i told you so. WELL DONE NORM!!
Biscotti Madness
- Thread starter Norm
- Start date
you were flying out there, you passed me right after the last stream crossing on the 2nd lap. I had a mediocre race. I knew my legs were not 100% after the past 3 weeks of minimal riding. I put myself in the middle @ the start and stayed there the whole race.
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Preride link:
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/8039272
Race link (turned off the GPS by mistake at some point so it's mostly worthless):
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/8039273
The Recap
Yesterday was a good reminder of the fact that these races are mostly about the event itself, not strictly the race. I left my house at 5:15 and got home at 6:15. That's 13 hours for a 40 minute preride and 1:05 of race. Imagine if I'd spent that time riding. I'd be thinner than Fred this morning!
First off, big thanks to Mike for driving. I can't imagine having to endure that 4 hour traffic nightmare coming home by myself. Thanks Mike!
We got out for a preride just before 9:40, with our race set to start at 10:30. Fred, Jay, Mike, ChrisT, and TonyP did a lap in a bit under 40 minutes. No surprise that the course was fast, super fast. Getting out to a quick start was probably going to be of some benefit because the course was tight when it wasn't in open field or the field road at the start.
The start was furious. Unlike the H2H races, this field starts in an absolute blaze. I'm often in the top 3 in the H2H races but here I doubt I was even top 20. I haven't done any work on starts since last year's last race. So it hurt, and hurt a lot. At the bend in the road not even 1/4 of a mile into it, I said to myself ok, this field is big and fast and boy do I hurt already. This might be a disappointing day.
But after the stream crossing the people who started out of their league began blowing up already. This was maybe a mile in, and I started picking off people in bunches of 3s and 4s and 5s. Shortly after we entered the singletrack and the accordian was on.
The first part of the course was tight singletrack but you could still pass. I was on some guy's wheel with a red BMC jersey. We talked a little bit. He was out of his comfort zone and a bit out of control so I gave him some room. But we were knocking people off left and right so I stayed where I was. In the big field section in the middle we trucked past another 5-10 people. Then the second part of the course locked it all down. Passing was impossible. And any attempt to pass in a sketchy section was difficult and often rewarded with a loss of a spot or 2 if you took a bad line, which there were many. I kept pace with the pack here and waited for the start. I could see the BMC guy a few spots up so I was where I wanted to be still.
On the start road I started making up ground but BMC had the same idea and was thin as a rail so opened up a bit on me, maybe 100-200 yards. But I was able to knock off some people here. When I entered the singletrack again I was ahead of a good mass of people and was working on 1 target at a time.
At this point my legs were hurting, not happy about that first 32 minutes of blistering I'd given them. But I kept on, and here is where I could see the benefits of all these miles I have put in. As a quick side note, I passed a guy I recognized after the start/finish area. In the end, I beat him by 5 minutes. So our first lap was the same, and he blew on the second where I was able to keep at it.
And that's what I did. I kept at it. I would see a guy up ahead. Catch him, pass him, move on. I probably knocked off a dozen guys in that last lap, maybe more. Aside from the start of the race, I wasn't passed by a single rider (that I recall). It was just me picking people off, 1 by 1. As the race wound down, my legs hurt like hell but I was able to keep pushing and I was passing people more and more quickly as I kept a pace and more people started to blow.
In all, 1:05 and change. I was the 14th finisher overall out of probably 250 or so, including my class and the classes that started ahead of us. In my class I was 5th out of 41, 58 seconds off the top spot and 45 seconds out of 4th. It turns out the BMC guy with the red jersey won! So I'm really right there in this class now.
What to take away from this race? I may want to work on my starts, as Wawayanda is apparently a course that bottlenecks quickly. I also need to keep my long rides as well as being on the mountain bike as much as possible. My endurance and comfort on the bike were both good yesterday. Probably want to throw in a threshold/race-type paced ride in there on weeks when I have no race.
In all, tough to see the race season starting out any better than it did. I was going into this hoping to crack the top 10 so yesterday's result was better than expected.
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/8039272
Race link (turned off the GPS by mistake at some point so it's mostly worthless):
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/8039273
The Recap
Yesterday was a good reminder of the fact that these races are mostly about the event itself, not strictly the race. I left my house at 5:15 and got home at 6:15. That's 13 hours for a 40 minute preride and 1:05 of race. Imagine if I'd spent that time riding. I'd be thinner than Fred this morning!
First off, big thanks to Mike for driving. I can't imagine having to endure that 4 hour traffic nightmare coming home by myself. Thanks Mike!
We got out for a preride just before 9:40, with our race set to start at 10:30. Fred, Jay, Mike, ChrisT, and TonyP did a lap in a bit under 40 minutes. No surprise that the course was fast, super fast. Getting out to a quick start was probably going to be of some benefit because the course was tight when it wasn't in open field or the field road at the start.
The start was furious. Unlike the H2H races, this field starts in an absolute blaze. I'm often in the top 3 in the H2H races but here I doubt I was even top 20. I haven't done any work on starts since last year's last race. So it hurt, and hurt a lot. At the bend in the road not even 1/4 of a mile into it, I said to myself ok, this field is big and fast and boy do I hurt already. This might be a disappointing day.
But after the stream crossing the people who started out of their league began blowing up already. This was maybe a mile in, and I started picking off people in bunches of 3s and 4s and 5s. Shortly after we entered the singletrack and the accordian was on.
The first part of the course was tight singletrack but you could still pass. I was on some guy's wheel with a red BMC jersey. We talked a little bit. He was out of his comfort zone and a bit out of control so I gave him some room. But we were knocking people off left and right so I stayed where I was. In the big field section in the middle we trucked past another 5-10 people. Then the second part of the course locked it all down. Passing was impossible. And any attempt to pass in a sketchy section was difficult and often rewarded with a loss of a spot or 2 if you took a bad line, which there were many. I kept pace with the pack here and waited for the start. I could see the BMC guy a few spots up so I was where I wanted to be still.
On the start road I started making up ground but BMC had the same idea and was thin as a rail so opened up a bit on me, maybe 100-200 yards. But I was able to knock off some people here. When I entered the singletrack again I was ahead of a good mass of people and was working on 1 target at a time.
At this point my legs were hurting, not happy about that first 32 minutes of blistering I'd given them. But I kept on, and here is where I could see the benefits of all these miles I have put in. As a quick side note, I passed a guy I recognized after the start/finish area. In the end, I beat him by 5 minutes. So our first lap was the same, and he blew on the second where I was able to keep at it.
And that's what I did. I kept at it. I would see a guy up ahead. Catch him, pass him, move on. I probably knocked off a dozen guys in that last lap, maybe more. Aside from the start of the race, I wasn't passed by a single rider (that I recall). It was just me picking people off, 1 by 1. As the race wound down, my legs hurt like hell but I was able to keep pushing and I was passing people more and more quickly as I kept a pace and more people started to blow.
In all, 1:05 and change. I was the 14th finisher overall out of probably 250 or so, including my class and the classes that started ahead of us. In my class I was 5th out of 41, 58 seconds off the top spot and 45 seconds out of 4th. It turns out the BMC guy with the red jersey won! So I'm really right there in this class now.
What to take away from this race? I may want to work on my starts, as Wawayanda is apparently a course that bottlenecks quickly. I also need to keep my long rides as well as being on the mountain bike as much as possible. My endurance and comfort on the bike were both good yesterday. Probably want to throw in a threshold/race-type paced ride in there on weeks when I have no race.
In all, tough to see the race season starting out any better than it did. I was going into this hoping to crack the top 10 so yesterday's result was better than expected.
great write up norm. i told you at MD, you're flying around. i may not have that many years on a bike but i know fast when i see it and you're moving.
all those miles you've been piling on are certainly paying off and i'm guessing that this race is going to give you a good little boost going into wayway...as it should.
you've really been busting your ass and it's paying off huge. just think, you started this whole racing thing like what, two years ago or something? maybe three? i'd say you've accomplished a whole helluva lot. the real exciting stuff is, where are you going to be next year?
all those miles you've been piling on are certainly paying off and i'm guessing that this race is going to give you a good little boost going into wayway...as it should.
you've really been busting your ass and it's paying off huge. just think, you started this whole racing thing like what, two years ago or something? maybe three? i'd say you've accomplished a whole helluva lot. the real exciting stuff is, where are you going to be next year?
The Kalmyk
Well-Known Member
Good job Norm BUT next time maybe some podium action
Maybe I'll shave my arms and butt too. I would say my head but it's half gone already.
I was on the podium yesterday...standing in for Fred. F*ckers made me stand there in order to collect his medal.
So it's now Monday evening and I'm on my way home from work. I can say that without question my post-race day recovery is tremendously better than it was last year. My legs are not fried today, and I feel good and ready to roll tomorrow. This is one major advantage I see in the miles this year. No matter how much I trash my legs the next day is never that bad anymore. Last year they still would have been screaming today.
The rest of my week is in flux, but I'm WFH for sure tomorrow so I'm going out on the road bike for what I hope is a 4 hour ride at about 6:00 am. Wednesday my boss comes to town so I may hit the road bike again early and go into the office late. After that I have no idea. Trying to WFH or take a vacation day Friday but not sure I can swing it with 2 of our guys travelling that day. I'm pressing the MBU bank already and race season is 2 days old.
One day at a time right now. It's only Monday.
The rest of my week is in flux, but I'm WFH for sure tomorrow so I'm going out on the road bike for what I hope is a 4 hour ride at about 6:00 am. Wednesday my boss comes to town so I may hit the road bike again early and go into the office late. After that I have no idea. Trying to WFH or take a vacation day Friday but not sure I can swing it with 2 of our guys travelling that day. I'm pressing the MBU bank already and race season is 2 days old.
One day at a time right now. It's only Monday.
The Kalmyk
Well-Known Member
MBU?....And what does this mean?
The Kalmyk
Well-Known Member
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:...
