Retrospective: Spring Training

While many of my friends are busy racing up north, I have a training weekend, trying to get my legs back under me in time for late-spring stage racing, so it's a nice opportunity to think back on some of my spring training and racing fun.

Tour de Tuscaloosa:  In the third weekend of March, this was a two-race combo with a fast downtown crit on Saturday and the Alabama State Road Race Championship on Sunday.  I met up with Warren and David, visiting T-town from New York City, and we decided to value the training more than the results.

Spent the first lap trying to clip in...

The eventual winner, in his last cat 3 race.

In hindsight, that was just the right decision--the series of hard efforts in the crit gave me a really valuable workout, and our strategy of going from the gun put David in a serious break for most of the road race.  In the end, while I wasn't in the break, the efforts required to put him there, then block, and then suck the winner's wheel as long as I could while he tried to break the elastic was a serious training day. We didn't end up with awesome placings, but I did end up discovering Birmingham's feral pig population, hunting for early Easter eggs, and hanging out with some of Birmingham's friendliest and most hospitable cyclists.

Birmingkill (Birth of a Blog):  The week after this, Warren was still in Birmingham, and he invited me back over for a Saturday training ride.  Warren's Birmingham friend Brian put together for us a route that simulated or surpassed Battenkill's climbing.  This was an important day for a number of reasons:  it was one of my first hard, real hot-weather rides; Warren dropped me on all the longer climbs, and I became that guy who yells incoherent things when the effort level of a climb passes a certain point.  Shut up and climb, I used to think to myself when I heard those guys on rides, and now all I could think was Aaaaarghhhh ffffuhhhhh shhhheeee...!  This was a good thing for me.  At one point, as the road turned up yet again, I thought, I should step off the bike and start a blog.  Thanks, Warren, and you--you're welcome.



Fouche Gap (All About Multitasking):  The week after this was a multi-purpose weekend; I was not planning on racing, and the only way I was making the long drive over to Rome was if I were getting a race, a family visit, and also bringing this little monster to visit her summer vacation digs:

I Can Haz Skewer?

This was the week before Battenkill,and I felt pretty good about my fitness; I was a bit worried about racing and endangering my body or equipment with so little time to repair before the Big Race.  My goal for this race would be to simply Follow the Plan.  And that strategy would be to sit in and conserve--it was almost 80 miles long--and stay as fresh as possible for the 1.1 mile finishing climb.  In the end result, I almost stayed on plan.  I hung out in the pack as breaks of 2-3 riders left and were reeled back in in the first 2/3 of the race.  At various points I remember congratulating myself as I hung on the wheel of a very big Krystal rider.  Mid-race, though, I drifted back in the pack to take care of some multitasking business (one cannot, after all, expect to climb well at the end of a race while carrying extra weight up the hill, and especially not when one's bladder is already full at mid-race).

The Day I Tried to Live Piss My Shorts:  While back there soaking my shorts and destroying someone's front spokes with my rear derailleur (note to self--avoid the back of a southern cat 3 pack), the big rider who had so generously drafted me went off the front, along with another, and by the time I worked my way back up to the front, the two teams represented in the break were blocking.  Two other riders had also gone, and the moto kept telling us that all four were together and increasing their gap.  So I went back to plan and decided to sit in.  In the last lap, a rider from Savannah began to attack aggressively, and a small number of teamless riders began to work together, but the two teams represented in the winning break were fairly effective at disrupting the rotation.  With fifteen minutes to go, my hamstrings both cramped catastrophically.  I went from cruising easily at the front to shooting backward through the pack.

Oh Well:  Deeply discouraged, I figured I'd just climb for a mid-pack finish.  I might have blown the plan, worked too hard.  As the road turned up, I could see the pack spreading across the road, big guys losing momentum and a small group of smaller riders getting energetic.  I put in 20-30 seconds of hard effort to get into contact with this group, hoping to just hang on.  I couldn't tell where we were in the race--the road twisted enough that we might have been mid-pack, we might have been last.  I couldn't tell at all.  I just kept grinding.  It wasn't long before we passed a handwritten 500m sign.  Someone yelled "third is right in front of you!" but of course, I did not believe them.  I put another dig in, spinning as hard as I could, and found the wheels of some riders climbing harder.  We were all over the road.  There was always someone right in front of me; all I knew was that I wanted one more place on the climb.   At 200 meters to go, I saw a small guy with his jersey open.  I ground it out.  He didn't look so good.  I clicked my right shifter twice--eased the hammer back and pulled the trigger; I jumped him and sprinted to the line.

Still Trying.

Why I Heart Short Climbs:  I felt good about my effort, but I didn't know until later that I had climbed to the front of the pack, taking 5th, and only missing 3rd and 4th by 7 and 10 seconds...that spectator was right.  I'm not sure if I could have shaved any more seconds off my climb, but I definitely believe we could have done a few more minutes of work earlier in the race and caught those two.  The winners were well in front, but that's okay--ultimately, the best part of this race was that I stayed on plan; I didn't mean to cramp up, but in the final analysis, the balance of sitting in, chasing, and recovering to climb was about as good as I could have planned.

Tiger Lane Crits: Rawwwr.

More like Liger Lane.  I love racing, and doing it close to home on a weeknight is even better.  Davis and I went up to Memphis for the after-work Tiger Lane Crits yesterday, put on by 901 racing...it was a lot of fun and super-well-organized.  The competition was strong and it ended early enough we could grab a bite in Cooper-Young and still get back at a reasonable hour.  Yep.  I love racing.  Still love it.

All pics pilfered via facebook from awesome photographer Bob Bayne

The course was a windy (and every once in a while, lightningy) seven-tenths of a mile, counterclockwise loop through the parking lots and access roads of the Liberty Bowl, with most races seeming pretty paced in the wind.  The attacks in my race came right after the headwindy home stretch and the back half (in the shadow of the stadium and in parts with a serious tailwind) being the place to launch 40mph  attacks while trying to make it to the sharp left-hand corner up front.  Yep...still love racing.

It was my first 1/2/3 race; to be fair, it was more of a 2/3 race with one cat 1 making it to the final sprint, 2 cat 2s in the top ten, and cat 3s taking home the lion's share of the laurels.  I was a tad cocky/needed a workout and joined nearly every attack in the first half, pulling on some, until I realized that one of the teams there seemed to be attacking their own riders.  I set near-personal bests in 20 and 30-minute power--not the best way to do well in a race, but hey...I still love racing!  Eventually the strong men held the pace up until the field splintered, letting the winning pair get away.

At that point, I had worked so hard that I seriously entertained thoughts of dropping out...of racing altogether.

I'm still trying to work on reading races and being patient, but yeah...did I mention?  I still love racing.  But at that point I hadn't just missed the break; I was so blown that it was more like I had missed 3 or 4 breaks, ending up with a trailing group of riders who seemed to be just pedaling casually, but which still threatened to drop me at times.  The wind was vicious.  I tried to suck wheel, but riders in front of me would let gaps open, and I had to jump around them to keep from boarding the autobus.  The leading 6-8 riders eventually came back together into a lead group, from which the winners launched or had already launched their break.  After that, the two-pack field came back together (M&B finally began to manage the race at the end, putting their guy on the top step), and the pace eased in the last couple laps as we prepared to sprint for 3rd. I managed to hold on for 8th, 6th in the field sprint.  I still don't have that much top-end wattage, but I felt like I held my own or gained a few spots against a bunch of big dudes going fast into the wind.  And I was there at the end, albeit not with any real weaponry.

1/2/3 on the back stretch.

In the 5 race, the merciless first-season domination continued.  Davis got tired of sitting around and did a little work in the last couple laps to shred the field, then settled in and sprinted for 3rd.  He also won a prime, maybe without knowing it, so I think we're having post-race tacos next week.  He's going to have to upgrade soon...

Davis in romantic soft focus on his way to 3rd.

Joe Martin Stage Race 2012

Another Race, Another Road Trip:  After a six-hour drive, Davis and I arrived early enough on Friday evening to pick up our packets, eat dinner, and check out the Dixon Street strip.  Fayetteville, Arkansas, is a pleasant town, nestled in the Ozarks of northwest Arkansas, with lots of bikes on racks around town--more than Oxford, despite the hillier terrain.  After a quick meal and some gearing up, we took an early bedtime, ready for the first amateur stage, the Devil's Den Time Trial on Saturday morning--2.5 miles with 680 feet of climbing.

Stage 1:  Devil's Den TT:  At Devil's Den, 45 minutes outside of Fayetteville, competitors' cars lined every little turnoff, with MAMILs warming up next to every parking space.  We managed to get a good spot near the start, passing on the crowded Saris-sponsored warmup tent to spin it out at the car...like our lycra-clad elders.

Davis representin'

I headed up to the line and pedaled off on time.  It was deceptively easy at first, and I spiked my wattage a little early on; but I leveled out, until a half mile in, I found myself behind a pickup truck with a big trailer, just tooling along.  I gunned it to pass him, not wanting to spend any more time than necessary across the line, headed into a curve with downhilling riders coming.  Even though I felt pretty confident in my ability to knock out 10 hard minutes, I had also had a lame training two weeks since Battenkill--I hadn't really laid down the kinds of serious efforts necessary to exceed my standard 10-minute power output.  It was a tough remaining mile and a half--I wasn't caught, nor did I catch anyone, but I did find myself a number of times easing up on the effort too much.  At the 200m mark, I stood up and gave it a good solid kick, crossing the line in 10:12, a good 30 seconds slower than I had hoped. That was good for 15th, 54 seconds back of the winner, who was only a tad slower than last year's winning time.  I was lining up by the time Davis finished, so I didn't know how he did, but we later saw he was sitting in 3rd after a strong effort.

Stage 2 Road Race:  We had 68 miles to ride, but the heavy hitters, a number of strong riders all close together in GC time, consistently dampened any attack with more than one earnest rider.  A few times riders got away for brief periods, and the effort level did raise on the hills early in the loop, and I talked to the GC riders to see if I could negotiate a pace raise; but the top three were all doing good solid work on the front, and didn't want to get risky.  By the second time around, there was nothin' doin'--we were headed to a field sprint.  After one last attack as we turned onto the stick of the lollipop, 11 miles to go, everything stayed together to the end.  I rode next to a rider with a noisily broken nipple as he talked himself out of the field sprint--no sense risking a crash caused by a broken wheel.  At the sprint, a number of riders, including my friend Jess, went long up the left side--note to self--I've never really seen that work; a flailing counter came up the right, but I was blocked in and couldn't really catch it.  It turned out that was okay, as most of those riders began to pop early.  I slalomed my way into 7th, within a bike length or so of the winner.  I realized afterward that I just don't have much of a mental scenario for a field sprint--it's been a while since I've done it on a regular basis, and I think I need to mentally rehearse the timing and effort of the sprint.

Davis at the RR start

I missed Davis's finish, but he rode strong in the cat 5 race, helping to form up a lead group of 4 riders, and dropping the back two and nipping the other for the win in a sprint.  He moved from 3rd to 2nd in the GC on the time bonus and a small gap at the line.

Stage 3, Crit:  It was turning out that the real story of the weekend was Davis's run of success against the strong local cat 5s, so after my crit at 11, I got to enjoy my race afternoon doing whatever I could to help  Davis to a strong result in the late-afternoon cat 5 crit.  Our own race was slated for 45 minutes on a 6-turn course ending on a pretty stout hill after a significant false flat.  We were shortened to 40 minutes while waiting at the line for quite a while, and I went out soon after the gun.  I had the bad judgment, though, to make a move on a prime lap, and got caught between--I didn't want to compete for the prime, and the other rider was more interested in sitting up than working together.  A Dallas rider attacked soon after, but he was very surgey and seemed just to want to go solo, so I let him go and returned to the pack.  We got the 5-to-go sign soon after, and at that point I just tried to recover for the finish.

Trying to hold Jess's wheel

It was a pretty fast race, and I set personal bests in my 20 and 30-minute normed power...for what it's worth.  With three to go, the pack--driven by some of the GC leaders--climbed the hill progressively faster, and quickly cut into the gap of the four-man break, which had been dangling all race.  With 3/4 of a lap to go, the break was caught, and after the standard lull on the false flat, I saw a rider go off the front, and he turned the corner maybe 50m in front of the pack.  At that point, people started throwing elbows, and I saw Brandon move to the front and start stomping on the pedals hard.  Once again I was caught a bit too far back, but I managed to spin hard up the hill--I stayed seated until the end--passing a number of riders and finishing just behind Jess.  Brandon managed to catch the lone attacker and the second-place GC rider got third to move into first overall.  I didn't really see any of that.

The cat 5 crit:  After warming up, Davis got to go off on his crit, the last event of the day.  It ended up being the same time as the cat 3 crit--my only complaint about the stage race.  I positioned myself on the hill and tried to see how his race developed.  Davis rode well, staying right at the front but out of the wheel.  At one point he made a move, but the strong rider leading GC was not going to let anything go.

In the lead group up the start/finish hill.

Davis rode the race well and did just what he needed to in order to get the result he wanted.  In the end, the hill dropped all but a few contenders, and he got a small group sprint.  The rider in green, an older occasional racer, sprinted for the win while Davis took second, just avoiding getting pipped at the line by the UofA rider. 

Davis getting second--looked like third, but the UofA rider didn't get him until after the line

The strong (but not conservative) rider leading GC got another 4th, gapped slightly.  Davis's time bonus moved him close, but was not quite enough to get him the lead in the GC.  All in all, though, a great performance--bringing home UofM's first podium finishes--a 3rd in the TT, a 1st in the RR, and a 2nd in the crit, as well as a 2nd overall GC finish.  Well done!

The haul, and a few more pictures here.