Blah…Blah…Shut this guy up!

So, we all watch the first race which is a female race. Then my category is up. It is the CAT5/Citizen 1 race (there is another for the same category later in the morning).

Some notes. I estimate my FT (one hour TT power) to be about 265. Since my bike broke a few weeks ago, training has been more sporadic and I have noticed a decrease in overall power, but especially in the 1-5 minute range. I will throw out some power numbers during the report, but I didn’t know these until downloading after the race.

So, I line up in the front. I did have some apprehension about clipping in, but I figured if I was in the front, then that was less ground I had to make up. The race starts. We aren’t going all that fast into the first sweeping 180 degree turn. No worries. We hit the first straight and things are picking up. Up comes the first 90 degree turn and everyone seems to play it safe, but not all that slow. Same for the second 90 degree turn. The next three turns are sweeping 180 degree turns. It seems everyone is doing a good job of not taking unnecessary risks. Unfortunately for me, I am near the back and the guys I am following are probably just like me. So, we are losing ground on the pack during turns.

It should be noted that after 5 minutes, more that two laps, it looks as though my power output was as follows: average power 315, normalized power 330. Given that my FT is only 265, I was riding those first two laps above VO2 max. Also, even with the turns, average speed was 25.3 MPH.

This race was a learning experience. I knew it was important to save energy in the pack or at least draft. So, I picked a spot where I felt comfortable drafting, but by no means was I mixing it up in the turns. So, I was near the back. Unfortunately, I learned a valuable lesson. The accordion effect is fine on a weekly ride, but not so great when you are doing a bunch of turns in a mile. By the time the 4th lap came around, the guys I was following lost contact with the pack. We were only about 20 feet away, but as hard as I tried, I couldn’t make up the ground as I would lose any gains in the turns. Eventually, the guys I followed dropped behind me and the pack was too far ahead for me to catch. Oh well… chalk it up to first time racing.

Power numbers for the first 10 minutes were still very high. Average power of about 300 with normalized power at about 325. Speed was about 24.8 MPH for that time.

After that I had to get into TT mode and just try to not get lapped. I knew it would be a challenge. I started to look ahead to others that would get dropped and slowly reel them in. There was one guy, I caught him and he dropped behind and didn’t keep up. Then I caught another guy and he actually was smart enough to latch onto my wheel. I did most of the work for a couple of laps, but then when we saw another guy up ahead, we started working together to catch and pass him.

The end of the race had the winner catch me at the finish line. I was a lap behind. I coasted through the last lap. It was nice.

Overall, I am disappointed of course. But, the power numbers are about where I expected for the 30 minutes. My average for the entire race was 275 with a normalized of 295. Far above what I expected to see. I would have to suspect that people in the group didn’t have those kind of power numbers. I mean this is a CAT5 race after all.

My weakness is explosive power and cornering, especially in a group. I was able to handle the corners at high rates of speed when I was by myself. I guess I just have to get used to doing that in a group and I should be okay. It should be noted there were no crashes in either of the CAT5 races (I didn’t do the later one which seemed to be moving slower as the guy I worked with finished easily with the pack in the second race). The other races did have some crashes.

I did have fun. I didn’t get pulled, which I think is rare for a first time racer. So, it was a good experience. I will most likely do some more.

So, we all watch the first race which is a female race. Then my category is up. It is the CAT5/Citizen 1 race (there is another for the same category later in the morning).

Some notes. I estimate my FT (one hour TT power) to be about 265. Since my bike broke a few weeks ago, training has been more sporadic and I have noticed a decrease in overall power, but especially in the 1-5 minute range. I will throw out some power numbers during the report, but I didn’t know these until downloading after the race.

So, I line up in the front. I did have some apprehension about clipping in, but I figured if I was in the front, then that was less ground I had to make up. The race starts. We aren’t going all that fast into the first sweeping 180 degree turn. No worries. We hit the first straight and things are picking up. Up comes the first 90 degree turn and everyone seems to play it safe, but not all that slow. Same for the second 90 degree turn. The next three turns are sweeping 180 degree turns. It seems everyone is doing a good job of not taking unnecessary risks. Unfortunately for me, I am near the back and the guys I am following are probably just like me. So, we are losing ground on the pack during turns.

It should be noted that after 5 minutes, more that two laps, it looks as though my power output was as follows: average power 315, normalized power 330. Given that my FT is only 265, I was riding those first two laps above VO2 max. Also, even with the turns, average speed was 25.3 MPH.

This race was a learning experience. I knew it was important to save energy in the pack or at least draft. So, I picked a spot where I felt comfortable drafting, but by no means was I mixing it up in the turns. So, I was near the back. Unfortunately, I learned a valuable lesson. The accordion effect is fine on a weekly ride, but not so great when you are doing a bunch of turns in a mile. By the time the 4th lap came around, the guys I was following lost contact with the pack. We were only about 20 feet away, but as hard as I tried, I couldn’t make up the ground as I would lose any gains in the turns. Eventually, the guys I followed dropped behind me and the pack was too far ahead for me to catch. Oh well… chalk it up to first time racing.

Power numbers for the first 10 minutes were still very high. Average power of about 300 with normalized power at about 325. Speed was about 24.8 MPH for that time.

After that I had to get into TT mode and just try to not get lapped. I knew it would be a challenge. I started to look ahead to others that would get dropped and slowly reel them in. There was one guy, I caught him and he dropped behind and didn’t keep up. Then I caught another guy and he actually was smart enough to latch onto my wheel. I did most of the work for a couple of laps, but then when we saw another guy up ahead, we started working together to catch and pass him.

The end of the race had the winner catch me at the finish line. I was a lap behind. I coasted through the last lap. It was nice.

Overall, I am disappointed of course. But, the power numbers are about where I expected for the 30 minutes. My average for the entire race was 275 with a normalized of 295. Far above what I expected to see. I would have to suspect that people in the group didn’t have those kind of power numbers. I mean this is a CAT5 race after all.

My weakness is explosive power and cornering, especially in a group. I was able to handle the corners at high rates of speed when I was by myself. I guess I just have to get used to doing that in a group and I should be okay. It should be noted there were no crashes in either of the CAT5 races (I didn’t do the later one which seemed to be moving slower as the guy I worked with finished easily with the pack in the second race). The other races did have some crashes.

I did have fun. I didn’t get pulled, which I think is rare for a first time racer. So, it was a good experience. I will most likely do some more.