Monday, June 30, 2008

odd feeling... i was physically ready

before I show up to the start line with a good feeling that I would last the entire race but most of the time I finish the race but towards back of the pack. The gas tank would just dry up and I be fighting to get that 60th place.

here's how it went on Sunday at the Burlingame Criterium

Memorial Day Criterium announcer tells us that there is a delay due to a crash in the last race, we'll get you guys started as soon as we get the all clear. Since I'm towards the back I take advantage of riding some loops to keep the legs warm, after 10 minutes of that they finally tell us the rules of the road and start the race.

Knowing that the majority of the guys are anxious to get warm, I knew that there would be crashes, yep on lap 2 or 3 we had 2 crashes in the back stretch, one was a solo and the other involved at least 5 guys, after finally being neutralized the pace finally became reasonable. Sitting comfortably towards the back, but still able to see the front of the race waiting for the surge. The surge finally took place with 6 laps to go, I figured okay I'll play along moving myself up to the mid-pack, with 4 laps to go Steven Woo (LGBRC) puts in a huge attack to get himself to the front, I wait for the Synergy train to get organized and hop on board. With 3 laps to go I'm sitting in top 25, as we hit the final lap, I have good position to get my goal on top 30.

As I enter the final turn a Synergy guy bumps into me and proceeds to lean on me for quite some time, I tell him "take it easy - hold your line" and slowly he returns to his original line, afterwards he thanked me for being calm and instructing him how to keep it upright.

Back to the finishing stretch, I get a good draft from some guy, as soon as he starts to fade I go around him to find Mr. Zig Zag, I pass him on his zag and without getting out of the saddle I power through the finish line, knowing that I got my goal of top 30 but now I'm thinking I got top 20.

Place 21
Avg HR: 157
Avg Watts: 202

Friday, June 20, 2008

the fitness is returning

tuesday night's goal was to stay with the B group for every lap, no matter how painful it was going to be. the first few times up the climb were painful as the climbers desperately tried to create the break, about 6 laps into it they did. now that we had 2 guys in the breakaway, i immediately positioned myself up front to block, but this meant i was in the wind possibly jeopardizing my chances. what you do for teammates!

but this week I did it, I lasted all 15 laps with a lot of help from my team mates. i glued myself behind scott, todd and maurice and derrick shouted out encouragements, whew I needed every last letter on the last time up the hill.

i even broke the 1000 watt mark, scoring a 1019 on one of the climbs.

next week, i'm going for the same goal, stay with the pack and perhaps give a few others a chance to block some wind.

Friday, June 13, 2008

if i dont attack look what happens

since that hill normally destroys me, sjbc tuesday night crits, i normally attack and go all out for the first 5 laps, this week i decided to see what would happen if i didn't attack. holy crap, i lasted 12 of 14 laps and if i didn't have to put on the president's hat and speak to someone in the fricking wind, who knows might have lasted the full 14 laps.

next week...

Friday, June 6, 2008

putting on a bike race is tough, try doing two

after six months of planning and worrying about if I had forgotten anything the Mt Hamilton Classic and Memorial Day Criterium happened with great success. The sheer amount of support that I received both from volunteers and sponsors was beyond my wildest hopes. Sure there is registration and results items to be fixed, but now that I know all the aspects on putting this weekend on, I'll be better prepared for 2009.

next year we are thinking about adding a 3rd event and creating a points event, it will be fun...