2013 Cycling Season

Over the next couple of days I will be updating my blog to talk about a few items in preparation for the 2013 Race Season.  This year I want to use the blog to accomplish a couple of objectives.

First, accountability   Yes, accountability.  If I am laying out every aspect of the season, then I have to execute.  There is a great story that Chris Carmichael tells about when LA was coming back from cancer.  The way Chris tells it, LA whispered something.  Chris leans forward and says, "What?".  LA repeats, "I want to win the Tour de France".  Chris replies in a loud voice, "You want to win the Tour?", LA immediate hushes him as if this is some big secret.  Chris later uses this as a learning point, you have to setup your objectives and be accountable to others.  Tell them what you are going to do.  So this will be my way of doing that.  Here goes:  "I will podium in 2013."

Second, I have tons of tools that I us to map my season, WKO+, TrainingPeaks, etc. I really have never "journalled" a race season, I have for many other items, but never cycling.  So this will be my Journal, warts and all.

Upcoming Blog Entries

• 2012 Year in Review
• 2013 Race Calendar
• My Objectives and How I am going to get there
• Nutrition
• Efficiency
• Team
• BTC
• KyleCoaching

Race Report: 2012 Tour of Page County Stage Race

2012 Tour of Page County Stage Race

Category 3/4

Luray, VA

Starters: 74

This was supposed to be three event stage race.  Due to the storm on Friday night, the road race was cancelled.  So instead we headed out for a few hours of hill climbing.

Day two was the time trial and the Criterium.  The TT report is below; I did not do the Criterium.  It was very technical; the temperature was peaking at the high 90s and decided that this was not the crit for me to really get back into the swing of things with. 

Luray Caverns Time Trial

The course was smooth, started on a fairly steep descent then entered a good set of rollers.   This was an out and back 9 mile TT.  The first half the elevation loss was greater than the gain so overall it averaged more of descent.  There were several turns that made it easier to break it down into quarters since there was not marking other than the actual course.

Weather was pretty warm; temperature at the start was 79 degrees.  There was no wind to speak of during the race.

The plan was to use my LT from prior to the wreck, around 300 watts.  I set my Garmin for time, power zones, distance and cadence; learning from the last TT.  The plan was to shot for less than 24 minutes.  So I wanted to stay in Zone 4 and hit each of the quarter segments at about 5 min and 40 seconds each.   I did not pre-ride the course but drove it several times.  Did a good warm-up for about 45 minutes but had to wait a little while for my start time.

I had a good start and a good descent.  Scott Giles voice continued to ring in my head, don’t rest until you have the bike back up to speed on the climbs.  So that is what I did across each roller.  I averaged about 25.13 mph on the outbound and hit each of my segments on time.  The return was more of a gradual uphill but was able to stay in zone (for the most part) and hit my times.  I ended up at 23:57 just barely under 24 minutes.  I had seriously miscalculated my goal; I should have been aiming more towards 20 minutes.  23:57 got me 41st out of 74, at 4 minutes down on the GC.

Stats:

Normalized power:  first half, 305w (average 264w); second half, 283 w (average 265w)

Average Heart Rate: first half, 171 bpm; second half, 180 bpm

Average Cadence:  80, really tried to pay attention to the cadence but very little of the race was flat; so this is actually more of a climbing cadence.  The area that was “flat” the cadence was closer to 88, still lower than my 90-95 goal.

VI:  1.11

Criterium

I did not have a good feeling about the crit, there were several pretty good descents and 9 turns.  I decided to bail on the crit.

NEXT EVENTS:

2012 Hagerstown Challenge Criterium (July 7)

RGS Title/Prosperity Mortgage Chantilly Criterium 2012 (July 8)

Race Report: 2012 Church Creek Time Trial

2012 Church Creek Time Trial

Category 4

Cambridge, MD

Starters: 22

The course was smooth, flat, scenic, but was not well marked with 20 and 30k markers but did have with a wide shoulder available on most of it.  Race course was about 12 km to a right turn,  then another right at about 25 km mark, then 1 last right turn giving us about 6 km to the finish,  There was a 5 km left sign and a 1 km left sign.

Weather was pretty warm.  Start of the race was in the low 80s.  Sunny with a pretty strong head wind on two of the segments.

The plan was to use my LT from prior to the wreck, around 300 watts.  I did not do a good job of checking the wind for the entire course so I broke it down into 10km segments.  I set my Garmin for two screens only Power Zones and time.  The plan was a sub 1 hour 40k.  So I wanted to stay in Zone 4 and hit each of the 10km marks in under 15 minutes.  My plan was to make up time in segment 3.  Meaning that if I crossed 20k mark (10-20km segment) in 15:20, then I knew I needed to make up 20 seconds on segment 3.  I wanted to use 1 and 2 to settle in.  4 is always faster for me because of the adrenaline rush at the end.

I had a good start, and crossed the 10 km at 14:38.  I did realize a little too late that I had a tail wind, but I did keep it in Zone 4 so I probably would not have changed that much.  First big problem, either did not see or there was not a 20 km marker.  (note to self:  add distance to the Garmin TT

screen).  I estimated where the 20km should have been based on my time being right around 30 minutes.  But this destroyed my timing strategy because it was based on distance.  I was pacing fairly well, but could tell my power was decreasing to lower LT, higher Tempo.   After about 35 minutes I could no longer hold a good aero position.  This had more to do about not being

use to the position then bike fit. 

Next problem was the lack of 30km marker, so once again having to guestimate my time and had no idea if I was over or under my plan.  I figured based on my decreasing power  numbers that I was over.  Got to a 5 km marker and knew that I was over time but got the bike back up to my zone goal and finished up.  Overall time was poor, 1:03:52.

Stats:

Normalized power:  245 watts (55 watts lower than my goal) Average Heart

Rate: 172 Average Cadence:  76

Here are my splits:

10k - NP 261   HR 171

20k - NP 239  HR 173

30k - NP 241   HR 173

40k - NP 228  HR 172

Feedback questions from (Jim Weinstein)

Q.  Was your HR in Zone 4 also??  

A.  I have not really gone out and did a field test on HR.  But using Friel's standard and have an actual max HR (203 in a crit), for this race I would have been about 95% in Threshold according to HR.

Q.  Also, how far away was your avg power from Norm Power?? 

A.  My average power was 240 and my normalized power was 245.  So within 5 watts.

Q.  How was your warmup?? 

A.  Did 30 minutes of warm-up plus a 20 minute ride to the start point.  The warm-up was okay but should have used the structured one that I normally use.

Q.  Did you stay well hydrated?  

A.  Drank 1 bottle on the bike.  Straight water should have added cytomax.  BUT my prerace hydration was lacking.  Really did not drink my normal days' worth the day before

Q.  And what was your VI for the race? 

A.  1.02

I tried to keep the cadence up but was not successful, so I just went with what seemed to be more comfortable.  I normally have a cadence of upper 90s at LT.  Why I could only mash the gears?  Not sure.

Overall I am trying to race back to fitness.  Very concerned about my average cadence, this is a significant drop in the last 70 days.  I thought that power was going to be down, that is just a function of a tragic loss in fitness over the last 70 days.

17th Place over all.  Winning time:  54:25.  Majority of the group:  10 riders between 59-1:01

Base miles for Cross Season

Well this season has basically blown or sucked depending on your preference of terms.  The first glitch was knee pain while down in Florida in early spring training with the team.  The positive outcome was Paul with Freshbikes and hours of bike fitting consultation, figured it out.  Combination of saddle height, offset, and cleat placement, oh don't forget a genetic leg length discrepancy and slight bend of the spine to add a little extra fun to the fit.

The next faux pas was falling down a flight of steps, adding a few broke ribs, then the accident down in Virginia Beach.  Positive thing about Virginia Beach is I know that there is nothing that I could've done, was in the front of the peloton and got taken out by an overzealous rider diving the corner.  I walked away from that wreck with a little road rash, added another broke rib, trashed shifter and blown tubular.

Now the latest accident, Carl Dolan.  No idea what happened there.  I mean no memory either.  But the accident did leave its bruises.  Two temporary pins in the thumb due to a Bennett's Fracture, AC Joint Strain, more broke ribs, and ton of road rash... and destroyed Cannondale frame, another broke shifter, skinsuit in two pieces, and destroyed Lazer Helmet.  Now I sit 45 days after the wreck and have a total of about 10 hours total on the bike (4 in the last week).  Freshbikes did help get the bike replaced, campy groupset is now replaced with SRAM Red.  My fitness has tanked, time on the bike is painful.  I finally got the pins taken out of the hand (Monday) and start occupational therapy today, and I have a perpetual thumbs-up until I get movement back.  The AC Strain requires physical therapy but do not start that until the 6th.  Diagnosis is that is a 5 month process, but will not keep me off the bike.  The slight silver lining, if there was one, is that after 45 days of getting my blood pressure checked, they determined that I need to be on blood pressure medicine.  So that started yesterday.  I went with an ACE inhibitor that should not screw with my VO2 max like others can.

I look at my trainingpeaks calendar of races that I had planned to do and they are ticking by fast, Wilmington GP, Tour of Somersville, WV McDonald's Criterium, Air Force Classic, all a wash for this year.  Looks like I might be able to do a few time trials, but other than that, nothing but base miles for Cross.

Race Report: 2012 Carl Dolan Circuit Race

Warmed-up. Started race. Wrecked. Woke up eight hours later in a hospital.

If you want to know more, such as the long list of thank yous that are required and the road ahead, continue to read.

To state that the Carl Dolan circuit race was a blur would be an understatement. Now I know, the race was over two weeks ago, but bear with me for a few minutes and you’ll understand why it's taken two weeks to do the race report.

It was 15 April, a beautiful morning, and I headed up to the race to watch the women's race and then prepare for my race at around one o'clock. I learned that another one of my team members, Don, was also racing, so I was excited. After watching the women’s race, I started thinking about little strategy and then broke out the trainer and set the bike up. After a solid 40 min. of warm-up, I was ready to go.

My closest 120 friends and I rolled up to the line and got prepared. The race started, and I remember the guy in front of me having a hard time getting clipped in, which provided some initial excitement. I quickly got around him, moved to the front, and then pulled for the first couple laps. The course was nice and fast and it seemed as if it was going to be a decent 21 miles in the saddle. I stay toward the front for the first 30 min., I was doing well, and that's as much as I remember. So I guess I will have to repeat what others told me.

Thank You to…..

Apparently there was a fairly large crash, approximately 20 of us. My understanding is that I took the worst of the crash. I was evacuated to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center. The next thing I remember is about seven hours later. I was unconscious for about 20 minutes and in and out of it for the next several hours. Apparently, during the seven hours, there were many people who came to my aid and also who facilitated phone calls and other support. Some of which I may not know occurred but will always be grateful. To Andy, Chris, Sunny, Alex, and Dana who helped not only at this site but also at the hospital I'm eternally grateful. To Jim and Bill, and other members of the US Military Cycling Team that made phone calls and other items I'm equally grateful. To the Bike Doctor Doc at the scene and the EMTs who rendered aid, thank you. To the pink-clad Team B of Shock/Trauma who scanned my head, Xrayed 100% of my body, and took care of both me and the friends who were with me at the hospital, thanks. For the rest of MABRA, that sent texts, email, phone calls, flowers, each meant so very much, thank you so much.

Bike status

As of right now the bike is still recuperating at Freshbikes in Arlington. It does appear as if 50% of the campy shifting mechanism is destroyed, and that the frame has seen its better days.

Equipment status

Skin suit, destroyed. Lazer Helmet, faithfully did its job, but destroyed. Glasses, not to be left out, destroyed. Even my heart rate strap somehow found its demise underneath the skilled hands of a paramedic who instead of unsnapping it decided a good pair scissors would work instead. So basically the only thing that I had on that survived was a pair of socks. Funny enough, given the above equipment status, showing up at shock trauma in only a pair socks left quite an impression on the nurses.


Body status

There was some initial concern with the amount of time that I was knocked out but I can report the hardhead is still hard. The road rashes healing fairly well, and now I have a nice blue cast on my left arm covering the pins that are holding together my thumb.

Prognosis

I was given permission by the doctor to get back on the trainer. Lazer helmet and skinsuit will have to be reordered from the team. Freshbikes will help get the Cannondale back on the road. The cast will be on my thumb for about three weeks and then it will be exchanged for a brace for week. By that time all road rash will be raceable, the thumb will be good, and I'll be back at the line for Bike Jam / Kelly Cup.