Hard riding - day 1

Fred's Ride - green route

This was my first time riding the green route. It's certainly more rolling than the other two routes. Due to not knowing the course, I held back at the intersections and didn't think I worked hard enough until we got to a section where I knew the route. The routes are painted but I had a hard time seeing the green paint on the road. Ended the day with a weak sprint, but had a good overall effort for the ride.

25.1 miles
1:10
tss 101.5 (0.929)
Norm Pwr 260
PWR 0 823 222
HR 90 192 166
SP 2.3 34.2 21.3

Now it's rest mode until tonight's crit!

Orca

Time to throw the Orca back into the mix in a big way this week. Tonight, my schedule freed up to do Fred's Ride. I've never been there on a Monday and it appears on the map to be the most hilly route of the three. Tomorrow is the typical Tuesday crit and Wednesday it's back for another Fred's Ride. Not sure what Thursday or Friday will bring, but Saturday is the PUR Tour in Mason. I've not done well either time at this race, but I like the course. Last year, a team mate spent most of the time in a break with a rider from 7hills so my job was to cover attacks, which Kippy from 7Hills and I did the whole race.

Anyway, it should be a good week with lots of data to digest. I'm in need of that since I spent the last two weeks on the Giant.

Also this week, I'm ordering a Powertap for my time trial bike, laced to a Zipp 808. This should help quite a bit as I can keep track of data for the first time on that bike.

#31 Colavita time trial

Finally, my first win in cycling. It came on a foggy morning in a low attended time trial, but who cares! Out of the four time trials I have done in Greenville, this was my slowest time, so I know there were several people who skipped this race due to the weather or other factors. Today the new chainring did it's part without problem and there were no shifting issues.

#30 Tuesday crit

No power data as I don't have the Orca back yet. I'm not sure how many started the "A" ride, but there were some good riders so it was going to be hard. 15 minutes into it, Team Dayton's manager Ron went down hard. It looked like there was a touch of wheels. Ron is a good, experienced cat 1 rider, but there was a slow down (the race was herky-jerky the whole time) and it looked like a touch of wheels brought him down. After 30 minutes of clean up including an ambulance and police cruiser, we re-started the race for another half hour of racing. Kyle sprinted off right at the start (?) and my old legs were cold and missed it. Dave missed his clip in, so the two of us team time trialled for 30 minutes +3 laps. All in all, a hard day in the saddle.

What is with all the crashing lately? Being in races and reading reports of others, it seems like there have been an over abundance of crashes lately. Funny, I always felt like I was the worst bike handler in the field, but either I got better or SEVERAL people around me got worse.

#29 Troy Classic

This marked the first race on the Giant since 2005, I think, as the Orca is not ready yet. I rode the Master's 35+ race over the 1 mile, 9 corner crit. The thoughts of "don't do anything stupid" went out the window on the 2nd lap where I bridged up to an Olympus Homes rider who has a nice gap. Soon, we were caught and I died. I spent the last 10-11 laps in my own personal time trial, banging as hard as I could until the finish.

Time trial bike picture

I found this picture on my computer so I thought I would upload it. What?

Next season will find a Zipp 808 with Powertap for the rear on it. I have changed the 53 ultegra chain ring to an FSA aero 54 tooth already and the saddle has been swapped with a Fizik Arione Tri. Depending on if my Alps made it through Sunday's wreck that may need changing. The only other future change may be swapping the bars for the new Easton Attack TT's.

2000 Giant TCR vs 2005 Orbea Orca

Due to the Orca still being in the shop, I rode the Giant for "Fred's Ride" last night. This bike has been sitting in the garage since I've been married and I don't remember the last time I rode it (well, I rode it Tuesday night on the trainer but that doesn't count). Last season, I was on the Fuji that Team Dayton gave me so when I gave that bike back, all the components were put on the Giant. With a mish-mash of components and wheels (and tires), we took off for a 30 mile ride. First thing out of the gate, I remembered how stiff this bike is. Second thing out of the gate was remembering how much I HATE Ultegra 9 speed STI hoods. They are so uncomfortable since I've gotten used to the Dura Ace 10 hoods that the Orca has. I really like stiff bikes for crits as I don't feel any power loss when sprinting or coming out of corners. This is the only advantage the TCR has over the Orca as the Orca is not a sprinting bike even for the (low) quality of sprinter I am.

Anyway, I wasn't sure going out how my body would react coming off Sunday's wreck. I was happy to find out that my body felt great. The only thing that slightly bothered me was my bib straps rubbing over the road rash on my left shoulder but it really wasn't that big of a deal.

We ended up with a 30.5 mile ride in 1 hour and 24 minutes, give or take. I felt good on the flats and ok on the rollers. I may not have my Orca back by Saturday's race so it was nice to get out on the TCR and test it out just in case. I kind of wish I could "rebadge" this bike and race it in crits all year due to the stiffness. Putting the Orca in crits is somewhat scary due to the cost of the bike.

No power data since the TCR is 9 speed and my American Classic Powertap wheel is in the shop with the Orca.

#28 Team Dayton crit - ouch

Only 7 "35+" masters showed up this morning for a little 30 minute crit. But I knew three of them were hard riders, Todd Frye, Dan Waite and Rick Toler. While Rick and Dan were in a break about an 1/8 lap ahead, we rounded turn 3 and Todd's front wheel flatted. He originally survived the initial shock, but a second later met pavement. I was right behind him and wasn't able to miss burying my front wheel into his back as he was laying on the ground. Had I tried to "make the turn", I could have quite possibly run over his head, but I didn't have the time to make the call as it all happened instantly. We were going quite fast at the time.

The laundry list...
BIKE
Bent shifter (fixed)
Torn bar tape
Gouge in the FSA K-wing
Wheels need re-trued

BODY
Hematoma on my head (cracked and destroyed my Bell Sweep) that's now almost gone
Bruises on my head from the helmet
Headache
Small cuts on my elbow and hip
Big cuts on my shoulder (where there was already scar tissue from two previous wrecks years ago) which are covered in tegaderm.
Bruised hip - this hurts the worst.


But - I've been able to speak coherently (well, as coherent as I can get) so it looks as if I avoided my third concussion.

No cat 3 race today as I left the park early and went home to recover.

Group rides

This past Wednesday and Friday I did "Fred's Ride" ( http://www.fredsride.com/ ), a local group ride where you can ride as fast as you want with other people who like to ride fast. Over my cycling "career" most of my riding has been solo with my only real group riding being in races. It's nice to go out and and work on some rolling terrain with others to push me to go harder.

Wednesday's ride:
Time 1:27
Dist 30.74
TSS 118.7 (0.903)
Norm PWR 253
PWR 1 1038 220
HR 99 193 163
SP 4 35.8 21.9

Friday's ride:
Time 1:08
Dist 24.64
TSS 95.6 (0.912)
Norm PWR 255
PWR 0 1005 218
HR 83 183 161
SP 3.9 34.3 21.4

#27

After being rained out two weeks ago and there not being a race last week due to the holiday, this was my first race here in three weeks. This would also mark the last time I could ride the course before the official team Dayton criterium this Sunday. Only about 15 people showed up so we rode one combined group.

55:20
20.53 miles
TSS 75.7 (0.906)
Norm PWR 254
PWR 0 862 223
HR 110 192 170
SP 6 30.6 22.3

Testing 1...2...3

As part of my new training program, once a month I am going to perform power testing alternating between 5 and 20 minute averages. Yesterday was the first 5 minute test in the middle of a short, one hour ride. That's becoming the real beauty of the Powertap as "watts don't lie". Since buying the powertap, I've been able to find my weaknesses and now it's time to adjust the training to address them. 5 minute power has been a REAL issue so one goal is to increase it. I'm also keeping track of 20 minute power because I don't want to forsake time trialling power for shorter power. The other goal is dropping weight and limiting the fluctuations. My power is ok, but my power to weight ratio is pathetic. So by lowering weight and raising power, that is the best of both worlds.

#25 & 26

Saturday was the monthly Greenville time trial put on by Colavita Ohio. The road is chip seal to within 2 feet of the yellow line on each side of the road so therefore most riders ride close to the yellow. Apparently there was an issue at the May TT (which I didn't go to) with 5 cars stacked behind a rider because they weren't able to pass as the rider was on the centerline. We received a stern warning that anyone would be DQ'd if they rode the center. So the whole 20k was spent riding the damn bumpy chip seal. Yuck. My time ended up better than my two previous efforts on this course. Ended up with a time of 30:23, besting my fastest time by 5 seconds, with an average around 24.5 mph. This was enough for 4th out of 10 in the 30-39 division and 9th out of 48 overall. The goal is to break 30 minutes and I have two shots left to do just that.

Sunday was the Ohio Cup's Tour de Grandview. This was my first time on this course and if I knew ahead of time that there was a hill, I would have saved the long drive and race fee. I was in the 35+ division. Right from the get go I missed clipping in (twice). I haven't had that issue in two years (Pur Tour 2005). Right OTB before the first turn. I lasted 8 or 9 laps out of 18 before getting pulled by the official. That's the first time I've been pulled from a race. James Raddin from Bandwidth solo'd away for several laps for an uncontested win. Nice!

I was very impressed with the Tour de Grandview. It had a "big time" feel to it. It was organized, run well, low race fee, had a great announcer and it seemed like the whole community turned out in force to cheer the racers on. Normally the only crowds out there are family and friends of the racers!