E’s Rock

Lesson #1: Start at the front.

Lesson #2: Be patient.

Those are the two lessons I came away with this Saturday at the Cornerhouse Grand Prix in Princeton. Regardless of my placing, time, effort, wattage numbers, etc, I always assure myself that for the $30 I drop on a race, I take something in return. Hell, it’s cheap compared to college costs nowadays.

Who cares Eric, get to the race.

Arrived about an early before the race and everything as usual. Same routine. Blast the music, pull out the trainer, setup and start warming up. Cool no problem, except outta nowhere my left calf slash quad slash back of leg (again, I majored in computers not Physiology) decided to say “what’s up”. As if I hadn’t stretched it, drank enough or warmed-up long enough. Not sure what it was and simply told myself it was all mental. Almost like a cramp but for no apparent reason, as the race hadn’t even began. Oh well Eric deal with it.

2.4 mile laps, small climb on the back. 8 laps. No problem.

Race began and there were a TON of us, or what looked like a ton of us. Westwood had maybe 5 or 6 and spread throughout the pack. Back to Lesson #1, start at the front. Nope…I started dead last. A few seconds in and we’re flying ~37+mph downhill. Mind you, at high speeds I’m a girl scout, might as well pull out the table and start selling cookies. High speeds and too many people don’t sit well. (Just because I drive a fast car
doesn’t mean I enjoy going fast. I’m the guy you see on the highway doing 60 in the left lane.) When I’m ALONE, different story. This being the case, I sat in the back nice and tucked. No pedaling and just a few bike lengths from the pack. No problem. Rinse and repeat, 4 times.

Don’t get me wrong, sitting at the back has some advantages (or maybe I’m just rationalizing.) For one, I can hit the corners MUCH faster than if I was in the middle of the pack yo-yo’ing back/forth. Secondly, there’s a “chance” of dodging crashes as opposed to finding yourself on the ground asking what happened. Thirdly, it’s somewhat entertaining (in an evil sort of way) watching people get dropped. On the flip, I’ve also learned you have to REALLY pay attention in the back. If you don’t you could find yourself on a slower wheel and unable to latch back on. Not good. Finally, you have to be in MUCH better shape (and equally as stupid) to hang off the back, no draft, 300+ watts.

I sat in the back for the first half of the race, making a few attempts to get to the front. It just wasn’t happening. Riders would sit up, chill, relax, struggle on the climb and simply take up the whole climb from side-to-side. I’d make it half-way through the pack, even punched it through the corners, but no go. For a second I got depressed. “Damm Eric, not the the same thing that happened at the last Branchbrook race.” I was bummed, yet physically intact. (I know that doesn’t make sense who cares.) For the first time in weeks my HR spiked up to the 180-ish range and 450 watts on the climb felt easy. Breathing…steady. Not sure if it’s because I went to the small ring, high cadence, but somehow I felt good.

Sit tight Eric, you’re chance will come…patience amigo.

All of a sudden, the same cycling gods that had sent a monsoon on thursday’s recovery ride, opened up a path from the base of the climb to the top. I punched it hard (39 seconds, 536 watts to be exact, put my head down and yelled mtn-bike style “on your right!”. Before I knew it I was at the top, pulling the pack up and over. SWEET!

Now let me tell you…the guys at the front (WBI and a few others) are in a totally different (perhaps smarter) mindset. They don’t like intruders. Furthermore and much to my dismay, they actually rotated, taking small pulls. The idea was to keep the pace high and the sprinters away from the front. Us little climbers don’t like sprinters!

2 laps to go and I’m sitting nicely in 2nd, with the occasional pull just to be nice. Somehow, not sure when or how, a rider was gone and out of site. It must have happened before I got to the front. BOOM! 1 lap left, we hit the hill and there goes Ralph (Westwood) up the right. Hard. He opens a gap and pegs it. Totally caught by surprise I’m not quite sure how to react.

Do I jump? No wait, then if I bring some riders I’d screw up his 2nd place. I sit…Damm! What now? I hit the 2 final corners hard and a guy jumps as we hit the rise towards the finish. I get on his wheel but he slows down. I go around the left, thinking I could hold it to the line, but I’m simply pulling everyone along. I glide to the right and hold what I have. Out of nowhere 3 guys jump and they get me at the line. 6th place. An upgrade point.

Should I have jumped with/after Ralph? Not sure. I still wonder. Regardless, my goal for the race was not to place, but to practice staying near the front. I sort of guagued the situation from the back, but I learned (from the P123 race) that on other courses, with other riders with different motives, I might not be as fortunate. If a strait-up TT’er had sat on the front and punched it hard, I would have been toast before it even started.

Anyways, good riding.

Here’s the data. 2 graphs. One with “Fast Find” enabled and labeled. This one shows 8 times, from 12-40 secs, where I hit more than 444 watts. Interesting, as it coincides with the number of laps.

The other graph with HR and watt thresholds.

Race:
Duration: 50:00 (59:31)
Work: 714 kJ
TSS: 92.5 (intensity factor 1.073)
Norm Power: 297
VI: 1.2
Distance: 18.677 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1001 247 watts
Heart rate: 136 186 174 bpm
Cadence: 23 141 91 rpm
Speed: 0 38.8 22.4 mph
Pace 1:33 0:00 2:41 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 306 78 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 1111 229 lb-in