World Wide Woo

October 3 - CCCX Circuit Race #3 E3/E4

2010-10-21T17:11:00.000-07:00

CTL: 115
TSB: 10

Really wanted to be more active and not just in the first half of the race. I already was able to sit in for a couple of technical, non flat crits in the E3's.

Today was a mixed E3/E4 race but with mostly E3s. I had a good fifty minutes but unfortunately our race was seventy minutes. First four laps, sat in, covered a few moves. Fifth lap worked my way to the front on the four rollers, only sat on the front for a little bit but did too much during that lap and on the sixth lap could not hang on through the roller section. Got dropped and pushed myself to catch back up but totally blew up on the last roller, someone else who got dropped checked in to make sure I was OK when he saw me wobbling! Just did the last one plus laps solo. Probably should have saved my move for later in the race but at least I tried something a little different. Something to build on for next season.

This course is only going to be used for maybe more seasons. A veterans cemetary is being built and they will have a lot more traffic on these particular roads and the roads are probably too narrow to limit a race to half the lane.

2010 October 2 CCCX Circuit Race, Fall Series #3 E3/E4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

September 26 - Oakland Grand Prix

2010-10-06T21:44:00.000-07:00

CTL: 115
TSB: 10

Warmed up for this by doing the Central Coast Cyclocross race in the morning, almost made it through that unscathed but managed to slide out on the last lap and show up for this race with some road rash on my right leg.

Took a few laps to get used to the ebb and flow of the pack on the course but felt comfortable enough to move up on different sections of the course. Never felt confident enough to attack - seems like I would move up to near the front on the straights and not have enough energy or space to move up farther by the time we got to a corner. The lap cards went into single digits and then we had a pretty bad crash coming out of the hairpin, I was behind it and caught back up to the group but we were neutralized to permit an ambulance to treat a downed rider.

We got restarted from scratch with six laps to go. Was thinking more about safety versus finishing position and could not get myself to commit to a move that would better my position so just finished with the group.

2010 Oakland Grand Prix E3 - until neutralization from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 49:28
C: 104
S: 38.7
Pavg: 196
Pnorm: 203
Someone else must have an identical ANT+ heart rate ID because my maximum heart rate is not 238.

September 10-12 - Folsom Cyclebration Omnium

2010-09-30T20:12:00.000-07:00

CTL: 122
TSB: 26

Got in two short easy days on the TT bike to try to make up for not riding it much at all this season, got a decent race, but really need to ride the TT bike more prior to a event. This is equivalent what I can do the second or third time up OLH including this Wednesday so I should be able to do better than this if I am fresh. On the other hand this is the best TT performance I've had this season, faster than last year, had something in the tank at the end, might be able to make up that minute deficit to first place next year.

T: 24:30
S: 42.3
C: 81
H: 186
Pavg: 227
Pnorm: 230

First flat criterium in a long time that was faster than I could time trial. Tried a few moves but too many people interested in a sprint finish. Should have attacked more, had a lot left in the tank at the end. Got caught behind accident with two to go and still moving back up to the middle of the pack by the time the sprint was engaged.

2010 Folsom Cyclebration Challenge Criterium E3 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T:48:20
S:43.4
C:97
H:170
Pavg:168
Pnorm:204

Circuit race was slightly rolling. The uphill portion was relatively easy to float onto the back of the group but I kept losing position out of the hairpin onto the downhill. Didn't think the race was that hard but then made contact with another rider going into the uphill hairpin with two to go and stopped, it was hard enough that I blew when I caught back on just before the downhill, got pulled on the last lap.

2010 Folsom Cyclebration Two Bridges Circuit Race E3 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 36:40
S: 40.2
C: 101
H: 169
Pavg: 174
Pnorm: 216

September 6, Giro di San Francisco

2010-09-11T08:47:00.000-07:00

CTL:126
TSB:16

Originally registered for the E4/E5 and 35+ 4/5 races and just switched the categories when I upgraded. Probably should have done only one race instead. Same course for last five years, small hill, rough pavement in different spots, old trolley track crossing, though the new potholes this year destroyed lots of carbon fiber wheels. I broke out the $80 Bike Nashbar front wheel for this race.

First race up was the master 123's. Went out conservatively and managed to be in front of Larry Nolan (since he started on the back of the field) for three laps and I saw him go to the front on Chris Phipps' wheel and that was the last the whole group saw of Larry until the finish straight on the last lap where he pulled out the win. I pulled out on lap eight. The pace was not that bad, about threshold for me, just had some doubt in my mind about whether or not I could do this effort twice for 24 laps.
35+ 123

T: 14:13
S: 43.1
Pavg: 205
Pnorm: 243
H: 177
C: 103

The E3 race had about 90 starters and was a little less smooth and slower than the masters race. It felt hard but ended up being a little easier than the relatively short time I was in the masters race in terms of normalized power. Possibly the heat and some fatigue caught up with me, just not fit enough to do two races twice in day, though other riders were capable of this.

One big difference is that it seems like the E3/M123 races were significantly less negative than most E4/M4 races, I could essentially take it easy during a lot of E4/M4 races with big fields until the last five minutes, versus having to try hard for the whole race to stay with the pack it seems with my current fitness in the E3/M123 races.

T: 42:47
S: 41.2
Pavg: 183
Pnorm: 229
H: 182
C: 106

September 4, CCCX Circuit Race #2 Fall Series

2010-09-08T08:06:00.000-07:00

CTL: 131
TSB: 8

Only signed up for one race today so no excuses for not doing well even though it's a mixed E3/E4 field. The 1/2/3 race starts late and I don't want to hang around all day today.

We have about thirty starters, even with the small field a few riders go up the road to animate things every lap. After about forty minutes riders attrition takes its toll and riders start dropping out. Chica Sexy riders start the attacks and soon it's four riders in the lead, four riders just behind with teammate Tony in there and the main group of ten with myself and teammate Dave. I sit in and wait to see if Tony can hang in there or see if we have to do something from this group but right before I can do anything interesting there is a crash on the last lap at the bottom of the hilly section and I have to stop for a few seconds to avoid running into the riders and bikes and lose contact with the group, not strong enough to chase back. Race didn't seem that hard so a disappointing way to end it.

cccx fall circuit race series #2 September 4 2010 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 1:14:17
Pavg: 176
Pnorm: 226
H: 167
S: 33.7
C: 98

August 29 - Vacaville Gran Prix

2010-09-08T07:31:00.000-07:00

CTL: 131
TSB: -5

Wasn't sure I was going to make it to this after both legs cramped up yesterday but felt fine this morning.

We had a pretty big field in the E3's so the yo-yoing was going to be pretty bad at the 120 degree turn if one wasn't near the front. Just didn't have the legs after yesterday to move up, ended up tailgunning the whole race and lost touch with the field on the penultimate time down the hill.

I would probably do a lot better if I didn't do Winters the day before!

2010 August 29 Vacaville Gran Prix E3 race from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 45:41
S: 40.5
C: 99
H: 171
Pavg: 193
Pnorm: 238

August 28 - Winters Road Race 30+

2010-08-30T19:10:00.000-07:00

CTL: 130
TSB: 11

Since we have a lot of teammates who are ahem, 30+, we sign up for the 30+ race. The course is flat to gently rolling with one signficant climb. The temperatures are very mild, some racers start with arm warmers.

I am here to support a couple of teammates so I will try to help them however I can, chase down breaks, get water or give up a wheel so they can continue - last year there were a significant number of flats due to goatheads on the course. This year it seems the milder temps and course grooming by Velopromo means much fewer flats.

First time up the climb I am with the group and manage to lose sight of them on the descent - I think I am the only one who heeded Paula's directions to not cross the center line - having the moto behind me is also an incentive. :) But Joe and Jon are near me at the bottom and we TTT back up to the group in a couple of miles.

The next lap I am gapped a little before the summit after sprinting to close a gap. This time Jon and Sam are near me at the bottom and after a concerted effort we catch the group on the final lap after the right turn. The motoref tells us we are almost five minutes behind the solo rider. Jon and Sam are pacing the group and I move up to help. Understandably the Taleo guys who have a teammate up the road are not helping but everyone on other teams seems to be satisfied with going for second place and not pulling. After a few miles of this and finding myself with a small gap, I just keep going and see if that will motivate other riders to chase. I hope to make it to the feedzone so I can pick up a bottle and carry it up the hill but I start to cramp in my right calf after ten miles and have to ease up and the group catches me quickly about a mile before the feedzone. The vastus medialis seizes up on my left leg and I get dropped at the feedzone and get to TT in the last ten miles. The team got second and third so it was a pretty good race, and this is the best I've ever done at this race, 21st.

What I learned - when it's this cool, I only need one bottle. Carried the other bottle around for no reason for 80 miles. The climb with the group settles into about ten minutes at 4 w/kg then for the last three minutes goes to about 5 w/kg to the peak.

T: 3:28:44
S: 34.7
C: 91
H: 154
Pavg: 162
Pnorm: 196

August 22 - University Road Race

2010-08-24T22:10:00.000-07:00

CTL: 130
TSB: 14

Since I only did one lap of San Ardo, this will be the freshest I have ever been for University, on the other hand, I sent in an upgrade request on Saturday morning and Larry Nolan approved by the time I checked my mail on Saturday afternoon so I had the opportunity to make University my first E3 or 35+ 123 race. I chose E3, mainly because I woke up too late to make the 35+ 123 start.

I only last one lap with the group, a gap opens in front of the riders in front of me and that never closes. This is pretty similar to what happened to me when I did the masters 4 race a few years ago. Being rested didn't help, it felt like I was going hard but only 4.2 w/kg for 5.5 minutes on the hill the first time up. Weird how it always feels harder than it is for me.

Anyways, better preparation (other than a much higher FTP) for this race would be 5.5 minute intervals followed by 2.5 minutes of rest, repeated 15 times.

Actually beat about 15 people - they all quit - I kept going but got lapped - twice. I am 853 - unknown rider. I think the issue is changing categories on the day of the race - the registration system really isn't built to handle that unless you make sure the results are right after the race, and I did not do that.

I timed the women's race - there were some early 7:15 laps when Shelley and Devon were establishing the break, but after the sun came out, they slowed down a little to 8:00 plus laps and the top E4 riders passed them, causing a little scoring confusing because the plan was to end the race when the lead women finished.

T:2:03:18
C:86
S:27.5
H:165
Pavg:170
Pnorm:222

August 21 - San Ardo Road Race

2010-08-24T21:55:00.000-07:00

CTL: 130
TSB: 9

Unseasonable cool temperatures extend to what is normally one of the hotter races of the season. Am racing to assist my teammates so I shelter them from the wind and pace them as much as I can on the first lap in our full 35+ 4 field. Not much action but there are a lot of flats from goat heads. I manage to avoid this fate but there is a section of broken pavement with about two inch diameter chunks in the rollers that I smack with my front wheel and get a pinch flat immediately on the second mile of the second lap. This is probably the only flat I have had during a race that I might not have gotten had I used tubulars. No follow vehicle so that's the end of my race. Pretty disappointing because I felt strong, though I do get to enjoy the entertainment of the sag wagon and watch some of the other races during their second lap.

August 15, Suisun Harbor Criterium

2010-08-16T19:39:00.000-07:00

CTL: 133
TSB: 0

To make for yesterday's total lack of using my fitness, I keep telling myself to spend as much time as possible in the wind, no point in building up fitness all the time and not use it during a race.

The course is a long rectangle, reversed in direction from previous years - a traffic control device blocked one lane on the old finish line, and it's convenient to use the same block to store the stage for the finish line because the block is vacant, just a different street. So instead of being like racing on the velodrome, it's more like the reverse polish notation version.

The winds that abandoned Dunnigan come back to Suisun City, it feels like a crosswind or headwind in every direction on the course.

Told myself I wasn't going to attack from the gun so I slot behind the guys who do surge first, and when they soft pedal after half a lap, I figured that was a long enough wait so I put in a tiny acceleration there. This is enough to get me off the front for two laps solo (each lap only takes about one minute so not as impressive as it sounds). On the third lap I take a look back and see someone gaining and ease up and then dig deep to grab on when Andreas from Bicycle Planet passes.

For the next fourteen or so laps Andreas takes the majority of the pulls. We get out to fifteen seconds maximum but I can see some of the teams in the race are organizing a chase. At one point a rider in black kit joins us, then drops out. Then a rider with a teammate in the pack joins us when the lead drops to ten seconds. It goes back up for a little while with fresh legs but inexorably the pack brought us back.

Glad I tried, a couple of times I considered dropping off the break but it just felt hard, wasn't really that hard, the fifteen minutes off the front was just at threshold. Rest of the race sat in and tried a few surges but some people just wanted a pack sprint and we were all together on the bell lap. Started from way too far back and moved from tenth in the final corner to fifth.

2010 Suisun Harbor Criterium 35+ 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 41:06
S: 39.2
C: 84
H: 176
Pavg: 202
Pnorm: 223

August 14, Dunnigan Hills Road Race

2010-08-16T16:55:00.000-07:00

CTL:132
TSB:10

Dunnigan Hills is one of the flatter courses in our area, and the main difficulty is usually the central valley heat and winds, both are absent this year and this means that most of the riders that get dropped from our two lap 86 mile or so race are victims of flat tires. The finish has recently featured an 800 meter run in with a longish freeway overpass which breaks things up a bit, then a long flat section before the finish line.

The E4 race was mostly uneventful. There are four teams with lots of representation. Several breaks go on the first lap but since they only have two of the bigger teams I don't work to bring them back, this happens on it's own within the first lap after about half an hour.

On the second lap, someone wants to take a pee break. The whole field slows to let people stop and get back on. This continued (slow riding, not the peeing) for thirty minutes. Finally we get on the traditional crosswind section where the race usually shatters. Nothing doing this year, instead of echelons we have double pacelines rolling through the roads. I spot Rene Palileo taking photos as I am near the front so I roll off for fun. After about five minutes, a serious counter happens from a couple of guys from Bicycle Planet. This is hardest I go all race and it's really not that hard. We are all together, grouppo compacto on the final long straight before the turn and overpass.

Two miles before the turn a moto ref comes up to us. Since we are going 25 mph and there is a slight wind, it's difficult to understand what he is saying other than the finish is a single lane.

This is confusing because the chief ref spent a couple minutes confirming that we would have both lanes for the finish.

What happened was there was an accident requiring a helicopter to land on the course. This happened at the Panoche Road Race, they simply made us stop until the helicopter was away, but here they used a different option, bypassing the announced finish with a bypass "hill" and instead extending the course by a mile with a finish near the start. This is all well and good but very few people could hear that that was the current situation.

Since there are about forty of us left in the pack with a strict center line enforcement on a flat road, we are packed like sardines, and I just go with the surges. There is one not very hard surge and we cross the finish line. From the external video it appears only the front four or five people were that sure of where the finish line was and sprinted.

I guess that is incentive to be closer to the front at the end of a race.

The effort during the race is pretty mild, this is only my third hardest ride this week, it's about 2/3 as hard as the Dave Stahl OLH/Tunitas ride when I am only good enough to be in the laughing group there. I felt like I could do another lap. I should have attacked more to at least get some kind of training effect from the four hours on the bike.

Most of the last lap -

2010 Dunnigan Hills E4 race, lap 2, first 100 minutes from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 3:57:50
S: 35.7
C: 88
H: 133
Pavg: 133
Pnorm: 169

August 8, CCCX Circuit Race Fall Series #1 35+ 4/5

2010-08-16T16:34:00.000-07:00

CTL: 132
TSB: -2

The same rolling, full road closure course in Fort Ord we road on for the spring CCCX series is utilized again for this race, with a 45+mph descent leading into a small hill with a turn about 150 meters before the finish line. We have four team members in the race and I am the lucky designated rider this week, I am supposed to sit in behind my teammates and not work and save everything for the last lap, and this is what I do. There are attacks every lap after the first, but I don't worry about them, by the last lap the field brought them all back except for two riders, they worked hard and earn first and second so I and the rest of the field are racing for third. Teammates Jon and Sam and Jeff worked pretty hard for the first five laps, and repeated attacks on the last lap force a selection and it's just me and Jeff. Jeff is able to pace me up until the next to last hill when more sharp attacks reshuffle the field. I am maybe 15th at the top of the descent, want to move through the pack but some folks who get close to the front insist on flaring out instead of pedaling through - this is the only lap I really need to brake on the descent. This continues in the leadup to the final turn. Since none of these riders has any interest in leading it out and I have a lot of momentum, I just choose to not brake and don't slow down after the descent and hit it a little hard to get some separation about 45 seconds out and hold it all the way to the line for third.

August 8, 2010 CCCX 35+ 4/5 Circuit Race from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 59:43
S: 33.7
C: 92
H: 172
Pavg: 172
Pnorm: 221

July 31 - Copper Town Square Circuit Race

2010-08-09T11:30:00.000-07:00

CTL: 125
TSB: 3

The course is the same used for the Copperopolis Stage race earlier this year, undulating with a u-turn turnaround, a high speed chicane through downtown Copperopolis and a finish line two lanes wide but only for 100 meters, the part before that is downhill and single lane for quite a bit.

Last time I came in fourth, need to be on the front by the 100 meter point to do well since I am not a sprinter.

Our field is only fifteen riders but four teams represented. Lots of attacks and finally two riders, Derrick/SJBC and someone else get away. I try a few surges but people are on my wheel right away so I bide my time and see if the break works or if the guys with teams will bring it back, I go to the front a few times if only to not brake on the downhills. At one point the break got so far ahead I assume they are going to win. After the lead goes up over 15 seconds it's out of sight.

On the last lap the attacks come fast and furious but nothing sticks, one Sierra Nevada rider buries himself ( I assume for his teammate ) for half of this lap and all of the sudden Derrick/SJBC is back in the field at the turnaround. I wasn't sure if he had lapped us or what and where was the other guy. What happened is we caught them but I didn't realize what had happened. I thought we were sprinting for 3rd but we were actually back in it for the win.

On the run into the finish, a rider attacks with about 1K to go, I am on the two man Taleo train, then the leadout guy finishes his work but I boxed myself in behind him as he blows and have to wait a bit and can only start sprinting after the first six riders have already engaged their sprint. Pass two of them for fourth.

T: 57:14
S: 37.5
C: 102
Pavg: 181
Pnorm: 219
H: 171

July 17 - Watsonville Criterium E4

2010-08-03T11:27:00.000-07:00

CTL: 125
ATL: 5

Thirty plus riders today, with the one fellow Cameron who has won five of his last six races being the odds on favorite. The small hill is not enough to break up our group as we surge up it and ease up, the stiff headwind leading into the final turn giving pause to anyone going off the front. The first few laps feel hard so I was hesitant to try attacking all the time like the races at Atwater, but it eased up so I should have just gone with my initial reaction. Cameron went a few times but guys would bridge then just sit on his wheel. Kind of surprised other teams didn't try anything.

We would surge then slow up so much that it felt a little dangerous with all the swarming so with three to go I just went for it on the hill. Didn't get much of a gap and was slowly reeled in by the next time up the hill but no one wanted to pull through. At this point since I knew Mitch was still there but not behind me, I just got as small as possible and tried to string out the group for as long as possible which turned out to be one more lap. On the bell lap there was another big surge, I got gapped and I almost got back on to lead group of fifteen or so just as they sprinted out of the last corner.

Felt ridiculously fresh at the end and wishing I had tried attacking more often to split the group up, the pack really didn't break up until there was a crash with two to go way behind me. We went almost a mile an hour slower this year, not having junior phenom Eamon pulling us around for the whole race made a huge difference.

T: 42:02
S: 37.0
C: 99
H: 177
Pavg: 191
Pnorm: 223

July 5 - Big Creek Lumber Atwater Criterium

2010-07-11T18:00:00.000-07:00

CTL: 118
TSB: 4

My arms are still sore from Leesville and the blisters on my hands haven't healed, this puts me in a little better shape than Xeno, who says his whole body is still sore!

The course is D shaped with the two 90 degree corners being the last two turns before the 260 meter dash to the finish line. The next to last corner as a big pot hole and this is patched just before the start of our race, leaving a bit of gravel there.

We have sixteen riders in the 4/5 race. Anything less than about thirty riders means the race is going to be super hard and this holds true to form as riders attack continuously trying to get away.

Sometimes I go with an attack and sometimes I let them go and let others bring them back. One time through the loose gravel a rider almost loses it by braking in the exit of the turn and locking up his wheels in front of me and he just saves it. This is enough to make one rider set out to determine his own fate. If I'd have known it was this guy, I would have gone with him but given the success of the prior moves I sat back. He got out of sight within a few laps but then when we closed the gap to about ten seconds people started attacking out of our diminished group. The rider off the front disappeared and we had two, Adam and Eric? slightly off the front. Now I started to work in earnest just to catch these two. I had a lot of help from the LGBRC rider and got to within about 100 meters, but then, the rider off the front lapped us! LGBRC didn't know we could draft off of the leader and gave up but I just kept following him. He was clearly the best rider in our group, confident in the turns and very steady.

He easily brought back the last two riders off the front and the four of us sprinted for the end, even the guy +1 laps, I got second in the field sprint for third overall, because I stopped pedaling before the finish line when I didn't realize Adam was on my wheel and he pipped me at the line!
T:47:00
S:39.1
C:84
H:173
Pavg:197
Pnorm:222

Twelve riders for this race. Temps started getting into the 90's. Adam said he was going to try and break away again, so I tried to keep an eye on him. Mid race there was a $10 prime and since I was second wheel I could not resist the temptation to sprint and unlike the first race, I sprinted to the finish line and won it. This took a lot out of me. Three laps later I was still panting when Adam attacked and got a nice gap, joining a couple of other riders. Two riders I thought I could bring back, three, that would take some cooperation and work, and it turned out we didn't do enough. We kept them in sight on every straight for the rest of the race, getting closer by the 3 lap to go mark but then we started jockeying for sprint position with 2 to go, so the first three positions were off the table and sprinted for fourth, I came in second again in the field sprint.
T: 39:41
S: 37.8
C: 89
H: 181
Pavg:196
Pnorm:229

July 3 - Leesville Gap RR

2010-07-04T21:44:00.000-07:00

CTL: 118
TSB: 6

35+ 4/5 race

I haven't done this race in about five years. Wasn't planning on doing it until the Oakland Grand Prix was postponed, then decided on Wednesday night to do this road race and cancel my entries into the Oakland replacement crit but I forgot the part about cancelling the Atwater Crit entries. Doh. At least I should be a little heat acclimated after the Chico Stage Race last weekend.

I froze all my bottles and the temps were mild enough that by the end of the race at noon, the water was still cool, not unpalatably hot like at Paskenta at 3pm, so heat was not as big a factor, starting at 8:30 instead of 12:30 helped.

We started off the race at a very easy L1 zone pace for thirty minutes - the 45+ 4/5's caught us and passed us. Then we hit the long rough section, paved mostly but lots of potholes. We caught and passed and then it seems like we merged with the 45 4/5's. This made the thirty minute gravel/rough road section a lot more interesting, sixty some riders vying for position (with maybe two good lines) instead of thirty riders. About ten percent of the riders flatted out here. I wasn't sure which group they were in, only caught a glimpse of a couple riders' numbers in our group. We hit this section kind of hard, high L3 zone for me and I was drafting the whole time. I lost count of the water bottles shaken loose from bikes, and then I lost one, and was down to two. Ended up with blisters on my hands from all the vibrations.

There's a nice four mile descent later in the race where even I can hit 80kph that almost makes this part of the race acceptable. :)

There is a small bridge and a left turn and the road turns upwards for about 6 kilometers. There was immediately a breakaway of what appeared to be about twelve riders, could see some guys from my category. The roads were still in such bad shape and the two combined fields in front of me so there was no way I could move up to close the gap, and I assumed the race was over only about twenty miles in, and sort of gave up and eased up. Looking back, this was a huge mistake. Went over the climb in about 24 minutes at the low end of L4 so very simil$ar to OLH. A rider from my group overtook me at the summit and I found the motivation to start racing again. The views from the climb of the valley below are pretty nice, maybe next time I will bring a camera.

We caught six riders over the next twenty miles of rolling terrain (one mile of gravel road, nothing compared to Paskenta...), then some riders from another group caught us and I threw in the towel, just followed wheels in at that point.

Ended up 12/25 some how. Kind of frustrating because I had a lot in the tank, and been going harder than this in training on Tuesday and Wednesday, though maybe I should plan ahead farther and not go that hard prior during the week of a race...

T: 3:23:49
D: 104.3 km
S: 30.6
C: 85
H: 165
Pavg: 159
Pnorm: 191

June 27-28 Chico Stage Race

2010-06-28T21:44:00.000-07:00

CTL: 118
TSB: 6

Paskenta Road Race
This course is interesting, not really a flat section anywhere. Starts off with some very gentle grades going up/down for a good hour at race pace, then enters a roller coaster section similar to Madera, then a right turn, and more rollers but longer, and at the thirty mile point, a gravel road section that consists of more rollers for five miles! This section ends with about three miles of road to go, with a couple of gentle climbs, the last one ending about 700 meters from the finish. But the most difficult part of the day was the heat, even if it was a dry heat, at 10AM it was 85, and by the end of our race it was 107.

Field of 33 and pretty spirited start with lots of attacks, even I spent five minutes off the front testing the legs. This happens every race because we're all fresh, but this was also the least challenging part of the course for those unaware of what was coming. When we hit the roller coaster section the field split up immediately. Was sitting about tenth going up the second hill when my front wheel felt deflated, just like my chances in the overall were about to be. Luckily I had placed wheels in our follow vehicle. It took a minute for the vehicle to reach me since our field was so shattered, and I started a pursuit of the pack. Caught ten riders, then Jeff from Chico confirmed that the neutral feedzone was closed and we might have to do the last 17 miles without additional water. Kept on pushing until I threw up, then I had to settle down and nurse my last half bottle of hot energy drink for the rest of the race, only able to catch a glimpse of some other riders on the last hills ahead, at least I was able to flag down some vehicles to get some much needed hydration for survival.
21/34

T: 2:24
S: 30.0
C: 88
Pavg: 138 (with pack for about an hour before the flat, didn't go much harder after the flat)
Pnorm: 174
H: 173 (minus the missing parts - looks like when I stopped to change wheels the HRM transmitted stopped getting enough perspiration to work)

Agua Frias 10 Mile TT
Since I technically didn't go that hard yesterday except for the heat stress, had high hopes for doing well in the TT. Placed 20 minutes back of the lead pack so only racing for pride today in this stage. Have a decent outbound leg, get close to my threshold power, but completely blow the inbound leg, fool myself with the high average speed and barely break into L3 territory. Either that or the bag of ice I slipped into my skinsuit was super effective until it melted away.
5/~30

Outbound into wind
S: 40.3
Pavg: 232
Inbound with tailwind
S: 41.0
Pavg: 207

T: 23:50
S: 40.7
C: 86
Pavg: 219
Pnorm: 224

Chico Downtown Criterium
Same course as last year's separate criterium event, going around the fountain and plaza in downtown Chico. The fountain is very refreshing, though it's disconcerting how quickly the water evaporates from your bare skin in the 100+ degree heat.

First six laps attack after attack, sometimes including me. I take a break for the next six, but stay close to the front. Jeff from Chico goes off the front, I briefly consider joining him but decide to let him have his hometown glory. Another rider joins him and by the time I think I should have gone, too, he's already almost up to Jeff. They get a sizeable gap that stabilizes at 30 seconds according to the announcer. I work to bring this back, I have a teammate Josh in the pack so it won't be in vain if we catch. With about eight to go, Jeff starts fading back to the pack but the lead isn't falling quickly enough. Soon it's just me, Josh and Mike working and that guy off the front is earning a well deserved victory because we can't close the gap from 25 seconds, and with three to go I decide to save it for the sprint.

With two to go, Josh and two others get a small gap, so I soft pedal on a straight, others pick this up pretty quickly and chase back, I made a tactical error here, should have countered right away, instead just slot in at about tenth which is way too far back on the course - the finish is only 150 meters from the last turn. This is what happens when you think about surviving a race instead of trying to do as well as possible. End up staying there until the last turn and I moved up to seventh in the field sprint.
7/25

T: 43:51
S: 39.3
C: 90
H: 177
Pavg: 170
Pnorm: 181

June 20 - CCCX MTB XC #6

2010-06-28T20:50:00.000-07:00

CTL: 119
TSB: -6

35-44 Beginner (or cat 3 as NORBA calls it now...)
Hadn't raced in a while, and after not doing Pescadero because I didn't want to risk showing up and not being able to get in needlessly (100 pre reg no shows!), looked at the calendar late on Saturday night and saw this race and decided to do it on the spur of the moment.

For once my strength is climbing and my weakness is descending, my choice of mostly slicks might play a part in this, also, riding the MTB only once a month. About 600 feet of climbing and descending per lap. Since the lap is six miles, decide to not carry the tool kit and camelbak, and just ride the bike and quit if I get a mechanical, the start finish is centrally located. This works out, because nothing went wrong with the bike.

Pretty easily able to keep up with the front runners on the first lap, until one rider passes me before the single track descending section. A huge gap opens up in front of him by the end of it and we can't see any of the leaders, I pass but am only skilled/motivated enough to try to keep ahead of the riders near me. Spent the rest of the race duking it out with them, closing gaps on the climbs and seeing them vanish by the descent to finish 7/13.

T: 1:13:35
S: 20.6
C: 80
Pavg: 182
Pnorm: 216

June 6 - AT&T Pacific Grove Butterfly Criterium

2010-06-28T20:36:00.000-07:00

CTL: 118
TSB: 8

Missed this race due to a scheduling conflict and now that I've done it once, sorry to have missed it. A challenging, technical course, hills, high speed descents, and my favorite, and uphill sprint into the wind.

First up is the 35+ 4/5 race. We have about 40 entrants. This is the borderline number where the race can be really negative - where it's easy to sit in because someone is chasing down every single break, even if they have no teammates or no sprint, or it can be a positive race where it is strung out and we're shedding people every lap. Several people put in attacks early. I go with a few. Nothing sticks. Then Josh from LGBRC goes solo as we reel in another break, and gets a huge gap initially. Since I don't have teammates I figure if he wins solo he deserves it and just wait. He stays out there for about ten laps! but finally he comes back and then pace eases significantly. I just try to move up and avoiding the riders with suspect pack handling skills, with two to go I am about fifteen back working my way to ten, when there is a crash out of the last corner, going uphill. See a gap between crash victims and try to squeeze through but a rider that is going down falls over onto my front wheel as I pass. This tacos the front wheel so I can't even turn it or try to ride to my spare wheel only 200 meters away, decide to call it a race, regroup for the E4 race.
T: 35:18
S: 37.2
C: 101
H: 172
Pavg: 183
Pnorm: 231

After the debacle that was the 35+ 4/5 race (for me), decided to string things out no matter what, even if I get dropped, to keep it safer. Unlike the first race, after I pull over, multiple people are willing to share the load, even though we have a smaller field. By the half way point we had dropped more than half the pack. I was barely hanging on and had to resort to motivating myself by saying just one more lap, just one more corner. Then there was a pause for a lap, I could see the eventual winner and his teammate start moving up, and the attacks started up again and this split up the field even more - there were three or four riders up the road, and the other ten of us trying to catch back up. We got closer, and closer, and closer until the last two laps when individuals were able to split our group up, on the last time up the finish straight, the four in my group could see the seven ahead sprinting for the line as we started our sprint, ended up getting ninth.

We had less riders doing the work and we ended up going a full mile an hour faster.
T: 38:59
S: 38.5
C: 107
H: 181
Pavg: 193
Pnorm: 238

June 4 - Friday Night Hellyer Track

2010-06-07T08:03:00.000-07:00

CTL: 118
TSB: 6
Mounted video camera on road bike, didn't feel like moving it back, so no video this time, but I did remember to changing my gearing from 50x15 to 51x15 so I would spin *less*. Temperatures are about 40 degrees warmer than the last Friday night race so finally no arm warmers required.

P123 40 lap scratch
For a simple race this felt pretty hard, I was in the main pack until seven laps to go and could not close a gap after a rider in front of me got dropped (I have to stop doing this...) and got lapped on the last lap. Using the OLH unit of measurement about the same difficulty as OLH in 22 minutes but just for 19 minutes. The bigger gear did seem to help.
T: 18:49
S: 45.2
C: 105
H: 184
Pavg: 246
Pnorm: 260

P123 50 lap points race
This race felt harder but it wasn't, my perceived exertion meter is way off. Since it felt difficult I didn't try to score points, just maintain contact with the pack and was able to hang in there until the finish. No points but didn't get lapped. Using OLH units, this race was equivalent to doing OLH, if one surged and eased up all the time.
T: 22:30
S: 46.2
C: 107
H: 185
Pavg: 233
Pnorm: 248

May 29 - Get Ready for Summer Series #4 Hellyer

2010-06-06T23:51:00.000-07:00

CTL: 117
TSB: 4

I barely wake up in time for the 1:00 PM race start so I have to use the keirin heat as a warmup, get dropped when the speed hits 58kph but I eeked out a placing over Ben Stern who sat up in the last 100 meters.

T: 4:44
S: 47.5
C: 111
H: 183
Pavg: 278
2/3/4 scratch race - Not a spinner so a bit undergeared when the average speed is almost 30 miles an hour. A gap opened up in front of one of the riders in front of me and spent the last four laps or so trying to close it. Fun but not in position to sprint at the end.

May 29 Get Ready For Summer Hellyer Track Scratch 2/3/4 10 laps from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

30 lap 2/3/4 points race.
Moral victory, don't think I got lapped, but not much else accomplished. Still thinking about gearing up for next weeks' racing. Well, haven't done much track racing this year so have to pay my dues in specficity now, hope for better results down the road.

T: 13:55
S: 43.1
C: 101
Pavg: 237
Pnorm: 254

May 29 Get Ready For Summer Hellyer #4 30 Lap 1/2/3 Points Race from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

May 23 - Panoche Valley Road Race

2010-06-06T23:25:00.000-07:00

TSB: -8
CTL: 117

I did a lot better than last year, but I would have been hard pressed to do worse. Still got dropped on the one hill longer than four minutes. One fellow dropped his chain at the bottom and I stopped behind and once we caught back up was redlining it, and had to soft pedal for a minute to recover. Weird because the effort by itself was not harder than some intervals, but it was at a much higher cadence, either need to do my intervals at that cadence or be more careful about gearing up for these vo2max length hills during races.

OTB with a few other guys and we each have different strengths and mainly succeed in tiring each other out by surging on different parts of the course, until the three strongest guys leave us behind at the feedzone on the way back. There was a serious crash in another field so everyone had to stop three kilometers from the finish to permit the helicopter to land and take off. I counted the number of riders in the main field and it was about thirty and the grouplet I was with was about ten so it didn't matter where we placed, led out the sprint for fun.
T: 2:53:11
S: 30.9
C: 87
H: 160
Pavg: 167
Pnorm: 197

May 21 Hellyer Friday night racing

2010-05-23T18:36:00.000-07:00

CTL: 120
TSB: -13
Decide to be a little less ambitious and race just the 3/4 instead of the 1/2/3 races after getting dropped all the time. This worked out OK and I am able to finish mid pack most races, need to do this again one more week and change my tactics a bit to mix things up.

scratch
T: 9:49
S: 43.6
C: 102
H: 177
Pavg: 271
Pnorm: 291
Led it out the last lap until Rick took over at 200 meter line and I was able to nip Rick for sixth I think.

May 21 Hellyer 3/4 20 lap scratch race from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

30 lap 6x5 points race
T: 15:04
S: 42.4
C: 99
H: 180
Pavg: 245
Pnorm: 276
Raced too conservatively, just hung in the pack until the last two sprints for a grand total of one point.

May 21 Friday Night Hellyer 3/4 30 lap 6x5 points race from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Miss and out
T: 5:15
S: 42.1
C: 98
H: 179
Pavg: 286
Pnorm: 320

May 21 Hellyer 3/4 Miss and Out from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

May 9, Berkeley Hills Road Race 35+ 4/5

2010-05-23T18:22:00.000-07:00

CTL: 115
TSB: -5

Fitness a lot less than it needs to be for this race but since this fills so quick, can't wait till the last second to register and have to commit to this early in the season. The day turns out a bit cold and drizzly so probably could have skipped the pre-reg and just showed up.

Kind of surprised as I am still with the group after the first bear hill despite my lack of power/excess weight. But I am undone when I stay too long on one rider's wheel before going around him to realize we got dropped on the descent! At this point I hesitated to bridge up and should have just buried myself instead of being lazy and waiting to get pulled back, wasn't strong enough to close the gap when I tried to pull through. In a improvement over last year, am able to stay with a group of two to five other riders and finish feeling pretty good and avoiding a flat on that lip on the road that was kindly marked this year.

T: 2:51:57
S: 30.5
C: 91
H: 163
Pavg: 172
Pnorm: 211

May 1 Sonora Road Race

2010-05-09T20:29:00.000-07:00

CTL: 110
TSB: 5

Had trouble sleeping and breathing in Sonora, apparently I'm allergic to air that isn't full of smog. Didn't clear up by morning but the weather and course are nice so one might as well race.

The course is as Chief Ref Paula puts it, like Copperopolis, without the smooth parts. It's not flat but not mountainous, more rolling hills, with one small hill about 450 meters long and 80 meters high that reduced some folks to paperboying or walking by the final lap and a sort of uphill rolling finish past the winery that lasts less than ten minutes.

I think we only had twelve starters in our group. We stayed intact for the first lap as folks got familiar with the new for 2010 course. After we passed the finish line a second time, a couple of riders got dropped, then I got dropped, too. Was able to work with the riders to bring the group within about 100 meters on the steep hill but I couldn't close the gap, though the Metromint rider tried to bridge up, but over the next three laps he came back to us after cramping. At one point I dropped a bottle, let the Bicycles Plus racer I was riding with go up the road, and after I recovered my bottle it took me two laps to catch him. So we weren't really working all that well together behind the pack, we each seemed to have different strengths on the course. :) I think I eeked out a top ten or third or fourth from last...

T: 2:39:30
S: 26.8
C: 86
H: 170
Pavg: 163
Pnorm: 206

April 18, Santa Cruz Classic Criterium

2010-04-21T23:01:00.000-07:00

CTL: 110
TSB: 11
Had an easy week in an attempt to get out of the funk, seemed to work mostly. Last year I did this race while a little sick and couldn't keep up with the pack for more than a few laps. Hoped to do a lot better than that, but the only times I've done well on this hilly course, my FTP was ten percent higher than what it is now.

The E4 race seemed manageable as I just tailgunned it and made sure to not get stuck behind anyone that was getting dropped too far behind. There was an accident in the hairpin on the second lap, so this made the pack come almost to a complete stop for a good five to six laps, followed by an extreme acceleration. Was starting to get comfortable when on the eleventh lap of twenty, I had a mechanical and had to retire. At least I did not get dropped due to lack of fitness or illness this year...

2010 April 18 Santa Cruz E4 Criterium, first ten laps from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 21:55
S: 36.5
C: 102
Pavg: 192
Pnorm: 243

Last year the masters race was much harder than the E4 race but that did not happen this time. It seemed easier than the E4 race, but that is probably because I did not have to jump from a dead stop in the hairpin and avoid a body in the road a bunch of times. There were a couple of close calls in front of me in the last few laps so I had to burn all my matches to keep up with the pack, and did not get into good position for the last lap, started the last corner from about 30th so just rode in with the pack.

T: 28:43
S: 37.1
C: 101
Pavg: 180
Pnorm: 243

April 10 - CCCX Circuit Race #3

2010-04-12T22:57:00.000-07:00

CTL: 115
TSB: 20

Not trying to peak, still not feeling 100% after the two stage race weekends. Had a sore throat off and on this week, probably would not have done this except I was the driver in a carpool and I prereged so off to the races...

E4 race :
This turns out to be easier and shorter than the first race of the year where I got second but this time I got dropped on the last lap on the next to last roller.

CCCX Circuit Race E4 April 10, 2010 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 58:34
S: 35.5
C: 97
H: 168
Pavg: 182
Pnorm: 227

35+ 4/5 race:
The winds have picked up to make the race even harder. Not feeling that great but when someone goes I follow to get a warmup in and we are off for about a mile before the pack reels us in. After lap two I guess fatigue from the first race is setting in because even though this race is slower than the E4's I have trouble hanging on and the elastic snaps at the end of lap 4 and I have to TT for a lap, almost catching the pack on the false flat but losing them on the next hill.

T: 1:02:33
S: 33.3
C: 97
H: 177
Pavg: 175
Pnorm: 220

April 3 - Copperopolis Road Race

2010-04-12T22:45:00.000-07:00

CTL: 115
TSB: 20
It would appear that was trying to peak for this race but just a consequence of the legs not cooperating and being unable to ride very hard this week. Maybe still in a stage race hangover.

Fourteen riders pre-reged for the 35+ 4 B field and ten riders show up so not only is the race going to be hard as always, there's going to be not a lot of places to draft. We do get lucky with no rain and only a few sprinkles during the race with temperatures in the forties.

Not much to write about, legs still flat after the epic road race at Topsport, got dropped on the main climb at only 3w/kg. Weird. Manage to make myself time trial the next forty miles to at least get a work out in today, snag seventh after a couple of guys in front of me DNF.

T: 2:28:10
C: 79
S: 27.8
Pavg: 174
Pnorm: 203

March 27 - 28 - Topsport Copperopolis Stage Race

2010-03-29T18:54:00.000-07:00

TSB: 10
CTL: 115
My taper needs work...
New stage race that goes through Copperopolis, not the outskirts like the famed road race. Only fourteen people sign up for the 35+ 4 category ( and two DNS ) but that just means every mass start event will be hard, not a lot of hiding in the pack.

First up is a circuit race that winds it's way around the new town square, staying in the left lane for most of the course. It's gently rolling with a small rise for the finish with a larger downhill before the finish. There are a few time bonus sprints but the time available for winning is small so I don't contest these. A few riders attempt to get away solo but nothing sticks so it comes down to a field sprint. We go much faster on the last lap, wait too long, so I have trouble moving up until it's too late and just manage a fourth place way behind the three riders duking it out for first place.

Topsport Copperopolis Circuit Race 35+ 4 second half from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 1:13:24
C: 99
H: 169
S: 36.5
Pavg: 170
Pnorm: 205

The time trial is much harder than it looks on paper, gently rolling to be sure, the E3 riders give me some helpful hints. Go hard on the uphills and easier on the downhills. I just didn't go hard enough on the uphills and too easy on the downhills, though once I hit 35mph I coasted since I was more concerned about hitting a pothole versus performance. (The pavement is on average in better shape than Madera.) It's kind of weird that my practice runs are so much better than this, guess fatigue and heat took it's toll. On the other hand this is good enough to put me in third place.

T: 27:52
C: 79
S: 38.2
H: 180
Pavg: 211
Pnorm: 223

The road race excludes the big hill from the Copperopolis Road Race but includes the main descent, and cuts back through some farmland on an unpaved gravel road to avoid the finish that goes through Milton. It's a nice preview of the road race happening next week and pretty challenging given the heat of the near noon start and hilliness. Not feeling so great but the pace is sedate on the first lap. Attacks start coming from the strongest three guys on lap two (based on Madera). I can only respond until the mid point of the second lap and start to fall off the back. This leaves five riders off the front, Anthony just ahead, and Greg and Jeff just behind. Anthony, Greg and I manage to group up and finish together and I drop from third to sixth in the overall, mostly happy to have gotten through a pretty tough road race.
No video, camera malfunction or user error.
T: 3:30:39
S: 30.2
C: 89
H: 163
Pavg: 149
Pnorm: 190

March 21 - Grassroots Salinas Criterium

2010-03-22T12:19:00.000-07:00

CTL: 119
TSB: 10

Small field of fourteen, windless, foggy central valley morning race. Three teams make up the bulk of the racers.

Attacks start going every lap after the first. Cover most of them. The problem with being low on the bike is that one has to stick one's nose into the wind to see around the other riders - at about the mid point of the race a break gets a huge gap while I am behind someone. It looks like someone is going to pull us back so I hold back, we get pretty close, then the elastics snaps and they start pulling away.

I take a lot of pulls but Josh and the other LG rider are the only ones working and we don't get organized so the break of three stay away. I keep trying until two to go in order to get a decent workout in today, and then it starts to get tactical. I sprint a little late and then the guy in front of me almost falls down solo, so not much of a sprint for me in the end.

2010 March 21 0 Grassroots Salinas Criterium E4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 36:30
S: 37.8
C: 91
H: 169
Pavg: 202
Pnorm: 232

March 20 - Bariani Road Race 35+ 4

2010-03-22T12:08:00.000-07:00

CTL: 117
TSB: 14

Riding to help escort a teammate to the finish line so spend most of the race trying to keep him out of the wind. Race is pretty negative and not windy, the only hard spot is the short climb and descent into the start finish. Nothing really happens for the first three laps. I made a stupid mistake on the last lap, I thought we were racing for five laps not four, so after I paced my teammates up the climb and got gapped on the descent, didn't worry about it and assumed I would catch back on with the group. This did not happen, in three minutes it looks like I lost about 30 seconds, this was enough for me to miss the huge crash at the finish.

2010 March 20 Bariani Road Race 35+ 4, most of last lap from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 1:42:40
S: 37.7
H: 169
C: 100
Pavg: 169
Pnorm: 193

March 13-14, Madera County Stage Race

2010-03-15T20:37:00.000-07:00

CTL: 117
TSB: 14
Was sick here last year and it got so bad I got dropped pretty hard in the road race so hoped to improve upon that and get another top ten.

The 35+ 4/5 category has the criterium first, there are some time bonus primes and small bonuses for the top three so for the 70 or so starters, about 60 of them just want to finish with the group and get the same time and ten will contest the sprint. The race was uneventful tactics wise, I got brake checked a lot during the last two laps and wasn't willing to spend any time in the wind to move up so had to start my surge to the front way after the last turn, got a decent sprint in but too late to catch the top ten riders, finishing in eleventh.

First lap - camera turned off after thirty minutes so missed the sprint.

T: 40:37
C: 95
D: 25.8 km
S: 38.1
Pavg: 168
Pnorm: 198

Last year had a bad time trial for me personally because I didn't come close to what I did in training but I wrote that off to illness. This year I manage to top that, in the wrong way, but managed a decent placing. The winds picked up significantly and it was cold so any warmup was probably wasted, I should have brought a jacket to the staging area. In spite of the winds, I went with a disk in the rear and a 1080 in the front. On the first leg that was with a tailwind I glanced down and noticed I was averaging close to 30mph and thought to myself that's pretty good, but then noticed my average power was only 80% of what my FTP is. On this leg I had to spend a lot of time weaving to avoid the potholes. Instead of looking at my time on the computer I should have been paying attention to my cadence because I was only going about 75rpm. Tried to make up for the lousy first leg by slowly ramping up the effort on the last three legs, only really managed a good effort when I could see the finish line from about one minute out. The deep front wheel might have been a mistake, took the turns very conservatively to keep the bike under control and the distance I covered was about 500 meters farther than last year - was that all the weaving I had to do to keep the bike under control? At this point I was worried I was sick again but worse than last year since I went slower and had a much lower performance but it turned out I placed 11th overall so I was on a hot streak of 11th places now.

T: 25:12
C: 72
D: 17.0 km
H: 178
S: 40.2
Pavg: 218
Pnorm: 222

The two eleventh places put in twelfth place overall - time bonuses for another rider in the criterium put him in eleventh just ahead of me. The top ten was stacked with riders from Taleo and Rio Strada. Since they had the largest teams and the strongest riders, really didn't have to do anything in the road race except go with anything that had riders from both teams, otherwise they were going to chase anything else down if they were paying attention. I planned to use this and just sit in until the end and let attrition from mechanicals and the last short but steep hills take its toll. I also didn't want a repeat of last year just in case it wasn't just illness holding me back but lack of fitness compared to the field.

The road race went as predicted - we stayed together for the whole race with about ten riders getting dropped or flatting out leaving us with fifty or so the finale. Stuck my nose into the wind once and it felt pretty difficult so whomever was pulling the pack around was plenty strong. Just needed to be patient. Attacks started once we got out of the rough section (rougher than any other road race in NorCal...) and riders started dropping off by ones and twos. Then it was down to about twenty in the last 300 meters. The rider who eventually won (with authority) took off with Mike in pursuit. Waited for an opening, not wanting a repeat of going too late at the crit, and also not wanting a repeat of Merco where I was boxed in for the last 200 meters, and jumped when I had an opportunity. As I closed on Mike I slowed a bit to draft - this was a mistake in hindsight - maybe I should have just committed to the effort, then went again when I felt someone on my hip but just didn't have the legs to contest the sprint and lost six places in the last twenty meters it seems.

2010 Madera Stage Race - Daulton Road Race - 35+ 4/5 last lap from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 2:05:07
S: 36.1
C: 91
H: 156
Pavg: 138
Pnorm: 156

March 7, Merco Foothills Road Race 35+ 4

2010-03-09T12:35:00.000-08:00

CTL: 118
TSB: 12

Feel so much better than last week, don't care what happens result-wise today. I am here to help get our sprint train to the line and help however I can along the way and to conserve what I can for the finish since a couple of our workhorses had to back out of the race at the last second.

Spend most of the race out of the wind, and only sticking my nose out there if a team mate is behind me as I was directed. A few times help pace riders back to the pack after some of the turns and the small hills, trying to keep the pace for us at tempo instead of going crazy and going anerobic to keep up with the surges of the main pack. We went about a minute slower this year over forty eight miles but we also got neutralized several times for passing fields, I felt much better after the race this year so conserving made a huge difference.

This year we did not have the crash within two miles of the finish so it played out much differently, instead of about twenty five guys contesting the finish we had fifty. Last year I had to do a pursuit effort to catch back up to the group and then I went all out for the last kilometer. This year our train was actually working OK, but at a critical moment when I was in front of our sprinter, I followed my teammate and we that were leading our group next to the pack boxed ourselves in, and our sprinter passed us. I was able to get back on his wheel to serve as a sweeper until there was a surge at the last turn before the base of the hill, and someone moved onto his wheel before I could get on it. Frack. Just then Michael attacked and I was stuck behind a sea of riders unable to do anything to help out. I resigned myself to finishing at the back of the pack, but held out hope for getting back up to our sprinter to help out and stuck my handlebars into any gaps that opened up in what felt like a sea of sardines. Before I even had a chance to try to sprint, I could see the finish banner ahead, there were only four riders ahead of me but the riders adjacent to me didn't give me the space and opportunity to pass safely so I finished fifth without even sprinting. On the one hand if I had been free to move up maybe I would have just blown up like the thirty guys I passed and ended up much farther back, on the other hand I really wish I had been able to be part of the leadout train that we had planned so the ending would not have been such an anticlimactic affair. It seems a lot of our races end up like this, with a lot of people able to finish with the group but not able to contest the sprint due to not having space to move or the legs to do anything. At the end of the sprint my power is low (8w/kg...) and the heart rate is super high probably because of adrenaline and forgetting to upshift so I am spinning at the max the computer can measure.

Thanks to Elizabeth Freer for capturing this moment in pictures, it really was that crowded.

Did another lap to get a video of the last six miles of the course.

Merco Foothills Road Race course, last 6 miles/9.6 kilometers from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 1:57:25
D: 75.3 km
C: 98
Pavg: 140
Pnorm: 186
H: 155

February 27 - Snelling Road Race 35+ 4/5 B

2010-03-02T20:26:00.000-08:00

CTL: 118
TSB: 34
Those look like really good numbers but I spent most of the prior sixty hours in bed and not in the good way. Left racing to a "morning of" decision and the sore throat was gone when I woke up so I had to race - a priority race for the team and my role didn't require me to finish if it came down to that.

First lap, we approached the end of the neutral area and we could see a sheriff's car was parked on the road to help direct emergency traffic around the huge crash in the P12's so I slowed a bit, in case the moto was going to stop us, but everything got cleared up by the time we got there and the racing was on, did not attack at the gun like last year, and barely held onto the pack as it surged, considered letting someone else do the work but saw a lot of teammates near me so just dug deep and chased. Mostly uneventful lap, felt hard, but wasn't, perception was probably altered by the lingering effects of whatever flu bug I just had. Second lap attacked a couple of times and every one bit but I wasn't going to drag everyone around for long. Covered a couple of other attacks and tried to disrupt the chase when teammates went up the road.

Third lap I could not keep up with the pack, the race up to this point was much easier than the circuit races last week, so the illness finally caught up with me. Could see the pack ahead for a long time so I did the third lap mostly solo so I could give up a wheel to anyone who might need one, and did the last lap for fun. Our designated sprinter for this race won so it was worth the effort to come out and contribute.

T: 2:17:11
S: 33.8
C: 86
Pavg: 163
Pnorm: 197

February 20 - CCCX Circuit Race #1

2010-02-21T17:35:00.000-08:00

CTL: 123
TSB: 11

E4 race
Got to the course early enough to preride a few laps and could see it was going to be a hard race due to the constant rolling up/down nature of the course and what felt like a headwind on the hardest set of exposed hills. This was a totally different course from the circuit race in prior years, the new course shares some of the same route as the district road race course, somehow minus the largest climb, but including the long, fast 40+mph descent leading to a right hander then
less than 200 meters and a short climb to the finish line. We got use of both lanes except for some of the corners which we were still able to take at full speed while it was raining.

The first lap was hard, and I got dropped and had to claw my way back up and then rode conservatively as I did not want to get dropped early, even though I spent a lot of time wheelsucking, we went out at about a 20:00 OLH pace for the first two laps.

Attrition due to the hills and flats reduced the pack by half. It was like a VO2max interval workout but with only one to two minute intervals. Thankfully the pace eased up but we still did what amounted to a 24:00 OLH pace for the full length of the race which turned out to be around an hour and fifteen minutes or the scheduled length with 15 bonus minutes thrown in at no charge. :) Several of my teammates were active and trying moves on the hardest hills after the first right hander but the wind and relative brevity of the climbs and some riders actively chasing meant the pack was catching back up to everything.

With two to go I was feeling pretty miserable, and had to bury myself to keep up. At this point Jay asked me how I felt and I said that I was truthfully barely hanging in there.

On the last lap after the right hander into the hills I thought I might have been done when I got dropped again. I saw Jay off the front and I felt a little guilty for not being able to help out much so put in all I had and was able to regain the pack at the top of the next hill and catch my breath for a second when Jon who had been working to disrupt the chase told me to go block so I went to the front and faded back. Had trouble recovering from this and got gapped going into the last repetition of the high speed descent. Wasn't sure if I was going to catch but when I realized I was, I tried to pass and lead it out because I had so much momentum and we were so close to the finish, but a few riders fanned out and shut the door on that idea. Then I just had to sit in and wait for an opening, we reached the point in some races when it seems like there is a pause and that's generally when one should probably just go for it. The group slowed for the turn, a rider who blew and moved laterally closed an opening and caused a slight reshuffling of the pack, and a Cal Giant rider had chosen this moment to start his sprint. A hole appeared and I just filled it and was able to start my sprint, a little late, and come in second a bit behind the winner.

Don't ever give up! At least when the hills are small...

Sadly this race was so long that I went over the length of my 2G memory card, only the first 50 some odd minutes of 1:15 in here.

T: 1:14
S: 33.9
C: 96
Pavg: 172
Pnorm: 232

35+ 4/5 race
Fatigue set in hard and I had to sag climb every hill on every lap to stay with the group. I even had trouble on a long false flat section that was exposed to the wind. After forty five minutes of what turned out to be a not too hard pace (if I hadn't already raced hard), NP~ 25 minute OLH, I cramped and had to stop pedaling. When I recovered, could not get back up to the group and tried to work out the cramp and stay warmed up for the next race which started about five minutes after this one ended.

T: 1:09
S: 30.5
C: 94
Pavg: 156
Pnorm: 203

E3/E4 race
I got dropped after about ten minutes. It was actually a slightly easier pace than the E4 race start , partially due to drafting available from the much bigger pack, but I was unable to keep up and did a few more laps as a cool down for the day. Ended up with a TSS of 300 and almost five hours in the saddle. That which does not kill me...

This is the first road ride where my arms and legs were sore the next day.

2010 February 13 - Cantua Creek Road Race

2010-02-15T15:19:00.000-08:00

35+ 4/5 A race
CTL: 125
TSB: 19

Got to race early and was planning on doing a little bit of course recon refresher but took a nap and woke up to find a super long registration and bathroom line -

Am here to help support someone else so no pressure for results on me. The first lap is uneventful except contact and off road riding that I hear behind around me near the two turnarounds, and I just sit in or try to shelter my teammate from the wind. Even so, it's apparently so dull my heart stopped beating a few times according to that silly chart.

Second lap and more people try to get away. Move up to the front to keep an eye on things and have to accelerate a few times to keep things in view. A few of the attacks are from riders sitting at the very front of the group, I am a little puzzled by this but let them go and none are strong enough to TT away from the field and they come back soon enough. When we get close to the turn around I put in a slight acceleration of my own, just because I want to avoid any of the closer calls we had for the other turn arounds and claim first - to the 3/4 point anyways.

Lots of riders attack but nothing sticks. Finally there is one Wells Fargo rider off and after a couple of minutes has a pretty big lead. Another rider sets off to join, since I don't have to save myself for the finale, I spend a lot of time on the front to keep their lead to a manageable gap. Not really going that hard, but it's much harder than I worked the first lap. I only notice this when we hit the rollers leading to the finish. By itself this effort to the end is not bad but cumulatively stacked on top of the last lap my brain tells me it is hard. I just need to HTFU.

Stay midpack with the final selection of thirty riders over the first climb. My closest teammate is sag climbing so I wait and try to help them a bit. Downshift to the small ring but am kind of stuck in my thinking of keeping up at all costs and when they sag climb the next hill I have to wait and spin back up again. Try to sag climb the next hill but still go a little too hard and have to wait at the peak again but cannot spin back up to speed this one last time and have to roll in at the back of the pack after I lose about 195 meters in the last 200 meters.

This result is still an improvement over the last two times I tried this race in the E4's, only made it about thirty five to forty miles of seventy two miles with the E4 groups, OTOH those races were filled with a lot more attacking on the first lap including from me. The drive there felt more exhausting than the race, but the race obviously wasn't easy or I would have had better results. Probably should save more for the finish and use the big ring last time up the hills.

T: 2:05
S: 36.6
C: 88
H: 137 (first lap data probably lacking due to lack of sweat, second lap 173)
Pavg: 136
Pnorm: 187

2009 November 22, CCCX #5, Manzanita Park

2009-11-22T18:04:00.000-08:00

CTL: 117
TSB: 11
The knee I hurt a few years ago while running started bothering me right away after I ran down the hill at yesterday's cross race, it turns out I am in a lot of luck because today's cross race course is one hundred percent rideable by mortals such as myself, there's one short steep, rooted hill that is doable if one has momentum so I will not have to subject myself to much running today. A bit of elevation change for a cross race but it's a long gentle slope up and down, up and down so laps will be long.

Decent size field for CCCX, I still get in back because the hill will sort things out. I see Surf City winner Josh and Justin ahead of me and work up to their wheels, which turns out to be seventh. Kind of surprise myself and am able to hang on to Justin's wheel, Josh leaves us behind on the grass section before the hill. The second time up the hill I have to bridge up to Justin and almost blow and spend a little too long on his wheel, should have tried passing earlier, but waited until he got a feed on the downhill and slowed a bit and passed just to avoid braking on the downhill, then I took one of the downhill hairpins too fast and crashed, and got back up and chased back on.

Was getting close enough to think about passing him back on the last lap when I crashed again at almost the same spot, doh. Left myself less than half a lap to catch back up so just tried to lay it all out there and caught one rider who passed me when I crashed and falling a bike length short of passing Justin at the line.

I must be much weaker at running/remounting/dismounting than everyone else, cause this and the first Surf City race with only one dismount are the only races I've been really competitive at this year. Need to work on those weaknesses more or just do the races with the minimum amount of running...

cccx5c from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Decent normalized power for once in a cross race, still about 20% short of what I can do on an equivalent length climb.

T: 32:50
C: 86
S: 21.8
H: 183
Pavg: 198
Pnorm: 242

2009 November 21 - Cow Palace Cross

2009-11-21T21:16:00.000-08:00

TSS: 5.4
CTL: 117
Finally come into a race a little rested, mostly because yesterday it was windy and the roads were wet.

Interesting course, finally get to ride in some local mud this season, little BMX style bumps seemed unnecessary outdoors. First lap there was a big traffic jam at the top of the descent so I just ran it but my knee was complaining about the one little stint of downhill running for the rest of the weekend.

Never really felt like I was racing after spending so much time on the first lap waiting for traffic to clear up on the descent, had trouble going hard for an extended period except while running up the stairs and riding the finish hill.

On subsequent laps I had a bit of trouble with the descent because I had gotten used to mounting and not clipping in and one really wanted to be clipped in with both feet on the descent, but at least managed to not crash. Went with 25 PSI in the rear which was great for traction, just felt like I flatted every lap, will go higher tomorrow.

Cleaned up a bit around the house and found ye old heart rate strap for the PowerTap so heart rate data for this race. Let's one measure something of what one is doing off the bike. Managed to go harder today than last race, though it didn't feel that hard, mostly due to the normalized power algorithm weighting 30+ second efforts so a few of those will pump up the normalized power.

T: 40:44
C: 81
H: 181
S: 15.8
Pavg: 139
Pnorm: 190

2009 November 14 Pilarcitos BASPS Cyclocross Sierra Point, 35+B

2009-11-17T19:02:00.000-08:00

TSB:-7
CTL:117
Took a couple easy days prior to this race but still kind of negative on TSB from a long Wednesday ride. May try to shift into just moderate length days every day instead of a couple of super long days per week.

Short course on one large suburban block on the waterfront in Brisbane. A little bit of elevation gain thanks to creative of a few domes of earth about seven or eight feet high.

Did the 35+ B's this time because not really having fun in the back with a field size of 140 last race in the C's. Smaller field on a tight course, just made it easier for me to move backwards! Today I felt like I went out hard for half a lap and faded for the next 6.5 laps. Left a lot of room for improvement in a couple of corners, sometimes got too content to follow wheels instead of passing, also, noticed a lot of people accelerate much faster than me on the remount, stuff to work on for the next race.

The camera mount on the helmet has a little too much play, probably need to use the adhesive backing to keep it in one place - the motion makes this video carsickness inducing -

On the plus side, went a little harder than I did at the last cross race.
T: 38:01
S: 20.0
C: 86
Pavg: 160
Pnorm: 180

2009 November 1, Surf City #3, Watsonville C

2009-11-06T07:18:00.000-08:00

CTL: 110
TSB: 7
guestimated numbers due to no data yesterday

I was so sore and stiff from Saturday's crash I would not have raced on Sunday had I not already preregistered. On the other hand some days you feel like crud but have an amazing day on the bike so who knows what's going to happen.

The course was changed up on Sunday, a little more running and technical with the short hill having a shorter, downhill off camber entry today and the short, steep ride/run up leading into it. Didn't feel better after a couple of laps scouting the course but it looked like fun and I was already here.

No call up today but managed to get in pretty much the same position on the start line. Justin from Godspeed crashed really hard on the little hill and was sprawled across the bottom - kind of disconcerting to say the least. Briefly considered stopping to check him out but then he moved his legs and said something so I kept going. Lost contact with the lead riders at that point, but would have happened anyways without the accident.

I did remember the video camera and it worked for the first half of the race:

First half of 2009 Surf City #3 Watsonville Cyclocross C race November 1 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

The second half of the race I faded back, just unable to keep up the pace.

Thought I went hard the whole time, but it just felt really hard to me, or maybe the unmeasured part that was running was a lot harder on me than the cycling part, because I can do the Pnorm below for all day, not just 40 minutes.

Pavg:156
Pnorm:175
T:39:02
C:90
S:19.8kph

2009 October 31, Surf City #2, Watsonville, C Race

2009-11-04T22:26:00.000-08:00

TSB: 6
CTL: 112

Every once in a while waiting at the starting line of a race, one can hear the pfssst sound of a deflating inner tube. Today it was my turn with Mike our race starter telling us we had one minute to go. Resigned myself to trying to convince the registration folks to let me change my race category to B when Mike Valencia and Steve DeLong both offered me a wheel. Since Matthew might need his rear spare during the race, I accepted Steve's wheel. We got the wheel changed in less than a minute and the C field graciously let me back into the start grid where I was on the second row. The winner of the Soquel race, Steve, and someone else took off through the finish area when I remembered I had a bike set up for nine speed with a ten speed rear wheel. I could only get it to stay in the 12, the middle one - 18?, and the 25. What seemed to work best for me with a flattish course with one set of barriers and some wide open straightaways was the 44/12. Managed to stay close to the front set of riders until I took a right hander on the hardpack through the horse stalls a little too fast and hit the ground really hard.

Most of the damage was to me and I was able to hop back on the bike and try to catch back up. It was sort of like racing on a single speed, but I would have chosen a smaller gear for a single speed race! Could not keep up the accelerations after a lap and managed a mid pack finish. Post race my legs were extremely sore from the big gear grinding and the crash.

A fun race in spite of the equipment trouble and crash.

No data since I wasn't using a Powertap rear, and no video because I didn't carry the camera, forgot to charge the batteries.

2009 October 25, Pilarcitos #2, Coyote Point, Category C

2009-10-28T20:41:00.001-07:00

CTL: 116
TSB: -6
Sand will have to do until we get some mud or snow, making an angel

Racing with 135 other crossers really doesn't feel like racing. The main opportunities for passing came in the first minute and a half of uphill, and the rest of the course was very twisty and slightly rolling so not much separation happening, I think I only saw maybe twenty other riders the whole race, first when I passed them in the first 90 seconds and then when they all passed me back over the course of the rest of the race. I suppose I could race more aggressively and fight for position, but for me that would be kind of an overly serious tactic for a category C race when not a whole lot is at stake. Still could improve on the pacing on the flatter sections.

Touched the camera on the next to last lap to make sure it was pointed in the right direction and managed to turn it off...maybe the first ten minutes is interesting to see what one lap looked like.

2009 Pilarcitos Cyclocross #2 Coyote Point, BASPS October 25 C race from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 41:40
S: 15.1
C: 83
D: 10.5 km
Pavg: 157
Pnorm: 199

2009 October 11, Surf City #1, Soquel High School

2009-10-13T19:09:00.001-07:00

CTL: 115
TSB: -3
This week cut my Saturday pre-race ride down to fifty easy miles so let's see if it has any effect on the race.

I don't know why but today's race has a much smaller turnout of 30 versus the 100 plus at the Pilarcitos 2009 debut. It's a shame because the Soquel High School course could handle a much larger field with longer wide stretches and more passing opportunities.

Slot in on the second row of four instead of fifth row of ten. This makes a huge difference because one can actually go as hard as one wants to go instead of having to wait for the opportunity to move up and then have three guys fighting for one foot of trail.

Make it halfway through the first lap with the first group of five riders, which is kind of surreal for me since I don't think that's ever happened. The juniors that started thirty seconds behind us start passing us within three minutes! The elastic between me and the front group snaps at the end of the lap as Lee passes me and I can't hang onto the top six. I am able to maintain this position for the rest of the race. Lee unfortunately flats and has to DNF and another rider in front of me blows with two to go and I move up to fourth and stay there, with Dwayne starting to close the gap from just behind on the last set of hairpin turns but running out of course to catch me so I get fourth. I think that's the highest placing I've ever gotten in a cross race with more than four people.

T: 35:42
D: 11.2 km
S: 18.9
C: 75
Pavg: 178
Pnorm: 210

2009 October 4 Pilarcitos CX #1, McLaren Park

2009-10-13T19:08:00.002-07:00

CTL: 115
TSB: -9
This time I bring a video camera, but brought the wrong memory card, no matter because finishing mid pack is probably not that interesting to watch.
Brought only the mountain bike this year after racing it last year on the cross bike and fully realizing the limits of my bike handling skills or lack thereof...
My preparation is similiar to a Morgan, Lee, and a few others, we all did Levi's Gran Fondo less than 24 hours earlier. Surprisingly this has no effect on my result - last year I ended up sprinting against Brian Brooks for our placing and we repeat it this year, with him reversing the order of last year, finishing a place ahead of me this time with me in 55th / 107.

T: 47:18
S: 17.0
D: 13.4 km
C: 78
Pavg: 158
Pnorm: 203

2009 September 27, CCCX #2, Fort Ord Day Camp

2009-10-13T19:07:00.001-07:00

CTL: 113
TSB: 17

Have a good 90 seconds of racing when I am close to the lead racers at the start of the race

then the camera starts pointing down and my fortunes go with it as I crash and take a divot out of my leg. Am able to finish the race mid pack but have trouble walking for a week.

On the plus side I mostly survived my first 2009-2010 cross race, still need to work on pacing...

T: 39:13
D: 13.1 km
S: 20.2
C: 78
Pavg: 162
Pnorm: 197

2009 September 20, Chico Downtown Criterium

2009-10-13T18:49:00.003-07:00

CTL: 114
TSB: 19

If I'm going to drive 200 miles, I'm going to stay an extra day to try a race I've never done before... It's a flat L, the course is different from prior years due to construction with a very short final straight so position in the last corner is pretty much everything. The main difficulty today is the heat, it's pretty oppressive after ten AM. Next time I need to bring an ice chest to sit in...

Was originally going to do the 4/5 and the 35+ 4/5 race, but my teammate Mark emailed me and asked if I was in Chico so I switched to the 3/4 and 35+ 3/4/5 races so I could race with someone, always more fun with someone you know.

Skipping the 4/5 race turns out to be a stroke of good fortune since half the field is crashed out and DNF's. This also delays the rest of the AM races and shortens our 3/4 race by fifteen minutes.

I am just going to try to help out where I can, Mark is already pretty good at positioning himself and sprinting so my primary help to him was probably over when I rented a hotel room!

The race is pretty hard from the gun and we drop quite a few folks, almost half the field. It's strung out for most of the race. There's a lull towards the end and I see Mark sitting around tenth instead of his usual fourth or fifth so I move up towards the front to up the pace a bit and he moves up to, it turns out the rest of the race will have no more lulls. In fact I am last in the pack at about 20th and we go so fast into the final turn I ease up because there's no point in sprinting and it's much faster than I would have considered going into it! But it's all worth it as Mark get's second, he said he entered the last turn in second and sort of boxed himself in against the rider in first and could not accelerate until it was too late.

T: 34:47
D: 24.8 km
S: 42.7
C: 92
Pavg: 202
Pnorm: 219

We have a long three or four hours until our second race. I probably spent too much time outside because I felt exhausted by the time we started. This race felt much harder than the first and Mark confirmed this but the data shows it as about the same or a little easier so the heat took a toll on both of us. Three riders escape mid race. I feel miserable and consider quitting but will soon find out what miserable is. Didn't realize the riders were off the front until it was too late.

We drop almost half the field in this race, too. Lap cards come out and I just hang on for dear life at the back of the pack. One disadvantage to being lower on the bike than most of the riders is that one's view is limited when a larger rider is directly in front of you. This lesson is served up when I have about one second of braking time when the rider in front of me swerves abruptly to avoid an accident and I brake hard but am unable to stop in time and hit Gino who has stopped for a rider who crashed in front of him. I guess that's what I get for making fun of people who run into the back of me at full speed...On the plus side this gives Gino a genuine reason to get a free lap since I can vouch for him. I am not too badly hurt, it does take four weeks for my elbow to fully heal, but I join Gino near the start finish for my free lap and we rejoin with six to go.

After a few laps we catch Todd Manley who was off the front in the break, leaving two others still off. I counter with three laps to go. At first I just accelerated to get to the front and up the pace but no one responded so instead of braking I just kept going, at least someone else would have to chase me and Mark would get a free ride. Unfortunately I only lasted two laps so the pack gobbled me up but Mark did great again in the finale and got third for his second podium on the day.

T: 40:45
D: 26.8 km
S: 39.4
C: 86
Pavg: 184
Pnorm: 209

2009 September 19, Henleyville Road Race, 35+ 4/5 A

2009-10-13T18:49:00.001-07:00

CTL: 114
TSB: 26

Takes five hours to get to here if one leaves at 6PM on a Friday evening so next time leaving at either 4PM or 8PM to see if traffic is any better...

I am here to help others out so I just need to carry water bottles and offer my wheels up. Kind of fun to not have too much responsibility. The center line rule is somewhat strictly enforced, from what I remember, lots of people went over, but from the results only my teammates got relegated. Since the course is not very challenging and only three to four riders fit across a lane the pace is glacially slow even with sixty plus riders. At one point someone flats and I think it's our sprinter so I turn around and go back to help out but it's not so I have to turn back around make up a minute gap or so, and the pack is going so slow I am able to close it easily.

Based on what has happened in the first two laps, I think one will have to go to the front as early as possible since we only get to use the full width of the road with one kilometer to go. I start moving up when I heard someone say one kilometer to go. It turns out they were lying, so we had a lot farther to go but I end up at the front. Since I am not here for my own placing I bide my time near the front. When I can see we have about one kilometer to go I get a bit worried because none of my teammates are near me and I really don't want to lead anyone else out, so I start fading backwards to try and get close to a teammate. The field gets to about 500 meters to go and I am around 20th and still no teammates so I have to fall back on plan B and start getting position back and sprinting but only manage twelfth.

The race ended up being so easy I wished I had just lead the field out for the last lap to get a good work out...the normalized power for 2.5 hours ending up being lower than the typical flat criterium average power.

T: 2:30:20
D: 87.4 km
S: 34.8 km
Pavg: 129
Pnorm: 171

2009 September 13 Folsom Cyclebration Two Bridges Circuit Race

2009-09-18T06:07:00.001-07:00

CTL: 119
TSB: 14

For the last race of the omnium the top riders get callups, and so does the lantern rouge - proof -

There will be a race within the race, the three omnium riders are just going to watch each other, and today's larger field will make today's race more interesting - a lot of these riders should be fresh from not having race the prior two days and there are a couple of interesting hairpin turns and a nice hill to boot.

I am lucky enough to have three teammates today. Very early in the race disaster strikes the lead omnium rider as he gets entangled in the fencing in one of the hairpins and has to quit. I take a look around the reduced field and realized the second place rider is nowhere to be seen so I tell my teammates to relax and we can go for the win instead of just placing me higher than the other two omnium riders.

Peter spends about 80% of the race off the front in a long breakaway. Sam is initially close to him but can't close the gap and comes back to the pack. One lap after Peter is off, the second place rider in the omnium Rich shows up! It turns out we dropped him early and he clawed his way back - at this point I was just drafting Josh and hanging onto the back of the pack - if I could have *and* known I would have worked to make the pack go faster! Try to communicate the new situation to Sam but after the race it turns out he didn't hear me but am still able to use Sam to move up towards the end of the race, and Anthony gives me helpful advice to save some energy.

Anyways, Rich and I spend the rest of the race watching each other, move up and back in tandem. Peter gets brought back with one to go. I position myself near the front on the hill near the second bridge and Peter has one last burst to take us to the front but this leaves the steep part of the hill and I tire a bit and get swarmed. Fortunately for me, Rich only makes it a couple of riders ahead of me by the bottom of the hill/hairpin and I am able to sprint past him and put several other riders between us on the finish straight to get seventh and win the overall for the omnium.

2009 September 13 Folsom Cyclebration Two Bridges Circuit Race, 35+ 4/5 B from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 32:38
C: 100
S: 39.6
Pavg: 187
Pnorm: 224

2009 September 12 Folsom Cyclebration Challenge Criterium 35+ 4/5 B

2009-09-12T16:47:00.000-07:00

CTL: 119
TSB: 20

It turns out that only three of us from the time trial are racing the criterium today. The other two riders got first and second in the time trial so I am about ten points behind. Half of the primes are for omnium points and the other half are for cash and prizes, and of course only the three of us planning on doing all three events are interested in the omnium points. I have a huge advantage literally and figuratively in that Peter shows up to do this crit and a later crit, we take turns leading each other out for primes, and Peter takes one solo and we end up winning all of them. The field is pretty small at twenty three so it's pretty easy to change position, I thought I had enough in me to lead out the last lap and a quarter (just to keep things reasonably safe) but only lasted a quarter lap, faded, then followed Anthony to move up a bit and thought I had beat the other two contenders for the omnium when I got pipped at the line by the first place finisher from yesterday for ninth and ended up tenth with the second place tt rider, Rich, finishing in eleventh. Oh well, I still made up ground on both riders to make things close

T:40:46
S:40.2
C:83
Pavg:196
Pnorm:261

2009 September 11 Folsom Cyclebration Time Trial

2009-09-12T15:28:00.000-07:00

TSB: 20
CTL: 119

Wasn't trying to peak for this but feel sick on both Wednesday and Thursday and don't ride much, a little less fitness on race day but should be fresh but feeling like I have a cold or allergy attack. If I had not paid for the omnium and the hotel would definitely be staying home, but here goes...

Only my second time trial of the year, first was Madera where I was feeling kind of sick and was, and today, where I feel a little under the weather again.

The course is on a widish bike path, with three small overpasses and the overpass turnaround as the main difficulties.

I shouldn't expect much, was aiming to at least get close to my 20 minute power for the whole event, taking into account racing adrenaline. Manage to do this for the outbound leg and totally blow up on the inbound leg. On the way back I can barely open my mouth because of the heat and lack of moisture, at one point it gets so dried out it's stuck close.

At least I know how I can make myself look like Tyrone Biggums.

T: 25:17
S: 39.5
C: 83
Pavg: 261
Pnorm: 265
Postive split the course with power, not a good sign since there was a slight headwind on the way back for the earlier riders.

Outbound:
Pavg: 276

Inbound:
Pavg: 246

2009 Sept 7 Giro di San Francisco

2009-09-12T15:23:00.000-07:00

CTL: 120
TSB: 1
Strictly by the numbers I should be in great shape for this race but I feel pretty sick. But I preregistered so off to the city I go.

Or I should say I thought I preregistered. When I get home, the race registrations for today's crits are still in my shopping cart from three months ago...

Show up and get the last open spot in the 35+ 4/5 race and waitlist myself for the E4 race. The race is pretty easy so I wait for the last couple of laps to move up. While I am passing one rider, he accelerates, and when he moves to the inside on a turn I make the mistake of drafting too closely and not anticipating his next move which is to swerve out of the apex, from watching the video he boxed himself in a small area next to the curb and when he swerved out I got pushed to the outside and slowed and this was enough change for the rider behind me to run right into me. I still think I could have done well except at this point I was dragging a riderless bike behind me in my rear wheel. Pretty frustrating, sick and still in it till one and a half laps to go. Oh well.

T: 40:46
S: 40.3
C: 100
Pavg: 180
Pnorm: 216

Wait patiently at registration area for the waiting list to get called up and I don't have high hopes as I am 17th. But I get the last number! This gives me about two minutes to warmup, or in reality, about quarter of the race. There is a big crash halfway through, I bridge solo from behind the crash. This turns out to be a waste since they are unsure about when they can get the injured riders off the course, our race is stopped and restarted. Two riders off the front before the crash get a little bit bigger lead, but no matter, probably wouldn't have changed things much. With two laps to go help move Jay up a bit from the back but maybe a little too early? Anyways we are top ten going into the next to last corner when there is another accident in the middle of the corner, I touch the brakes and start sliding right towards the riders, should have just aimed for the hole shot, and have to slow considerably to avoid becoming a crash victim. At least I got close to finishing.

T: 43:05
S: 40.3
C: 99
Pavg: 183
Pnorm: 228

2009 Sept 4 Hellyer Friday Night Race

2009-09-12T15:09:00.000-07:00

TSB: 17
CTL: 122

I should feel pretty good according to the numbers but I think I am getting a cold or allergies are acting up because when we start racing, can't do anything except sit in and wait for the finales, and totally blow during the last race.
3/4 Scratch Race

2009 sept 4 hellyer 34 points race front view from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 10:33
S: 41.8 kph
Pavg: 254
Pnorm: 311
C: 98

Do five laps of the P123 scratch race for fun.
T: 2:00
Pavg: 289
C: 107
S: 46

3/4 Points race

Sept 4 2009 Hellyer Friday Night 34 Points race rear view from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

2009 sept 4 hellyer 34 points race front view from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 12:56
S: 41.5
C: 97
Pavg: 257
Pnorm: 291

Do five laps of the P123 points race for fun.
T: 2:36
Pavg: 259
S: 42.4
C: 98

Miss and Out

2009 sept 4 hellyer 34 points race front view from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 2:44
Pavg: 334
C: 93
S: 39.6

2009 August 30 Vacaville Gran Prix 35+ 4/5

2009-09-02T19:32:00.000-07:00

CTL: 125
TSB: -2

Feel decent after a long day in the sun yesterday at Winters, but takes a long time to get comfortable. Two riders get off early. I lost track of them so I asked around and people said they got caught so I didn't worry. Huge mistake. Late in the race I could hear the announcer talking about their lead. Racing for third at this point, and the teammates of one of the riders are sitting on the front dutifully doing tempo so I start trying to up the pace, too little too late. At least keep it safer than it was, saved too much at the end on the hill, should have surged again once I caught the leaders of the pack, instead got swarmed on the descent, ended up tenth in field sprint.

2009 Vacaville Gran Prix 35+ 4/5 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 45:23
S: 38.4
C: 101
Pavg: 187
Pnorm: 234
D: 29.1 km

2009 August 29 Winters Road Race 30+

2009-09-02T19:12:00.000-07:00

TSB: 11
CTL: 124

My role is to attack and see if anything sticks, carry bottles for others, and regroup after the hill. When we signed up there were only twenty in the field and half were teammates but at the start the field is full with the addition of some representation from Safeway/Morgan Stanley and many others so someone who does well today will earn their t-shirt.

Peter goes off first, and gets such a big gap, no one even bothers to nibble. So when Josh goes and comes back, I surge multiple times and take a few riders with me, but nothing sticks. Then we hit the rollers and I just hang on for the ride. Pick up a fourth, neutral bottle in the feedzone from Lei but then hand it back to him because my pockets are full. The only difficulty on the course is the one constant grade on the final hill and when a few teammates are off the pace I wait for them and we start time trialing on the flat section. Unfortunately one is having wheel hit his brake pad so he has to give up after about 30 minutes, right when our field comes into view. For the next section I trade pulls with Lei and another rider until we get within 200 meters and I can't keep up. Lei gets almost to the group at the feedzone when he flats, and the rider he was with flats as well. Then I catch Jay who is working on his second flat. There is a very bad pattern starting here...

Luckily Mark's SO Amy volunteers to hand up water in the feed zone, on the second (and third laps for the really hard men), it's really nice to have something cold.

At this point there is no chance for me to catch up and help anybody so I give my fourth still full bottle to Jon after the hill so someone finishing the third lap will have some liquids, and roll to the finish where I catch Mark who gave up his wheel to Roger who flatted. Roger finishes the day in style by winning the field sprint for second.

T: 2:19:58
S: 30.2
D: 70.7 km
C: 84
Pavg: 149
Pnorm: 183

2009 August 22 - San Ardo Road Race 35+ 4 A

2009-09-02T18:57:00.000-07:00

TSS: 5
CTL: 122

Come into this race with a lot of pressure, lots of folks know I won this last year so I am not counting on the same tactics working. Many teammates this year, too. Not as big a team presence as in the past so I think this works against us, folks race pretty negatively overall, and we finish about five minutes slower than last year when I attacked like mad in the first half and got dropped in the second half.

As the race progresses, start to lose more and more teammates to flats and mechanicals, but we still manage a good leadout to control the pace for the last few miles. We get to the bridge that is a minor choke point and we get swarmed a little but I think I should have been more patient, and not gone with the early moves - maybe too many people watched my video of last year and were going to try to imitate it. One of the riders I am watching is Michael, who has had a great 2009 season, and when he jumps I respond immediately. Erik S. and Mike S. are there, too.

Surprisingly to me and Michael, he fades after about twenty seconds and when we catch him, Mike S. and Erik S. go again. We have not yet even gotten to the underpass, and this is really not where I want to go, but I don't want to give up without a fight. In retrospect I should have let someone else chase them down. But I surge again. Mike S. fades. I crawl back onto Erik's wheel, then before we reach the corner, he surges, and I have trouble getting on his wheel. In the back of my head I am thinking, wow, Erik is going to win. But as soon as we reach the corner, riders start passing me until finally it's me and Erik staggering across the line for tenth and eleventh place. This is disappointing for me because I feel like I let my teammates down.

2009 San Ardo Road Race 35+ 4A finish from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 3:09:12
S: 35.7
C: 92
D: 112.8 km
Pavg: 128
Pnorm: 182

August 15 Dunnigan Hills Road Race 35+4/5 A

2009-08-15T19:18:00.000-07:00

CTL: 121
TSB: 8.5

Today I am to just relax and sit in and come out to play at the end. It's helpful to have the teammates to make that easy! Many attacks go repeatedly in the gently rolling hills until finally one sticks with a teammate, which takes off a lot of performance pressure because he is guaranteed a podium spot for finishing.

Now all I have to do is wait for the end game. Still seven Davis riders in what is left of the pack and they hammer on the rollers before the final flat sections. It's fun going this fast, though I should have taken it easier and not followed each acceleration so closely, and just let gravity do most of the work. The final straightway doesn't got exactly as planned, got a lot of help, but used up the leadout too early. Then I misjudged the distance to the finish from the final corner. Entered the turn in fourth position, got passed by one rider, then the two riders directly in front of me were so big I did not notice the gap had gotten quite large to the other two riders. This would not have been a problem except for the fact that the final straight of 200+ meters was up an overpass and down, and I noticed this on the downhill and my advantage against these much larger riders was behind me on the uphill... Salvaged what I could and got third in the field sprint. The last overpass is so close to the finish line I should have just gone with every single attack at that point, hesitated and relied on using the draft too much. Also, with a 50 front chain ring need an 11 for the 40+mph downhill sprint since I don't practice sprints over 120 rpm.

The last fifteen minutes of the race -

2009 Dunnigan Hills Road Race 35+ 4/5 A, main field finish from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 2:01:18
D: 68.4 km
S: 33.8 kph
C: 93
Pavg: 154
Pnorm: 196

2009 Patterson Pass Road Race 35+ 4/5 A

2009-08-09T14:11:00.001-07:00

CTL: 122
TSB: 1

My third time doing this race, and got better results each time, hoping for a charm the third time, too.

Just was not to be, made a lot of mistakes. First off, conditions were harder for me than in past years, and I needed to bring a lot more hydration and neglected this during the race, might have gotten dehydrated while staging. Next, went with the surges up Patterson Pass. That was probably the silliest because the leaders went over the top in about the same time as they have the past two years when I was with the group. This time I got popped off with about one or two kilometers to go. When I got dropped and could see the pack of twenty five up the road, resolved to catch on or blow, and settled into a rhythm, concentrating intently on the white line. A little too intently as I didn't look far up the road and when the white painted line turned into a four inch curb I veered off into the deep gravel on the right. The smart thing to do at this point would have been to stop and just get back on the road but of course, I didn't do this, I tried to bunny hop from the gravel, over the curb, back into the road and I didn't clear it and took a tumble at five miles per hour. Doh. Duanefrom VC Monterey kindly asked if I was OK, mostly just embarrassed and set to work with Duane and another rider to try and catch folks after the descent.

Then, after we caught one rider, I felt a thump, thump for a short time from my front tire, almost stopped but when my tire stayed inflated I kept going. Then I could have sworn the same thing happened on the rear.

Did not put two and two together at this point, but my legs started feeling like lead going through the parking area and almost quit but I was only a few minutes back after one lap.

Then I totally blew the second time up Patterson and could not even hold tempo the rest of the race. By Midway I could feel my front and rear tires getting squishy. Now I just wanted to finish upright. Thankfully Anthony came along from a different field and shared some extra water with me. Then to add insult to injury, my left inner quad cramped on the last hill and I stopped to massage it out, got started again, and was thinking I could finish by just pedaling my right leg and then my right leg cramped. A few more minutes passed before I could get started again, and barely finish the race on two tires with only about ten PSI each,thanks to a couple of goathead thorns.

T: 2:41:53
S: 26.6
C:: 82
Pavg: 155
Pnorm: 195
D: 71.9 km

2009 Timpani Criterium E4

2009-08-08T13:53:00.000-07:00

CTL: 122
TSB: -9

The four corner industrial park course with two long and wide front and back stretch and shorter, narrower straights between turns one and two and bewteen turns three and four.

Very big field. I'm supposed to sit in and help out at the end. This goes well except for a few unfortunate accidents along the way, including one which requires an ambulance so we neutralize for a few laps and finally have the officals stop and restart us for the last nine laps. Everyone on the team is still in it. At one point I mistake Darren for Josh and offer to help him move up, oops, at least I helped a teammate! Then with 1.5 laps to go, the rider I was there to help out has to stop for a crash but I miss this and have to improvise. I can see a train of teammates on the front about four rows ahead so just sit back and watch. Then they get swarmed and it's a bit chaotic - at this point I just want to finish upright and am closer to the front than the back so just start moving up.

With two turns to go, Eddie from SJBC goes for it. The last part of the race is just foobar because I can see I have to ride the brakes but can't move up because it's rider to rider around me, so we have a little more chaos to top off the day as one rider clips a pedal and the rider behind him start tumbling across the road in the corner. I have to tap the brakes and start steering away - this is enough to separate the front eighteen from us that are caught behind the accident and that's the race. Start sprinting just to get back up to speed and finish the race.

2009 Fort Ord Road Race 35+ 4/5

2009-08-01T19:50:00.001-07:00

CTL: 124
TSB: 1

A little less fitness and am coming in about three kilos heavier versus 2008. Oddly, I end up with almost same final result. I would do anything to have that fitness again, well anything except eat and drink less and train more. I kid. A little.

Temps are very cool due to overcast skies, and even a little fog/rain. The course is a little bit different than previous years, instead of one out and back there are now two out and backs, the first out and back is more of a circle and back, and the second doesn't go almost to the end ( guess the whole road wasn't available ) but the one three to four minute hill is still the main defining feature.

Last year blew up on the one big climb, and was able to go pretty hard each time on the climb, not so much on the other parts. This year, tried to meter out the effort on the climb, and about about fifteen guys rode away very gradually. Then it was Ernie, Mike, some other guy and I, ten seconds back of the pack and figured we wold catch them no problem after the top, but Ernie and the other guy killed it on the undulating section before the finish and bridged up, and I could only watch. Worked with Mike and TT'ed and we got within 50 meters after Mike took a long pull and I didn't want to jump and leave Mike behind so I tried to TT both of us up and could not do it, so close. We ended up losing about 30 seconds for each 10.5 mile lap so with two turn arounds, we could see the group for about twenty five miles of chasing which was a very tiny carrot. We only catch one of the about fifteen riders in front of us, Ernie, who despite a thirty pound weight advantage stayed with the group longer than Mike or I. We end up going into match sprint mode for the finish with Ernie leading us out for fun.
.
T: 1:57:28
C: 92
S: 30.3
Pavg: 182
Pnorm: 226
D: 59.5 km

2009 July 18 Watsonville Criterium

2009-07-19T23:25:00.000-07:00

CTL: 117
TSB: 2

Gave myself an extra hour to get hour for traffic and needed two so got there with only fifteen minutes to spare. There's a theme running here that I need to break, since there were no bathrooms or portapotties for the first couple of hours I had to race with a full bladder...

No warmup meant I felt like dropping out after ten minutes but forced myself to stay in there - it always feels harder than it really is. I can see Josh and Mitch well positioned at the front near the man child from VOS, barely hanging onto the back of the field, a couple of times I am behind someone who is dropped and have to bridge back up and that almost breaks me but the pack goes slow enough in the technical sections that I can catch up again.

Finally with two laps to go try to move up to help and am thwarted by being almost last to begin with, luckily some gaps open up on the last lap so I can move up, almost get to the front and hesitate - should I just lead it out and hope the teammates can get over or what, and the time I spend thinking uses up the window of opportunity and we are on the finish stretch before I can do anything else and just sprint in for a 15th or so.

Rear camera malfunction so only the front view.

2009 July 18 Watsonville Criterium E4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 40:42
D: 26.2
S: 38.5
C: 111
Pavg: 189
Pnorm: 218

2009 San Rafael Twilight Criterium E4

2009-07-11T23:38:00.000-07:00

CTL: 117
TSB: 5
Gave myself an extra hour to travel to San Rafael through San Francisco traffic and it turned out to be not enough, started worrying a little bit when I had thirty minutes to show up at the race and was still on the Golden Gate Bridge. With five minutes to spare, change into the cycling clothes, and get to the course, Josh helpfully pins the number on so I don't have to do it during the race and my warmup consists of the first twenty minutes of the race where I get to consider the sin of not warming up and struggle to hang in the pack. The course is the same one used for the *daytime* San Rafael Crit, a long, slightly uphill drag for the start /finish, a short hill (the steepest section of the course) between turns one and two, a long, slightly downhill drag between turns two and three and a short hill between turns three and four to the finish straight.

I try to help our designated sprinter move up in spite of struggling to hang on while wheelsucking most of rest of the time. We get to three to go and I see a teammate closer to the front and move up to join him. With two to go I am on his wheel and then when there is a surge on the backside, I let it go, but others close the gap by the turn. On the last ascent of the steep hill I pedal as fast as I can but am somewhat disappointed to find myself only keeping even with the ten to eleven riders around me. Do not have anything left in the legs after this and roll in for somewhere around tenth to twelfth.

On the plus side this is the hardest I've gone in a crit since I got sick in February so slowly getting back in the groove of racing.

2009 San Rafael Criterium E4 front view from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 38:39
S: 40.7
C: 109
Pavg: 196
Pnorm: 237

2009 San Luis Obispo Criterium

2009-07-05T20:37:00.003-07:00

CTL: 117
TSB: 9

This course is in downtown San Luis Obispo. It passes through the brick *sidewalk* in front of the Mission there. It's wide so it's not too bad but there are some short brick walls on either side that tend to push riders in the gutter back to the center. Besides the sidewalk section there is a short, one block hill from turn one to turn two, a little more rise to the sidewalk, then a long gradual rise after the sidewalk to turn three, a very short straight, then turn four.

I am here to help my teammate, but I have a lot of trouble doing this - he is on the front of the field for most of the race! Not sure how to help. :) The course gives me difficulty in that I move up a few spots on the long gradual hill but lose them right back on the descent/finish straight. I try to minimize the amount of work I am doing to advance but I end up moving up one steps forward/one step back the whole race and staying about twentieth out of seventy - the twenty guys in front of me have the same plan and are as strong as I am or stronger. When it becomes apparent on the last lap and a half I am not going to move up from twentieth or so I ease up to reload for the next race.

T: 43:19
S: 41.3
D: 29.9 km
C: 106
Pavg: 186
Pnorm: 207

For this race our team plan is to just stay safe since my teammate won a prime and placed in the first race (weekend mission accomplished) and even at the front of the field it was sometimes dangerous. I just sit in tenth to twentieth wheel. I didn't think it was possible but there were more close calls in this race than the first, and I'm only responsible for a few of them. :) Towards the end I think I might be close enough to the front to help out so when there is a lull in the pace with two to go I make a move to the front. Go a little too hard and find myself off the front, and figure I might as well go for it. There is a determined chase behind me, normally I could go this hard for about two laps of this course but looking back is can be fatal to motivation in these circumstances...so I am caught near the sidewalk section. My teammate counters. I hesitated and figured, he should do well, and ease up but I should have gone with the people who chased after him because he was really fatigued from being on the front in *two* races and faded before the finish. Gotta always be on your toes and react and not overthink in these situations.

2009 July 5 San Luis Obispo Criterium 30+ 4/5 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 40:13
S: 40.8
C: 106
D: 27.4 km
Pavg: 181
Pnorm: 215

2009 San Luis Obispo Road Race

2009-07-05T20:37:00.001-07:00

CTL: 118
TSB: 8

Plateauing at February fitness, hard to get it up where it was with work and the racing all the time business.

This race is on a military installation. There is one short climb of significance, and only one lane of the road is open for the riders for the flattish part leading up to it.

Previewing the course indicate the climb is not exactly what is described in the flyer or the online profile at the race web site and the first time up confirms that the climb might only be 6% but it comes in a stair step fashion so some parts are much steeper. The narrowness of the roads makes for a lot of contact/close calls in a large field. Since I am near the front the first time up, it is pretty easy to hang in and sag climb, and still we drop about a third to half the field. This is kind of surprising because I only went at the equivalent of 4:30 pace up Mt Eden for 4:00 and this is not as hard as we usually do the *first* climb up Stage Road at the Pescadero Road Race where very few riders get dropped. We have the full 1.5 lanes for the descent, it seems a bit hairy due to the size of the pack that is left, and one 90 degree turn at the base of the first long, steep section, and the trip back to the start of the climb is uneventful.

Since I am at the back on the climb, I have to be more attentive and when a gap opens up in front of me, I panic a bit and go a little too hard to get back on, was just too hard for a short time but it's enough to force me to ease up on the last part of the climb. Consider chasing the pack down but some crashes on the descent by riders ahead of me discourages that and I pack it in at the end of the second lap to save something for tomorrows criterium.

June 28 - Burlingame Criterium

2009-06-30T22:59:00.000-07:00

TSB: 8
CTL: 117

Feel so much better today, but when I get to the race and get ready, realize I forgot the jersey at home! Luckily Michael H. has a *spare* so he lets me borrow it, and I don't have to pull a snokrashe and race in my t-shirt.

We have so many riders in this race that I am assigned to keep the pace up so the front of the pack is safe for our sprinter so I trade off pulls for as long as I can go or as it turns out about half the race. This is much harder than just sitting in but more fun and I am highly likely to be successful. :)
rear view
front view
E4
T:40:02
D: 27.8
S: 41.5
C: 98
Pavg 199
pnorm: 233

35+ 4
Pretty much the same plan for the next race for me, we do not have a neutral first lap though, and some folks are confused about this, so when I get my usual quick start, and don't see anyone behind me, keep going for two laps, when the pack starts to get interested I ease up and get back in the routine of trying to get off the front again.

View from the front

2009 Burlingame Criterium 35+ 4 rear view from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 40:14
D: 27.8
S: 41.3
C: 93
Pavg: 187
Pnorm: 214

June 27 - Benicia Criterium

2009-06-30T19:19:00.000-07:00

CTL: 116
TSB: 8

I thought I might have a bad day on the bike because after standing around for six hours at the Hellyer AVC my legs and back were still sore in the morning and only got four hours of sleep. Was looking forward to the post race snooze. The course is a figure eight with a lot of small undulations, maybe at most ten to twenty feet over the course of a block with the finish on a long uphill drag.

E4
Hang out midpack, feels like I am struggling. Half way through the race there is an accident and a gap opens up in front of me. I know some folks behind me so I pull to get us close to the pack and am really not feeling good at all and just quit. The data shows the race was not that hard. Hmmm...

T:19:46
D:12.45km
S:37.7 kph
C:101
Pavg: 202
Pnorm: 225

35+ 3/4
I feel a little better during this race. When I try to move up the legs are not responding so I am not going to be able to help anybody out. I can just hang in the back just to finish but since I am racing tomorrow, don't need to just finish for the sake of finishing and pull out again...

T:22:42
D:14.4
S:38.1
C:104
Pavg:179
Pnorm:216

2009 June 19 Hellyer Friday Night Racing

2009-06-20T01:29:00.001-07:00

CTL: 117
TSB: 3

Three or four of the really strong juniors are not in the 3/4 field tonight, one has upgraded to 2 and the others are saving themselves for Nevada City and the USA Cycling junior camp later this weekend, still the field is pretty big at fifteen to twenty.

3/4 20 Lap Scratch Race
T: 9:03
S: 44.5
C: 104
Pavg: 270
Pnorm: 299
This is a little different without the kids - a lot less attacking so the field stays intact until almost the end AFAIK. I set tempo for a bit, then Rick counters and almost gets away but we bring him and the others back. At one point I am behind Shawn and we are getting dropped and I am wondering what happened, he got a bug in his unshielded eye and can't see anything for a bit! Then Rick does a leadout and causes a slight separation, I react too late and can only manage a fifth.

No rear view, didn't turn it on.

3/4 30 Lap 6x5 Points Race
T:14:11
S: 43.6
C: 102
Pavg: 268
Pnorm: 297
On the plus side I didn't get lapped! Scored a few points, was pretty conservative after getting dropped the last two times, maybe could have gone for more points, not enough points to score.

2009 June 19 Friday Night Hellyer 3/4 Points Race Front View from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

2009 June 199 34 points race rear view from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Did five laps of the 123 Points race at the suggestion of Eric Petersen, this was a pretty good idea just to keep warm. It was really easy sitting in but I didn't want to burn any matches just to sit in back of the field
T: 2:07
Pavg: 259
C: 105
S: 44.9

3/4 Miss and Out
I use the simplest strategy which is stay on the front as long as possible but I only last a lap before the Neal, the strongest rider in the field, takes over. Then I am boxed in by Rick for most of the rest of the race, which sort of turns out OK. At one point he let's up and I attack (maybe too hard) but Neil reels me back in, and I am behind him and boxed in by Rick again! I keep waiting for an opening and for a few seconds I look back and there's an opening where Rick is ahead of me and Erik is off of my hip but I hesitate and Erik moves forward and I am boxed in again(!) so finish fifth - mostly by following Neal for all but three laps.
T: 7:46
S: 41.5
C: 96
Pavg: 282
Pnorm: 311

2009 June 13 Pescadero Road Race

2009-06-19T23:46:00.000-07:00

CTL: 116
TSB: 11

Not quite the same shape as last year and five pounds heavier but had some different goals of helping some folks get through the first couple of climbs. That mostly worked and I didn't have to finish the race but felt kind of oddly fresh after the first climb on Stage so I continued. We had dense fog and a little rain on the first lap. From the data it looks like we went easier than we had in past years on both of the two hills on Stage. Then I just sat in. Takes a lot of pressure off in some ways to have goals that don't involve finishing!

When we hit Haskins we didn't go that hard either, though I was huffing and puffing. The guy next to me had never ridden it before and asked while we were going up "Is this it?" - I think if he thought it was easy, he should be able to win. :) We were in one pretty big clumpy group and I should have gone to the front to make things safer but got lazy and didn't think to have a secondary goal at the start. Then there was an accident near the McDonald Park entrance so I stopped to help out. Dan had his derailleur hanger bent so Mitch bent it back but it skipped all the time then they told me to continue without them. I just went tempo to the top and they caught me at the base and we TT'ed to the start where Dan dropped out and I tried to pull as much as possible before I had to ease up on Stage. The sun started shining so I decided to enjoy the last lap for fun, not really racing at all.

T: 2:33:38
S: 29.3
C: 91
Pavg: 176
Pnorm: 214
D: 75.3 km

2009 June 7 Two Wheel Criterium ( I guess we can have a tricycle and unicycle version...)

2009-06-08T09:21:00.001-07:00

TSB: 7
CTL: 115

Signed up for this race because it's new and wanted to see the course. The name of the office park - Sonoma Mountain Village - portends a mountain top setting but it's more like Mountain View, the mountains are right there on the horizon. The course though is not the usual office park criterium fair, lots of undulations in the road, none long enough to cause any difficulty, and somewhat narrow twists and turns (for a sixty plus rider field of newbs).

The 35+ 4/5 race has a big field. I want to move up but am a bit scared by the riding habits of some of the riders ahead of me, not that I am perfect - see yesterday. There are so many close calls that I get out of the mode of racing and into survival mode and just finish with the pack.

S: 41.7
C: 98
pavg: 166
pnorm: 184
T: 38.24

e4
After not feeling notall that tired from the first race, decide to at last work a little bit to get a better workout, sprinting legs not back from yesterday's efforts. Am able to work to the front - it seems a little safer but we have one crash where there were only a bunch of close calls in the masters' race. Not feeling the mojo so only sprint enough at the end to finish in front of Lloyd. :)

Here's one lap for those who were not there (that junior is really strong as was near the front until the end):

T: 38:10
D: 26.8
S: 42
pavg 181
pnorm 212
C: 102

2009 June 6 ICCC Dash for Cash

2009-06-08T09:16:00.001-07:00

TSB: 7
CTL: 115
Took it a little too easy on Thursday and Friday due to lack of sleep.

Trying to work on team tactics today, first race, trying to go for primes or lead out for primes. Lead out Reed for one, but I died before turn four, need to go a little longer or start a little later, or not go that hard at the start?

Next one I just happened to be near the front when there was a prime, Peter told me to go for it so I did, just sixth or seventh. Then Peter led me out, and did a much better job for me than I did for Reed. Unfortunately I made a few mistakes. Not following closely enough as Mark advised before the race. I also was not pedaling in the corners. Still getting confidence back after striking a pedal at Brisbane, need to forget about that and pedal through most corners, just not sprint through the corner... Ended up burning a lot of matches to stay close and came up a little short. Dang.

Also I totally blew after that effort, tried to keep going, but couldn't finish, sorry about blocking the course there everybody!
T: 26:43
pavg: 203
pnorm: 245
D: 18.75km
S: 42 kph
C: 100

For the second race I was supposed to attack a little later but I screwed up here after ten minutes:

and couldn't get back with the group - made the mistake of pausing when I caught some stragglers and should have kept on going. I guess on the bright side I didn't sign up to do the time trial tomorrow since I could not do it today.

T: 17:19
pavg: 198
pnrom: 227
C: 99
S: 37.1
D: 10.8 km

2009 May 25 Memorial Day Criterium

2009-05-28T20:32:00.000-07:00

CTL: 115
TSB: -6

If my legs felt sore yesterday before the two hilly crits, naturally they feel a little worse for the wear today. Since I don't have much hope for a good result, want to work on spinning in the races today since I have a bad habit of using too big a gear and mashing. In that regard the E4 race is a smashing success.

e4
t: 37.24
s: 42.5
c: 106
pavg: 158
pnrom: 176 - it was easy but it sure didn't feel easy
d: 26.6km

one lap of the course for the two of you out there who haven't seen it

35/45+ 3/4 race
This race is a little harder, I actually stuck my nose into the wind a few times, and it's a little more strung out, even with a lot more riders in this field. No team takes control so the last few laps are chaotic with every one trying to get into a sweet spot location of close to but not on the front. A few times the field goes curb to curb over four lanes and am not feeling the the ability to move all the way to the front so resign myself to sitting in back. There is a mishap on the first corner of the bell lap, one rider goes down and I stop to avoid hitting him and immediately pull of the course so just in case that guy who hit me last time in the back is here so doesn't get a second chance! :)

t: 38:58
S: 40.9
d: 26.6km
pavg: 163
pnorm: 196
c: 101

2009 May 24 Auburn Criterium

2009-05-24T21:10:00.001-07:00

CTL: 111
TSB: 4
Should be an OK day for me to race according to PMC but my legs are still sore from track racing on Friday night. This is a new race in Auburn which is about half an hour east of Sacramento. The course has a long slightly uphill drag to start/finish line that continues uphill after the finish with a steep section that lasts about twenty seconds, sort of like the start of the finish straight at Santa Cruz before it crests and leads to a 90 degree right that is narrow due to other lane being open to traffic, this goes under a railway crossing and immediately after the crossing (about 150 feet from the last turn) it turns 90 degrees right again (narrow initially then wide) with a long headwind and slightly uphill section until one reaches the top of the course which goes over the railroad tracks on a bridge a right turn onto the bridge, and 50 feet later a right turn onto the gradual sweeping left hand turn down to the hay bale lined left 90 degree turn. It was slower than I thought as I only reached about 32 mph into this turn. Then after a block there was a 90 degree right and another 90 degree right back onto the home stretch. Enough words:

The race goes with what is called a neutral lap so that everyone can view the course once with the moto ref at the front. We are not supposed to pass the moto, it's sort of like a keirin fight for position. My legs are not cooperating at all so I just sit on the back and it's strung out single file when we get the whistle for the rolling race start. My race is pretty much over on this first lap. I am getting gapped by the railway underpass, and after the two right turns come across the aftermath of a couple of riders sprawled on the ground, both talking so they are OK, and see a small gap to the field ahead on the long back stretch. Try to catch on, blow, and after a few laps chase for the rest of the race, get lapped once. Since our field is only about thirty five, the officials are nice and let us finish the race.

t: 36:19
pnorm: 239 - this is close to just doing Montebello at threshold for me - the part where I got dropped wasn't that hard ( i.e. I went harder for longer at the track on Friday )
pavg: 181
d: 18.4 km
c 97
s: 30.3

On the positive side, I stayed attentive during the start and was on the moto's wheel or close to it for the neutral lap, but the steep section of the hill got the better of me on the first lap, and I went straight to the back of the pack. I was with the group for one lap which was a minor improvement, until we got to the steep section and I could not do it a second time at race pace. Luckily(?) the officials had mercy and let us stragglers finish even though the original field size was around fifty.

One of the course marshals told me I would go faster if I shut my mouth, the additional wind resistance from riding around with my mouth wide open is probably slowing me down! The loud breathing is a dead giveaway whenever I am catching up to people, too. I considered quitting both races early but I could hear people yelling my name or possibly a similarly named competitor and would have felt worse if I quit and someone was cheering for me, can't let the spectators down.

2009 Auburn Criterium 35+ 4/5 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

t: 35.17
pnrom 238
pavg 182
d: 18.3 km
c: 98
s: 31.1

I want to try this race again, but I will have to skip the Friday track if I want to do well, even with one full day of rest my legs are not the same.

2009 May 22 Friday Night Hellyer

2009-05-23T01:21:00.000-07:00

TSB: -6
CTL: 115

Cat 3/4 15 lap scratch -

6/13?
T: 6:57
S: 45.2 kph
C:105
Pavg:302
Pnorm:329

match sprint with Brian Peterson and Doug Hall for *fun*

Cat 3/4 30 lap points race
T: 14:08
S: 42.3
C: 99
Pavg: 279
Pnorm: 292
first ten minutes
7?/13?

last ten minutes

Cat 3/4 Miss and out
T: 3:00
S: 40.3
C: 95 (clearly needed to gear down...)
Pavg: 356
8?/11?

All of these efforts are the maximum for the duration for me this year, clearly I need a rabbit to chase or be the rabbit to motivate myself to go this hard.

2009 May 17 Panoche Valley Road Race

2009-05-17T19:30:00.000-07:00

CTL: 115
TSB: -7

It's about ten degrees warmer than last year which turns out to be huge. Take three bottles with me but this ends up being three less bottles than I will need. About thirty minutes in we reach the first hill, and examining the data reveals we were not going hard at all but lack of fitness or the heat takes its toll and seven or eight of us are dropped including me. After another thirty minutes I recover and pass three riders by the turn around then feel much weaker in the slight headwind and have to ease up.

Running low on water, too, so have to conserve, and I countdown the kilometers until the neutral feed. I stop sweating before then, and considering stopping but there is no one around for as far as I can see, and don't want to be lost off the side of the road and at this point judgement impaired too, probably, so I keep trudging on, and there are no houses that I can mooch water off of like at Leesville. Then I get chills 4 km out from the feedzone, which is a pretty bad sign and have to slow even more. To add insult to injury my feet start cramping and I have to pedal one legged while I shake both of them out intermittently. Finally reach the neutral zone and they have one bottle of water left, for which I am very thankful, and consider drinking the 10% bleach solution they are using the clean bottles. Get on the bike again, and pick up any bottles with water on the side of the road, and still run out of water with 16 km to go! Now I would actually like to quit but the only people I see are the p12 riders who are finishing so I continue at a snail's pace to the end. My reward is a massive headache that lasts for twelve hours.

This ended up taking me 25 minutes longer than last year, survival mode for 27 miles is pretty slow...

T: 3:25:04
D: 89.4 km
S: 26.1
Pavg:117
pnorm:157 - wow seems like I went really easy, but felt really miserable at end of the day.

2009 May 16 CCCX MTB #7

2009-05-17T19:29:00.000-07:00

CTL: 114
TSB: -6
(standard constants)

I made the same mistakes I made last time I did this race - too much air pressure in the tires, and not going hard enough on the uphill. That's what I get for not reviewing the past race reports. :) Also, I may just be worse than everybody else at adapting to the heat, at least based on my performance the next day and descending.

The course is really hard due to the recent heat wave, was expecting some sandiness, but not nearly as much as we had during cross season on the same courses, it was mostly super hard pack so at race speed was getting a lot of vibration transmitted through the tires.

This is the most gentle pace for a mountain bike race I have ever been in, need to change that next time!

On the last lap started slowly picking off riders, just ran out of uphill. One rider went down in front of me with about 2km to go and I thought I was going to get to use my newly acquired first aid certification but he didn't consent to care (he described a leg cramp so not much to do except maybe a massage) so just moved his bike off the trail and finished up.

After the race I felt really fresh, so that kind of discounts the heat having much effect, especially since we started at 9:00, stuck around for the 11:00 start but then by the heat started to kick in and I had to get in the shade.

T: 1:13:25
D: 25.1 km
S: 20.6 kph
Pavg: 165
Pnorm: 201

Goofing off - Camera equipment details

2009-05-13T14:29:00.000-07:00

Get a lot of requests for this information, so hopefully can answer all those questions in one place and just point people right here and pay for this junk:

Manufacturer web page

basic camera

handlebar/seatpost/frame mount

NiMh AAA batteries:

and a charger - all the chargers i saw came with AA batteries and not AAA batteries...

cameras mounted on bicycle front and back

camera mounted on chest using the head mount:

camera on the fork:

then you need a standard 2G or 4G SD card.

2009 May 10 Berkeley Hills Road Race

2009-05-10T19:34:00.000-07:00

CTL: 108
TSB: -10

Last year I did the 4's and was in better shape and six pounds lighter and got dropped before we got to the top of the first big hill. This year I got in the 35+ 4's.

The first 37 minutes with a different field this year went exactly the same - we rode at a really easy pace to the bottom of the first big hill. Then the pace went up to a moderate level, about 4.6 w/kg for the three minutes to the top, a little easier than last year with the 4's. There was a small gap to the pack and about ten riders spread out over the road, with about six or seven between me and the pack, so I assumed I could just use the riders in front of me to get back onto the pack but this never happened. We got back within fifty meters at the base of the finish hill and then I tried to bridge up and blew. Oddly, this 0.7 of a lap was pretty easy in the big scheme of things, not sure why I could not keep up. Went harder for a longer period of time at the track on Friday - or maybe that explains things. :) Anyways did another lap chasing with various riders from my field and at the start of the last lap, hit a seam or pothole on the little bridge before the school, thought I flatted, then assumed I got lucky as I passed a couple of riders with flats, then realized my rear tire was feeling very squishy. Since this happened right next to the boat ramp/parking lot, just pulled out and saved my efforts for another day.

T: 2:01:53
S: 31.1
C: 94
Pavg: 164
Pnorm: 211
D 63.4 km
1.7 laps

2009 May 8 Hellyer Friday Night Racing

2009-05-10T19:21:00.000-07:00

CTL: 108
TSB: -8

First time to ride the track bike in a long time so just wanted to get a good workout in and stay out of trouble.

3/4 25 lap scratch race
surfed the back of the pack until things split up, had to pass about ten folks to end up tenth at the end. Was good for six minutes then had to take it easy for the second half of the race. Sitting on the back is not so good for results. :)
T: 12:58
S: 42.4
C: 99
Pavg: 262
Pnorm: 285

2009 May 8 Hellyer 3/4 scratch race from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Did five laps of the 123 scratch race and 123 points race to get more track time.

3/4 30 lap points race
Like the first race, had a good six minutes of vo2max and then couldn't do anymore and rode the rest at threshold, then pulled out when it was apparent I was going to be lapped, I think if I stayed in I would have been top ten!
T: 11:00
S: 41.5
C: 97
Pavg: 266
Pnorm: 280

May 3 - Sonora Road Race

2009-05-03T17:29:00.000-07:00

TSB: -2
CTL: 107

Considered driving up here the night before but figure I'm so tired from Cat's Hill volunteering I'll fall asleep early so decide to stay home and end up getting three hours of sleep, doh. On top of that, it only takes about two hours to get there, instead of the three hours that mapquest and my GPS report, and don't speed much (it's not possible on some of the two lane roads) so have some time to kill when I get there.

The course is wet from overnight sprinkles. I follow Hunny out to take a look at the finish hill before our race when we go over a set of train tracks at 45 degree angle to the road. Don't really think about it except to line up my wheels perpendicular and follow him over when the combination of wet and the steel plates surrounding the track and the track pull my front wheel right into the tracks and I go down at five miles per hour, on the bright side, it's on the side that doesn't have road rash. Get back to my car to repair things and a few other people report crashing on that set of train tracks or the next one during their warmups as well.

This makes me extra cautious during the race, probably too much so, but don't need road rash on my road rash...

Eighteen of us start. One rider almost falls in front of me on the first set of tracks and recovers. Then we get to the second set of tracks and three riders go down, I end up doing a track stand and have to unclip and walk over the tracks. The group has left us behind so I have to bridge back up after about a mile of pursuit. The next obstacles are a couple of 30-40 mph descents that end with 90 right turns on roads about as wide as WOLH. We are warned pre race about the second one, there's one lane concrete bridge immediately afterwards, but the first one seems just as bad to me. My caution leads to me getting gapped twice but I manage to pull the pack back each time. These turns would not be so bad if it were dry.

It starts raining and I back off from the group or am getting dropped, work my way back up to the group when we hit the finish hill, this is the longest hill on the course, possibly three to four minutes, and just can't keep up anymore after bridging up this last time. Contemplate quitting because the parking lot is so close but since I had to drive two hours to get here, and the riding conditions probably aren't much better back home, resign myself to a 39 mile time trial. The
course is a series of one/two/three minutes hills with not one flat section for the entire lap. Can't think of any route like this at home, I am reminded of the hilly parts of Two Rock/Spring Hill or Merco or West Lake Drive in Austin.

The second lap is pretty miserable with the rain but one has to keep going just to stay warm.

It stops raining on the third lap and I start to have fun again on the bike, plus Flandria tells me they are not that far ahead in the feed zone. Delirium probably makes me believe this so I keep pushing.

The course is dry on the fourth lap and it's my fastest lap yet. On the finish hill catch a couple of guys from my field and actually have to sprint to decide where we placed!

2009 May 2 Cat's Hill 35+ 4

2009-05-02T18:56:00.000-07:00

CTL: 108
TSB: -2

Still growing skin on my shoulder but signed up for this long ago so might as well give it a go.

Essentially we start at a 22:00 OLH pace from the gun, not that hard but more than I can do now, and I haven't been fit enough to do that since January , only managing about a 24:00 OLH right now so I explode after five laps and get pulled after eight.

On the plus side despite something like a 70% chance of rain it only sprinkled a little bit at the start and the course was dry, and no one tried to insert their bicycle into my backside today.

2009 Cat's Hill 35+ 4 rear view from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 20:42
D: 11.7 km
S: 33.9 kph
Pavg: 189
Pnorm: 267

2009 April 26 Wente Crit 35+ 4

2009-04-26T18:26:00.000-07:00

CTL: 105
TSB: -8

Go at the gun to stretch out the legs a bit and find there's not much pop left in them even though yesterday was pretty easy after the first hill climb was over. So sit in to wait for the finale. Try to get to the front with a few laps to go and spend so much time in the wind that I tire myself out before I can get to the front and have to rest a bit and find myself with Juan in the back. The pack surges and slows so much that we can get right back in the thick of things in the last lap should one choose to do so. There are so many large gaps between riders it's a matter of just accelerating into each one until we get to the front stretch. One rider in white slows in the middle of the road and I choose left to pass (which turns out so wrong in hindsight...) and move up and box myself in behind two rows of riders. Usually on a course like this with a long straight into a headwind, very few of the riders in front will be in contention by the end so I am prepared to wait for the inevitable blowing up of riders. However some of the riders in front of me get tangled in a crash so I look for a hole and slow to avoid the carnage (after hitting a flying bicycle while trying to ride past a crash last year it seems foolish to keep the speed up now...) and feel quite a relief that I make it past untouched for at least two seconds when someone (who was way out of contention) keeps his speed up through and past the accident and manages to clip my handlebars or my elbow at full speed and flip me over (I have a big hematoma on the crook of my elbow from some contact) and knocks himself off the bike, too. It takes me a while to get up because I'm a bit shocked to be on the ground and both my legs cramp in position and my hands are numb so the nice course marshal comes and checks on me before triaging the rest of the crash victims.

2009 Wente Crit 35+ 4 - front view from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

2009 Wente Crit 35+ 4 - view towards the rear from Steven Woo on Vimeo

T: 42.12
S: 41.4
C: 92
Pavg: 171
Pnorm: 198

April 25 Wente Road Race 35+ 4

2009-04-25T17:41:00.000-07:00

CTL: 104
TSB: 5

Think I am finally over that swine/avian flu thing I got last month and a beautiful day to be on the bike so why not race. The climb is like a vo2max interval but I couldn't do those while I was recovering since I couldn't breathe but get to do at least one during the race on the first lap.

I thought I made it farther with the group this year but it's about the same as last year, just nothing left by the overpass over 580 after fifteen minutes or so, can see about forty five riders going single file about fifty meters ahead but at the pace I am going will not catch them, attempt to stand up and accelerate up to them and my legs won't do it so that's that. Takes me a while to recover from the climb, about a dozen riders catch me on this lap and I almost get dropped by the small group I am with on the flat part, catch up with them on the feedzone hill because they are taking it pretty easy, and am able to start pulling after we get past the overpass. The next time up the hill our group has expanded from three to about ten. Consider just doing the next lap solo after I get on the front on the feedzone hill with only one rider close but the fact that we are going for only about fiftieth and I want to save a little bit for the crit tomorrow puts that thought out of my head, though I take a lot of pulls on this lap, cause it's fun on the descents. By the last climb only one other rider is feeling frisky and he attacks at the next to last turn, I wait until the last turn and we finish in that order, slightly ahead of our companions.

T: 2:35:24
D: 77.3 km
S: 29.8 km/h
C: 92
Pavg:171
Pnorm:203

This is not quite as hard as I went last year, and I am about five pounds heavier so really could not expect much results-wise, but a fun day on the bike with a good group of guys, though white shorts have got to go... Last year we went at about a 19:00 OLH pace at the start and this year we went at a 23:00 OLH pace at the start.

2009 April 19 Sea Otter Circuit Race 35+ 4

2009-04-22T23:17:00.000-07:00

CTL: 102
TSB: 25
These numbers are kind of deceptive because I didn't ride my bike for four days last week and was only able to ride easy this week since I have been sick for a few weeks and only starting to recover. Would have skipped today's race but I already paid for it and have never done it so figured I would at least get one lap on video...

The course is pretty nice, worth doing at least once on the road bike. Totally blew the second time up the climb. We doing 5w/kg for two minutes on the climb then not to hard for the other four minutes of the lap, could only do that once, and couldn't breathe any more on the second climb.

2009 Sea Otter Circuit Race E4/35+4/45+4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

until I was pulled
T: 34:31
S: 31.1
D: 17.9 km
C: 85
Pavg:194
Pnorm:236

graph until I blew

2009 April 5 Santa Cruz Criterium

2009-04-05T17:24:00.000-07:00

CTL: 113
TSB: -11

Last year I came into this race with what now looks like a crazy CTL of 133 and a higher FTP, this year after being under the weather for a while in February had to choose between going into this fresh or trying to regain some fitness and chose fitness, probably should have skipped this, but have to sign up for some of these races really far in advance and I signed up for two races and can't just do only one if you show up so will try to use some laps in the E4 race to get used to the course again at race speed and see if I can do anything in the 35+ 4/5 race. On the other hand, didn't do so well last year with better fitness...

Sit in for nine laps of the cat 4 race and pull out. The pace is manageable even given my current condition, the riders are pacing themselves for a forty minute event, but I'm not complaining.

T: 18:46
S: 36.2
C: 106
D: 11.4 km
Pavg: 185
Pnorm:240

The 35+ 4/5 field has a lot of large teams so it could be interesting and it is. It is strung out for the first six laps as a couple of teams make the race hard (and faster than the 3's - but they had a much longer race) and after we shed half the pack, there is no longer a group of riders I can hide behind and I can't hang on any longer, the pace is not much different from last year just my lack of fitness showing. Ride with two other riders and eventually we catch or are caught by five other riders and just finish out the race, kind of surprised we weren't lapped or pulled but my teammate in the front group of 22 said they slowed up with four to go.

2009 Santa Cruz Criterium 35+ 4/5 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 29:02
S: 36.6
C: 102
D: 17.75 km
Pavg: 202
Pnorm: 258

2009 March 29 Ronde van Brisbeen Circuit Race 35+ 4

2009-03-29T15:50:00.000-07:00

CTL: 105
TSB: 15

This will be a better test of my fitness since there is an approximately three minute hill on the course with about forty five seconds of recovery on the descent. I feel OK given my relative lack of fitness for me and residual effects of the crash yesterday.

I go to the front but other folks want it more than I do and string it out for the first few laps and I sit on. This feels kind of hard to me - but when I look at the data it's the same as last year and I did the race twice so my deconditioning is coming into play. This is what usually happens when I take a long break - my sprint gets much better but I lose so much aerobic conditioning I am never in a position to use it.

The whole race for me boils down to about two minutes on the sixth lap. The advantage to being small on the bike is that one can draft anyone, the disadvantage is you often have to move a lot laterally to keep an eye on the action. There's a point where I assume I am in the pack but am not at about the 22 minute mark, and by the time I realize it, make another bad move and assume we will catch them on the next lap but the data shows even though I get dropped by my companions, we are still going much slower than we went with the pack on the downhill, so we will never catch the pack. Kind of frustrating but my fault for not being attentive.

Ronde van Brisbeen Circuit Race 35+ 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 48:03
S: 34.6
C: 95
Pavg: 192
Pnorm: 237

2009 March 28 Ronde van Brisbeen Criterium

2009-03-28T20:07:00.000-07:00

CTL: 15
TSB: 105
Been sick for a couple of weeks so not been riding as much as usual. Haven't been able to ride hard until this Thursday so not a lot of expectations for this race. Haven't done this race before but it's a short course with a hairpin and some narrow roads so it's mostly an exercise in positioning.

The race gets underway and it doesn't feel too bad considering my deconditioning so I work my way to the front. Then I manage to hit a pedal in the chicane ( I think ) and auger the bike into the ground. Thankfully I didn't cause anyone else to crash so I limp back to the neutral pit where the nice SRAM mechanic and Eric help me get back into the race, the mechanic notes that my rear tire bead has come unseated so I get a Zipp 404 for the rear, losing the power data but gaining aerodynamics. I get to skip two laps, but I would rather have not crashed...

I tailgun the field for the rest of the race, the only hard part is the yoyo acceleration from the hairpin, not really feeling the motivation to get up close and personal for position. The minor road rash I have hurts more than the race efforts.

What really hurts is the friendly EMT cleaning out my shoulder wound where he describes how the base layer has been ground into my flesh and merged so he has to scrub extra hard to remove it and some flesh!

Ronde van Brisbeen Criterium 35+ 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Madera Stage Race E4

2009-03-14T16:47:00.001-07:00

TSB: 19
CTL: 114
Had trouble getting motivated for my last few pre race rides which was weird because usually I have trouble holding back, turns out I was just starting to get sick.

Criterium:

The course was a four corner rectangle with the road three to almost four lanes wide on three sides and about two lanes wide between turns three and four. The finish was four hundred something meters from the last corner. This meant there would be a lot of reshuffling of the order if there was not an organized leadout. This is what happened. I tried to stay up front and move up through the race but found myself near the back with two laps to go so I burnt a match to move up on side between turns one and two and felt pretty bad, but then the pace eased up and I was able to catch my breath, and start moving up again. Got to about twenty fifth by the last corner and just moved up on different rider's wheels until I got to the last two rows of riders that were only using the left half of the road so I looked to my right and saw a clear lane and moved all the way to the right and passed one row of riders to finish just behind the front row of sprinters.

T: 45:57
S: 40.5
C: 91
D: 31.1 km
Pavg: 199
Pnorm: 223

Time Trial:
Was really aiming to do well in the time trial, expected about fifteen percent over one hour threshold based on past performances for the expected duration of around 24:00. Right away I could tell I did not have the legs, everyone in front of me deserved to be there as we all had to do the crit first :), could only manage less than five percent over threshold so the mid pack finish time.

It's kind of easy to tell from the speed profile there was a part tailwind, full tail wind, part head wind, full headwind leg. Only met or exceeded my goals on the full headwind leg, just overestimated my perceived exertion on the other legs. I geared up to 51 on the front for the tailwind section but maybe should have stuck with the 50 in order to make myself spin more as I usually am going at 90+ rpm for a time trial.
T: 24:42
S: 40.8
C: 80
D: 16.75 km
Pavg: 249
Pnorm: 251

After the time trial my throat was really sore and I just wrote it off as the aftereffects of the effort but then it became really painful to swallow and it didn't go away for the rest of the weekend. Thought about just heading home but since I'm here, and the only symptom was the sore throat and not coughing, might as well do at least one lap of the road race just to check it out for the future.

Sunday:
TSB: 10
CTL:114
Felt pretty miserable and I swear this course is not as flat as people claim it is. Anyways, manage to hide in the pack for one lap until we get to the rollers at the end of the lap and get dropped like a rock. If I were feeling better I think I could do well on this course. Do another lap and the five riders who flatted pass me and I cannot even hang on their wheels for long. Hit the rough section and then it's my turn to flat. Rob from Alto Velo gives me a tube, but then Bob Leibold shows up and offers me a ride and I take it.

Even though I felt like the race was really hard, the data for the one lap I was in the pack show it was really easy, so looking forward to the next time I do this race.

Also need to remember to put more than 100 PSI in the tires for the bumpy section...

While in the pack:
T:44:12
S:36.1
C:94
D:26.7 km
Pavg:150
Pnorm:181

2009 March 8 Menlo Park Grand Prix

2009-03-09T23:06:00.000-07:00

CTL: 117
TSB: -11

Racing this weekend mainly to get some race practice of team tactics, and boy do I need to practice...It's easier on the track cause there's almost always room to maneuver where you want to when you want to until the last couple of laps versus vying with 95 other racers, even on the long 1.4 mile lap.

Went into this pretty tired from hard days on Friday and Saturday in attempt to make up a little bit for rain days and to simulate next weekend's stage race.

I almost run over Mary Maroon on the way there but she apologizes to me afterwards!

Masters 35+ 3/4
Was number fifteen on the waitlist so had to prepare for both racing and not racing, and I am one of the two people on the waitlist to actually show up so I get in.

No video so words will have to do, it's easy to float in the pack but I have no snap to move up so I stay pretty far back until the last lap, keep moving up until I find some teammates and try to help them move up, then we get to about 250 meters and teammate Steve gets out of the saddle for his final kick so I follow suit and I think we finish about 20th or so.

T: 37:36
D: 26.0 km
C: 97
S: 41.4
pavg: 180
pnorm: 216

E4 race
This race feels smoother only because for some reason we don't brake as much in the chicane - part of it is probably because lots of the riders in the first race had done or were doing multiple races and there were plenty of fresh legs in this race. But it turns out the average speed works out to be almost exactly the same. What's really weird is I can time trial faster and harder than this on my road bike but while I am in the race it feels harder than a time trial so it's one time you really have to ignore what your body is saying.

Float around the middle and back of the pack until two to go and move up behind a teammate and tell him to get on my wheel. I start moving up whenever I see a gap and think it's safe and find myself on the front with one to go, lead the group into turn one, let some guys pass, lead the group out of turn two and look back going into the chicane and don't see anyone I know behind me so I get pretty discouraged and start to soft pedal. On the road I have a relatively strong initial acceleration so that point I dropped my teammate but on the track I have learned to never rely on my sprint so I never worry about dropping anyone during a leadout so I have to do things a little differently on the road, at least while I am still a 4. Roll in mid pack somewhere.

T: 37:23
D: 26.1 km
C: 100
S: 41.7
pavg: 181
pnorm: 212

2009 March 1 Merco Credit Union Foothills Road Race

2009-03-02T19:18:00.000-08:00

CTL: 123
TSB: 15

Since I didn't ride much yesterday other than the crit my fitness actually went down a bit - the perils of racing every weekend sometimes...

Vance thought my saddle was high a couple of weeks ago, and Dale said he was changing his saddle height in response to his cramping issues so I had to take a look at mine. I checked my race bike and somehow the seat managed to be almost a centimeter higher than the bike I train on - if I spent 8000 miles on the training bike last year and never cramped, I'm going to stick with that formula.

This is the first time I've done this race but I've heard it's flat and there's always a huge bunch sprint. I check out the finish and with one kilometer to go there is a small hill for about maybe 150 meters, then it's 850 meters to the finish where it's slightly downhill/flat with a tiny roller. Ride it a couple of times and feel that it would be a perfect finish for me if it finished on top of the hill. :)
It resembles the Giro di San Francisco and Cat's Hill that way. Decide there's only one way to know if you can attack on the hill and stay away...just have to wait two laps to find out.

The course is pretty non selective - on the first lap one rider drops out when his left crank arm comes loose. Since we have at about eighty guys and the roads are about 1.5 lanes wide, it can get pretty sketchy and there is one crash about halfway through the lap that takes out a couple of riders and delays the riders behind them, not sure if they all got back on or not. Then in the rough section my camera falls off and looks like it rolls into the bushes, doh. This is actually rougher than the rough part at Snelling or Copperopolis from what I remember. Now I am going to have compose a lot more prose and remember what happened for this silly report. I think I was closer to the front so it would have been problematic to pull out at this point so I decide to consider it lost forever and just keep riding. There is one 80 degree left turn onto the finish road, I am third wheel at this point and the rider at the front indicates he is turning right instead of left, this is almost surprising...so I leave him room to crash but he makes it in spite of taking the turn from the far left so we must not be going that fast...

Most of the starting pack is still there on the second lap. It's hard to move up on the flats due to congestion as everyone wants to draft but no one wants to pull hard enough to string it out, but if you want to, it's easy to move up on the few short hills. On one of the roads that we also ride in Snelling I manage to hit a pothole so hard everyone asks if I am OK - I thought for sure I was going to pinch flat but everything seems OK for now. Our pack makes it intact to that left turn with two or three miles to go when it gets really interesting and several riders go down. This leaves about ten riders off the front while the rest of us are delayed and get started again, then some of the riders starting up end up crashing again. We chase (the guy in front of me chases while I draft) and we catch the group with about one mile to go. Had to work hard but not that hard and no signs of cramps so the saddle height must have been the problem, so sticking with plan A.

When the pack slows on the final hill, I hit it as hard as I can. It turns out I have enough in me for a good sixty seconds but it's about ninety seconds to the line so I am caught by riders in ones and twos right up until we get to the line so I eventually wind up in tenth place. At the least I was able to try to do what I wanted to do and didn't cramp this time.

After the race I did another lap to try to find the camera but no luck then noticed my rear wheel was a little out of true and rubbing the brakes so there was a little damage from the pothole, just not a flat, but not enough to make a difference in the outcome.

T:1:56:17
S:39.0kph
C:96
D:75.75 km
Pavg:153
Pnorm:211

P.S. someone else did find the camera and the race director was going to send it to me!

2009 Feb 28 Merco Credit Union Grand Prix

2009-03-01T05:57:00.000-08:00

CTL: 124
TSB: 15

Was not planning on doing this race as I am not a sprinter but one of my teammates was going to do it, signed up to help out. He got sick and had to DNS so I was on my own. The last time I did this race I remember there being five crashes in the last two laps so essentially anyone had a shot at winning if they were strong enough to be near the front and lucky enough to avoid the carnage.

I don't think we can top the comments at the start line for this event - you know you might be in the wrong race when everyone says you need to eat more. and then someone else claimed "below the waist I'm built like a black man" ?! Too much material, not enough time...but we'll try next race...

2009 Merco Downtown Grand Prix Cat 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.
Anyways, I put my nose in the wind for the lap, switch to TT mode at around 25-26 mph (you never know...) and look back and see two folks gaining on me so I ease up and see if this might work and they get a little ragged after they both stayed on the front for half a lap each and we get caught by the group, since I am racing tomorrow so I will just sit in and survive and move up for the finish, just like the other eighty guys.

All goes according to plan until there is a crash in front of me about halfway through right when I was going to start moving up. Burn a match to catch the group then we are instructed to stop at the start finish so we can restart the race with eight laps - this will be like a longish track race but I have to start at the back. There are two places where it's safe to move up a lot of places, exiting the turn after the chicane, and the main straight, for some reason it's easier on the shorter back stretch so I start moving up a few spots every lap with four to go, but waited a bit too long and enter the last lap from what I think is 20th but after review looks like 30th or so of the 60 riders left. There is lots of contact and close calls but no crashes until Brian has a rear tire blow out in the last corner while leading the race, and a rider behind this incident crashes, delaying most of the rest of the field. Oh well, get this far, should at least sprint once it's safe and end up 20th.

This data includes the neutralized lap
D: 32.8 kilometers
S: 40.9 kph
C: 94
Pavg: 186
Pnorm: 213

February 22, Original Merced Criterium

2009-02-22T21:17:00.000-08:00

TSB: 0
CTL: 126
Felt really good going into this. Watched the first laps of the cat 4 race and it split up immediately. The course is a little technical and it's raining so I go to 85 psi in the tires, and try to miss the botts dots. Usually more people show up than pre reg but today because of the wind and rain, less people show up than pre reg so our field size is only about twenty, and two or three people don't bother showing up, possibly because they did the preceding cat four race.

With a field this small and given the wet conditions and technical course, decide to just race it like a track race and throw down, recover, repeat and see what happens - if it's going to be a sufferfast might as well dish it out. The one mistake I make is holding something in reserve - there is a point when two unattached riders attack and someone says let them die out there - and I listen instead of covering it. The times I go off the front I am marked by the other riders so I am thinking maybe he's right and maybe the other riders will work to catch them like they did me but they do not! The other thing I did not count on was I think all the strong riders in the pack are doing their second consecutive race so they don't have quite the punch they did earlier and I and the two riders off the front are doing our first race of the day.

I miss the lap cards and only get the bell and have to verify with the chief referee while we are riding past that it *is* the bell lap and not some preme and just go for it from the front of what's left of the pack and hold it all the way to the line to win the field sprint and come in third overall.

The entire race:

2009 Original Merced Criterium 35+ 4/5 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 37:59
D: 23.16
S: 36.5
C: 88
Pavg: 220 - this is really high for me for a flat crit
Pnorm: 236 - this is similar to doing Montebello in the same amount of time

p.s. in spite of the small field size get three upgrade points for the result so now I have eighteen total.

2009 Feb 21 Snelling Road Race

2009-02-21T18:05:00.000-08:00

CTL: 125
TSB: 13

The other two times I tried doing this race after cross season and never had the fitness to stick with the group for more than a lap, this year had to quit racing cross and just been doing lots of miles.

Almost missed the race as I slept through the alarm for an hour, but made it there just in time, no warmup but just attacked with Jason(?) from Davis at the start to get the blood flowing - we were a little confused by where the neutral zone started so the ref ended up neutralizing us a couple of times. Oops.

Turns out five laps with the group fly by when you are having fun and you are trying to avoid people that are riding straight off the road (which turns out to be me in the end). Felt really great, but my calves started cramping about 75% through so I was pretty conservative after that. Finally on the last lap was just trying to move up and found myself on the front and there was a point where I could have just gone for it and caught the breakaways dangling off the front of the field but decided against this.

Anyways the last mile rolls around and there are forty something of us and I am trying to move up but every time I accelerate my hamstrings start to cramp, at one point one of them locks up but since the course is flattish at this point I manage to stay in the pack. I thought I might be thirtieth going into the final corner but it turns out I was about forty fifth, because I only ended up twenty ninth after making a little contact with a rider that died about twenty meters from the line and going off into a ditch (surprisingly this only affected my position by about two or three places, possibly I scared everyone off behind me...)

last lap, part 2 of 5:

a contributing factor to cramping at the end - goofing off too much at the front
last lap, part 3 of 5:

last lap, part 4 of 5:

last lap, part 5 of 5

T: 2:44:42
S: 37.2
C: 96
D: 102.3 km
Pavg: 159
Pnorm: 210

Cantua Creek Road Race

2009-02-15T08:41:00.001-08:00

CTL: 126
TSB: 10

This race felt really easy to me, right up until the point at which I cramped - doh. Almost exactly the same as last year... The course is out and back for twenty six miles so this year I was with the group for fifty one miles, the last ten minutes consists of rollers, could feel my leg cramping up during the second lap and tried massaging it at the back of the pack, but had to do the last couple of hills alternating between using both legs and just the left leg and stretching the right leg - still only a little back of the group at the turnaround, then I got a full on leg cramp when I tried to go into time trial mode after the turnaround, but since it was downhill was able to stay upright this time. Last year I had to do a couple of vo2max efforts to stay with the group and this year I did not/could not and stayed with the group longer, though the effort for the full race is about the same.

T: 3:28:32
S: 32.8
C: 90
D: 114.1 km
Pavg: 156
Pnorm: 188

8 February Cherry Pie Criterium Cat 4

2009-02-09T21:02:00.000-08:00

CTL: 129
TSB: -5

Not a priority race but some teammates wanted to start the season with this race so what the heck.

Was going to try to help a teammate out. I made one mistake which was not keeping aware of where he was! It turns out he got dropped. It was kind of hard to assess the situation from mid pack - there were so many turns and riders that turning back was hazardous to one's health so I should have just gone straight to the back and worked my way up to find him. Next time... This led to me waiting too long and hesitating to move up when I had the chance - only on one of the last five laps was there a clear lane up the hill to pass everybody and I only used it to move to midpack.

My other mistake was not accelerating into the downhill. I could pass people easily on the uphill but relaxed too much on the descent so never moved up much during mid part of the race.

The worst feeling in the world for me after a bike race is feeling really fresh because I didn't try hard enough and that's the way I felt at the end, stopped sprinting due to traffic congestion at the end, didn't realize I was that far back, either. Had several better sprint efforts goofing off with some friends after the race. Anyways the video shows most all.

2009 Cherry Pie Criterium Cat 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 39:06
S: 39.4 kph
Pnorm: 224 - like doing OLH at a 26:00 pace, drafting is too easy. :)
Pavg: 186
H: 171
C: 91

2008 November 16 CCCX Fort Ord (DOD) C

2008-11-16T19:02:00.000-08:00

CTL: 112
TSB: 0
Legs didn't feel like TSB 0, but much smaller field today, a few faces from yesterday so no excuses.

Hillier today versus yesterday but not really hilly. Reverse of the course from the last time we raced here.

Lap 1:

2008 Nov 16 CCCX Fort Ord cyclocross Lap 1 of 4, C race from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 2:

2008 Nov 16 CCCX Fort Ord (DOD) Lap 2 of 4 C race from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 3:

2008 Nov 16 CCCX Fort Ord (DOD) lap 3 of 4, C race from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 37:28
S: 23.5
C: 82
H: 183
Pavg: 177
Pnorm: 206

2008 Nov 15 Pilarcitos BASPS Sierra Point Cyclocross

2008-11-16T18:53:00.000-08:00

CTL: 112
TSB: -2

You know you're lazy when all you're doing is posting links to video, and you think eight is too many...

Started towards the end of the eighty strong field. Managed to pass about thirty people to end up twenty eighth, though I probably passed most people in the first two laps.

Lap 1:

2008 Nov 15 Pilarcitos BASPS Cyclocross C Race Lap 1 of 8 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 2:

2008 Nov 15 Pilarcitos BASPS Cyclocross C Lap 2 of 8 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 3:

2008 Nov 15 Pilarcitos Cyclocross Sierra Point lap 3 of 8 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 4:

2008 nov 15 Pilarcitos BASPS Cyclocross Sierra Point Lap 4 of 8 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 5:

2008 nov 15 Pilarcitos BASPS Cyclocross Sierra Point lap 5 of 8 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 6:

2008 Nov 15 Pilarcitos BASPS Cyclocross Sierra Point Lap 6 of 8 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 7:

2008 Nov 15 Pilarcitos BASPS Cyclocross Sierra Point Lap 7 of 8 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 8:

2008 Nov 15 Pilarcitos BASPS Cyclocross Sierra Point Lap 8 of 8 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 43:14
S: 21.3
Pavg: 178
Pnorm: 190
C: 80
H: 188

I wish my heartrate was higher since there was about a one to one ratio there between that and watts...

2008 Nov 2 Pilarcitos BASPS CX #2, Candlestick

2008-11-04T20:49:00.000-08:00

TSB: 8
CTL: 102

The good news is ice cream every day doesn't change my results. The bad news is my results don't change.

Lap 1:

Pilarcitos BASPS Candlestick Cyclocross Lap 1 of 6 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 2:

Pilarcitos BASPS Candlestick Cyclocross Lap 2 of 6 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 3:

Pilarcitos BASPS Candlestick Cyclocross Lap 3 of 6 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 4:

Pilarcitos BASPS Candlestick Cyclocross Lap 4 of 6 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 5:

Lap 6:

T: 47:29
NP: 176
AP: 192
S: 18.3khp
H: 189

2008 Oct 26 Velo Bella Spirit of Surf City Soquel CX

2008-10-29T13:25:00.000-07:00

CTL: 102
TSB: 4
Too busy to write much.
I never go hard enough during cross races...

Lap 1:
One rider flats then crashes twice before he realizes his rear tire is pretty low in the first half of the lap.

2008 October 26 Surf City CX C Soquel Lap 1 of 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 2
Almost run into some guys warming up on the course near the start.

2008 October 26 Surf City Velo Bella CX Lap 2 of 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.
Lap 3:

2008 October 26 Surf City Velo Bella CX Lap 3 of 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.
Lap 4:

2008 October 26 Surf City Velo Bella CX Lap 4 of 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 30:35
S: 19.2
H: 182
Pavg: 177
Pnorm: 213

2008 October 19 Pilarcitos #1 McLaren Park

2008-10-19T21:20:00.000-07:00

CTL: 104
ATL: 4

I have to remember to bring my mountain bike next time...

The major feature of this course is an extended climb of about 90 seconds.

I can sort of describe my race by listing my time for climbing it each lap:

1:23
1:31
1:42
1:47
1:57

or use some video:

Lap 1: 8:21 - 78 riders with about forty in front at the start line.

Pilarcitos CX #1, C, Lap 1 of 5, McLaren Park, San Francisco from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 2: 7:56

Pilarcitos CX #1, C, Lap 2 of 5, McLaren Park, San Francisco from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 3: 8:20 - starting to feel the six hours on the road bike yesterday about now

Pilarcitos CX #1, C, Lap 3 of 5, McLaren Park, San Francisco from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 4: 8:47 - really not feeling the bike love right about now

Pilarcitos CX #1, C, Lap 4 of 5 McLaren Park, San Francisco from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

Lap 5: 8:24

2008 October 19 Pilarcitos #1 C race CX Lap 5 of 5, McLaren Park, San Francisco from Steven Woo on Vimeo.

T: 41:46
C: 70
H: 178
Pavg: 160
Pnorm: 216