Mason Lake #1, 2012: Still Winning Sprints on Open Pros

The Open Pro is one of the standards of road bicycles, a simple but sturdy wheel - 32 spokes front and rear, more or less a "box rim," e.g. no aero profile. I like the ceramic ones so the rims last forever.

Contrast that with the popular deeper, lighter, stiffer wheels seen in amateur (and pro) racing - some costing upwards of $2,500! You could say I like overcoming such technological advances with simple, proven - if not dirty - equipment. It started with Ballard 2010, continued with Ballard 2011, and now the Mason Lake Road Race (Cat 3's)!

First off I have to admit I didn't win this race - just the field sprint - I got 2nd. The guy that won the race was about 15 seconds ahead of the pack, solo -he'd taken off a mile or two from the finish.. just like last week in fact!

Mason Lake!

Love or hate it, Mason is what it is: raw road racing in the Pacific Northwest. Yes, some people hate the scenic tour of some of the area's nicest chipseal roads and windswept views. It also has a history of raining a ton, being cold, and of being a little chaotic at times.

Combine narrow roads, nervous riders, and chipseal and you've got Mason! Love it.

The race for our wily Cat 3 pack was a relatively short 60 miles, 5 laps of a 12 mile loop around Mason Lake (on the peninsula). After scoring a top 10 last week at Eatonville but having a shitty race (legs fell apart), of course I wanted to make it up with something better this time around.

With three strong teammates in the race, and some decent training over the winter, I figured I had a shot at something in this race. I've always been more of a crit guy (at least based on results), but I'm looking to branch out in to real racing: road racing.

Only problem is that a bunch of other dudes trained over the winter, and so did their teammates..

Erik from my team took off from the gun, in his usual fashion, holding off the field for quite a while. Of course he attacked as soon as he was caught, and continued to attack over and over again. No way I can do that..

When he was off the front we did our best to keep the pack at a reasonable pace, while of course being reasonable. And we took turns off the front as well.

Off the Front

I followed an attack about halfway through the race for some reason. A few minutes before that I was thinking about just sitting in and waiting for a sprint, but that can lead to a boring race. Plus I had a friend/teammate telling me it was my turn to do some work for the team shortly before that.

When this attack went off it looked fast, and I followed. And it was fast. In fact the guy was going so fast it seemed like it took forever to catch him. And then of course once you catch you're dying, gasping for air with legs on fire, thinking why am I out here on this guy's wheel doing as close to 30mph as we can?

He was nice about it and let me catch my breath before pulling through, and was probably glad to have company. Unless you're just that strong, you'll probably need help to ride away from 50+ riders who all paid to race today.

I pulled through and tried to keep the pace - though I have to say that without any data (most notably speed) it's hard to know if you're doing a good pace besides the way your legs feel. And if the pack is catching you..

We took off before the third turn on the course, and coming through the start/finish line we got a timecheck of 40 seconds. We were out of sight, and it started to click. My legs actually hurt a little less than they did when we started this breakaway! Then again, there were two laps to go, which could be a long time if you're already hurting.

Here I am, what passes for a Cat 3 sprinter in a breakaway and trying to hold the wheel of someone who seems to be good TTer. I'm a terrible TTer. What am I doing here again? Doing something different I guess. When I get up to the Cat 1/2's I'll need some more tricks up my sleeve for sure.

Once we made the turn up the slight hill/in to the headwind on the backside of the course things got REALLY hard. We continued and still had a gap, but it wasn't getting bigger for sure. At one point I looked back and saw the pack waaaay back there, and a solo guy trying to bridge. Hmm. He's out there alone, and it's windy.

I was hoping it'd be the HSP guy and we could all ride off in to the sunset, but instead the guy never made it up, and we got caught soon after. So it goes.

Caught, Counter

Of course Erik attacked as soon as we got caught, which was good. But hard to jump on wheel when you're trying to take a rest. Things settled down and we rode around for a while, only now I was more towards the back than I wanted to be.

Moving up on this course is tough, the roads are narrow and with 54 riders starting things get tight. And on the last lap everyone wants to be somewhere near the front.

A few attacks went off in the last half of the last lap, but I couldn't see since I was on the back, talking with Rob on how we needed to move the F up. Where to go? Gravel on the right, center line, on the left.. and I'm in the middle, boxed in.

Moving Up

It looks impossible at first, but you can do it. People move around and leave you a tiny spot to edge forward in to. Of course you can't be dangerous about it, but it's only dangerous if people go down right? Not like we bounced off people like a pinball, we gracefully made our way forward and to the left, to the center line.

From there people give just enough space for you to edge forward, and Rob moved over giving me the reins and a chance to get forward. Still at least 30 people back at this point, with the pack all bunched up and less than 10k to go.

A little yellow-line surfing, gap closing, and not-giving-up and eventually I found myself 20 guys back, things are getting better - light at the end of the tunnel. But not there yet.

Apex was on the front, not quite chasing (there's one guy a few meters up the road), and I knew there was at least one guy further up but that was it. We weren't racing for 1st at that point, but why not keep racing? Apex was setting up some kind of leadout train, with at least six dudes hammering on the front. I'll take it!

Looking back, had I known who was up the road, I might have chased, but looking back is always all too clear.. and all too easy.

Instead of attacking and trying to bridge I saw the 1km sign go by, and had figured out the course enough to know that it goes by quickly, and we'd probably be doing a pack sprint for the finish. Cool, I love pack sprints!

Pack Sprint!

Especially when sitting about 10-15th wheel leading up to the 200m sign. Apex guys were down to two by that point I think, peeling off faster than they'd planned most likely. A bunch of guys on their wheel and me seeing 10-15 wheel, salivating.

Unlike last week I didn't get too anxious and go at 300m, I waited until the virtual line drawn by that orange 200 meter sign that for some reason we wait to sprint for.

And at Mason that 200m sprint is uphill, a slight uphill at 3% or so. Something that suites me.

Anyway we finally get to the 200m sign, and everyone jumps. Let's do it. I'm on the left side of the road and pack, waiting to go in to the left lane since we get both lanes in the final sprint.

Guys are on the right, I'm gaining, and nobody is ahead of me, this is good! I'm out of the saddle, hammering my brains out. I can see to the right that there's one or two guys left and one has a little gap. But I'm gaining. Gaining. Jeez this sprint is taking forever, when is it gonna end?!!

The tent, clock, lap counter, and officials come in to view and I can see the white finish line. I'm still out of the saddle, going all out. Getting really close to the line, nobody is under my left arm, and I'm overtaking the guy on my right just before the line, BOOM! Did it, took my first field sprint in a road race!! Finally.

There are no prizes at Mason except bragging rights, which is awesome. There were no crashes in our race, which was awesome.

Yeah so some other guy actually won this race, and I gotta give him credit for that.. he's strong and obviously on my list of wheels to keep an eye on! But I'm pleased with the result so early in the season.

All those town-limit-sign sprints paid off I guess! Next time I just need to make sure it's for first place and not second.

Wheels

The irony of this post about Open Pros is that I recently placed an order for some fancy Zipp tubular wheels. We'll see how they feel! Maybe I can coast across the line next time using those..


Points

With 54 in the field, my placing in this race netted me 8 points. Add that to the 18 I have from last year, and that puts me just over the amount you need to upgrade to Cat 2.

Oh shit! Cat 2?! You mean the guys that race with the 1's, and the pro's if they show up to wreak havoc? Yeah, those 2's.

I need to learn how to time trial before I get up there and run with the big dogs.. and also help out some teammates on the way out of the 3's. But before too long I'll make my way further up the rungs closer to the upper end of amateur road racing.

It's a good thing I have a day job as a backup plan!

Next weekend Sequim & Mason are coming up! Can't wait. See you on the road..

Mason Lake Road Race #1 2010: Now This Is PNW Racing!

After my abysmal performance at the Frostbite TT last weekend, I was excited to get back into road racing (e.g. in a pack), and believe it or not I'm a huge fan of the risky business that is road racing. The constant flow inside the pack, the draft, the sound of crashes, I love it all.

And I'm proud to report that I placed much better in this race than the last! Though I didn't win, it was a top ten. **** yeah. Read on for all the details.

Pack Racing Dynamics

Cornering in a criterium reminds me of diving down a set of stairs on a skateboard - you have to fully commit or you'll never make it. And while cornering isn't so much an issue in road racing, riding/handling in a pack certainly is. And you have to commit at certain points in a road race or you'll never make it to the end. You have to know when to push hard, and when to go soft.

And on a course with rolling hills, a bunch of sketchy Cat 5's (me included), first race of the season - you can be there was a lot of braking, and a lot of yelling in the race. Oh if I had a dime for every time I heard or had to yell "slowing!"

Were there crashes? Indeed, three of them.

Pre-Race Thoughts

Mason Lake is a race I've wanted to do for years now, and this time I was finally taking the dive in.

I've ridden on these roads before, though in a much different setting: last year's Fleche (24-hour ride). I remembered the chip-seal and rolling terrain, and the cold morning too.

Lots of other people out for the first road race of the season - 85 starters in Cat 5! That many riders jammed into one tiny PNW-peninsula road probably makes for quite a long train. Well, at least before the first riders get shelled and then the inevitable crashes that will splinter the field.

The Race

Rob from Second Ascent and I started out in about the middle of the pack, and I knew it was going to be tough to move up, but that's all a part of the fun!

We rolled out for a neutral start, getting around a turn, doing about 1/4 mile, then the lead-car honked - the signal that the race was on. But I don't think anyone else heard it because we stayed at the slowest pace I've ever done in a race.. but since my plan was to just get to the end, I didn't really care.

Our Cat 5 pack was doing three laps, about 34 miles in total. Very short for a road race, but as beginners this felt like a long-ish race to me & I'm sure others. So we started off conservatively, though someone went off the front somewhere in the first few miles, and I just watched them up the road, dangling in the wind. It looked like they were working so hard, head down, back flat, upper body undulating with all the work their doing out there solo. But 3 miles into the race probably isn't the place to go....

They did stay out front for a while, maybe a lap, but were pulled back in eventually.

My plan was to play it conservatively, e.g. the opposite of how I raced at Gig Harbor last year. Just wanted to save energy, stay out of the wind, and save energy. Another RCR team-mate was in the pack, but we didn't get a chance to connect once we got going and then he flatted out.

Crashes!

Ah, the sound of carbon meeting chip-seal, welcome to road racing in the PNW! First crash happened just a few bikes up from me on the first lap, someone's tire blew out, and then a guy's doing a flip over the bars in front of me. I had to slam on the brakes and put a foot down while coming to a full stop. Damn!! That's obviously one of the last things you want to do in a race..

The next thing I thought of was, "I hope I don't get hit from behind," and though I heard a lot of braking and yelling, I didn't feel anything knocking me down. Sweet! Made sure there was room to go around the guy who had just rolled around on the ground, and finally got going again, somehow not all that far off from the leaders so I didn't have to chase much.

Someone said they saw that the guy who fell was laughing, so I was glad to hear he was at least OK and taking it in stride.

The second and third crashes I could only hear, and didn't even time to imagine or look back and see. After the race I did hear that they had to call an ambulance for a head injury - but someone said the guy's eyes were open so that's a good sign. Hope he's OK...

Yes, this is racing. Love it.

The Last Lap

The last lap finally comes and the pace picks up a bit. This is when the action starts for us. I've done some work to get up to the top 20 riders or so, and the field is going into the wind on a backstretch, getting stretched out into an echelon of sorts. I was stuck on the outside, in the wind, but eventually someone came around and shielded me. Ahhh...

With 5-6 miles to go, at the top of the big hill near the end, the first serious attack comes. We all chase, of course. Soon after two guys are kind of off the front, and I chase on. I hear one of them say "let's go!" (e.g this is our chance) so I latch on and see how far we can get. Surely the pack is right behind us but it's fun to be on the 'sharp end of the spear' once in a while.

We're holding good speed, and taking short turns, but it doesn't last long and people start to come around. Then I jump on another train - I think it was the BikeSale.com/Wines of Wa team that had four people together at the end (actually pretty impressive for Cat 5's).

Speed is picking up now, and looking back at the stats we hit at least 45 mph on one of the steep downhills. I remember screaming "no brakes!" hoping that we could jam down that hill as fast as possible.

At the bottom of the hill we shot by some riders like they were standing still - but it wasn't because I was stronger, I was just on the right wheel and essentially being sucked along in the draft. (And they'd also gone too early, in the wind, and were fading as a result)

Then the final straight-away appears, and I'm in the top 10. Excellent. Legs actually feel decent, as if I could sprint. (E.g. not on fire, which is usually the case at the end of a race for me)

Things are extremely fluid, and the 1-km-to-go sign appears. But I'm just waiting for the 200m mark to go, or even later since it was a slightly uphill sprint (~3% grade).

We finally all unleash and surge toward the line, and I try to jam in between two riders to eek out a top-5, since I could tell I was in contention for once. But it was too crowded and I had to ease off, nowhere to go. The final 5 minutes was a blast, especially the sprint - I think I yelled out "**** yeah!" during the sprint like one might do if they enjoyed a roller-coaster..

Ended up 7th overall, my best result yet!

Cat 5 Race Photos

Here is our Cat 5 field coming in for the finish.

That would be me in the blue Recycled Cycles Racing jersey behind the Rad Racing guy in red:
(Interesting that the pack started 85-strong, and ended up like what's pictured above - did we drop everyone just on that last fast stretch, or was that pack that thinned out just from the race itself?)

Looking behind the guy in the fore-ground in the shot below, you can (barely) see how the two riders on each side of me just barely edged out my wheel. Some may say a more aero rim would have gained me those few inches and thus two spots:
But I'm willing to believe if I'd played my cards right in the sprint (e.g. gone to the outside lane, where it wasn't crowded) my non-aero Open Pro could have sailed me to a victory, or closer at least.

More Photos

A shot of the pack from the Women's Cat 4 race:

And here's Jordan R. at the front of Men's Cat 4 race. He ended up third in the race, while his SCCA/Starbucks team-mate Mark got 4th - nice work guys! Can't wait to get into the 4's and chase your wheels.. (also congrats to Jordan L. who won the Men's 4 race and can now upgrade to the 3's - good luck!)

Kira took some shots of the Masters race as well, posted on her kirafoto site.

I'm so happy she was willing to drive all the way out there, and stand in the cold for a few hours! Sounds like it was really cold out there, as you can imagine standing around in the shade on an early March morning on the peninsula.. I think the temp was somewhere in the high 30's/low 40's? Anyway, thanks so much for coming out, Kira!! Couldn't have done this without you.

The Race by the Numbers

Lap 1: 20.8 mph avg, 152 watts, 150 bpm
Lap 2: 22.7 mph, 172 watts, 157 bpm
Lap 3: 23.0 mph, 208 watts, 164 bpm

mason #1 (w/o neutral rollout):

Duration: 1:28:56
Work: 934 kJ
TSS: 87.5 (intensity factor 0.768)
Norm Power: 219w
VI: 1.25
Distance: 33.108 mi
Elevation Gain: 2623 ft
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 971 175 watts
Heart Rate: 114 187 156 bpm
Cadence: 31 132 83 rpm
Speed: 1.5 45.8 22.3 mph

This is the race (smoothed) graph from WKO+ - from it you can see how the energy required to keep up increased, and how it wasn't until the very end that the hammer really came down.


(blue=speed, yellow=power, white=elevation, red=heart rate)

What I Did Correctly

• Stayed in the front third of the pack - keep out of most of the 'accordion effect'
  
• Played it conservative - don't sit in the wind, and just conserve energy until you really need it. I've read that the strongest sprinter doesn't always win the sprint - sometimes it's more about who has the most energy left at the end of the race. Therefore even though I don't have the most powerful sprint, I'm at least strong enough to be there at the end of the race and still have some sort of kick left at the end.
• Stayed upright - though I must admit I had to slam on the brakes a few times, due to people in front of me, and Rob reminded me at one point that I was half-wheeling someone. And there was an instance on the last lap where I touched my front wheel to someone's back wheel, with a little overlap. What a strange feeling when you want to lean one way but your bike won't go! You just have to let your body move independently of the bike in cases like that. But it was a close call, and I would have been run over by a bunch of riders had that happened...
• Don't jump too early - while it was temping to go at 2-3 miles to go, I don't think I'm quite ready for that yet..
  

Room For Improvement

There's always room for improvement, especially when you didn't actually win the race. And though I'm very happy with this race result, I've made some notes on what to do better next time:

• Save myself the trouble and just line up in the front of the pack; working your way through a pack on a one-lane road takes time!
• Get ready to jump out of the pack in the sprint - I need to be move around the peloton in the end and try not to go up through a crowded field.
  
• Don't jam into a gap - ease into it. I think this was why we kept having to slow and speed up - I hear the higher categories are much "smoother" in that sense.
  
• Don't forget to put on my frame number..
  

Anyway I had a blast at the race, thanks to the organizers for putting the whole event on, and the Mason Lake neighborhood for letting us take over their roads for a day. Can't wait for next weekend..