and my training hours fell off even more than their already minimal state. I had started doing the time crunched cyclist plan at the first of June which consist of two high intensity interval sessions and two more endurance threshold kindof rides a week.  This was working nicely as I would do my intervals at the first of the week then Thursday I would do my group road ride with Cycling Spoken here followed on Friday by a 2-3 hour mtb ride.  Once the job started though I found little motivation to do my intervals at night and could only fit in one long evening ride a week without my wife claiming I had abandoned her. Thus, going into my next race the NC road race champs my training had been spotty at best.

The NCRR this year was in Southern Pines and concisted of a ten mile loop with rolling hills, nothing to steep but enough to make things difficult.  The real problem was once again the heat coupled with the fact they were running the Cat 5 and Cat 4 guys together. I tired to pull some strings with Marshall officiating and Judy chief reffing but it was no use we were stuck with the Cat 4’s. As we rolled at we had to be close to the field limit of 75 guys and I had lined up at the tail end because for some reason everyone decided to go line up half an hour before the race started. At the gun I went hard to try to move up a few spots and made it up to about ¾ ways in the field. The pace was high from the start and as we hit one of the slight downhills I glanced down to see we were doing almost 40mph. Just then some one tapped their brakes causing a chain reaction which ended with tries locked up smoking and near disaster. I recovered though and pushed on  up the first few hills maintaining position, but I could tell with my heart rate already pushing 190 I couldn’t hold this pace the whole race. Sitting in the middle of such a large field the draft was great but the heat was stifling making it hard even breath. As we finished the first lap I glanced back to see that most of the guys behind me had been dropped on the first lap and I feared it wouldn’t be long for me either. I pushed hard to stay in contact up the first “major” hill, but the real problem was becoming the turns.  I was at the tail end still and when we would make the turns the tail end would almost come to a stop before making the turns and then we would have to stomp on it to catch back up to the front. Finally on one of these turns I just didn’t have the pop and the accordion snapped leaving me and several other off the back. I tried to chase back on but my heart rate was maxed out, so I sat up and got a few big gulps of water. Marshall pulled up to me in a follow car about this time and said something but honestly I was so spent I couldn’t make it out.  After getting my heart rate back under control I sat off again and realized I was gaining on the pack. So I put in a really hard effort and manged the chase back onto the back of the field somehow about ¾ through the second lap. I was pretty impressed with my self for this move and I tried to set in and revocer, however no sooner than I had settled back into the field we hit another 120 degree turn which I had to almost stop to get around at the back and that was that, nothing left to chase back on. Soon another small group came up along side me and I jumped on their train for a ride back to the start finish where I called it a day. I just couldn’t see pedaling around with one other guy off the back for twenty more miles in that heat. When I got back to base camp the heat really set in and I promptly puked all over my gear bag. 

We had averaged almost 24mph on the rolling course the first lap and then, looking at another racers strava, they did almost 24.5 the lap I was dropped but then only 23.5 and 22 on the last two. I did manage to set my all time 5 and 10 minute power outputs during the race though which is something. Looking at the Cat 5 results after the race I saw that almost half the field had dnf’d and I know at least another quarter were dropped if not more. It just didn’t make since to run the cat 5 race like that with the big cat 4 engines on the front dropping everyone. Give us a five minute gap between fields, we wont catch them. Anyway I felt pretty good about hanging on as long as I did but I guess I got a taste of what next year is going to be like again.

So the next race is the NC crit championships this Saturday. Training has remained spotty, but even if I havnt got any stronger maybe iv at least maintained. Well see how it goes.