Seward Park Race 8/27/09 - Pain Management 101

In the end bike riding, and moreso bike racing, comes down to how much pain in your legs and/or lungs can you take before giving in to the urge to quit. (For the 24+ hour events like randoneuring, it's usually more of a mental battle, at least for me)

A few laps into the Seward Park Cat 4/5 training race, after pulling the field for a lap or two, the lactic acid was building up in my legs. Slow at first, then the sting sets in and you settle into a groove. It becomes a question of can you still put down some power while your legs are burning? I can, but only for a little while.

[me pulling the field on one of the first few laps]


Most of us have a limit when it comes to this stuff - though of course it can be trained, and your "threshold" can even be raised. The sheer amount of power you can put down in a sprint or fast lap doesn't always translate into a win because that limit of ours means you need to dole out the wattage efficiently - when analyzing the race data I like to see "peak" power time-frames to be nearer to the end of a race - but in this race the opposite is the case.

[Our field of wily Cat 4/5 racers]

[Cornering]

Today I didn't meter out the power in the right "sequence" at all - as you can see in the image below, the peak 5 minutes (power-wise) was the first two laps or so, and the peak 2 mins is in the middle of a race. While my speed peaked on the last lap, I didn't have the power required to match the final (uphill) surge.

(blue=speed, yellow=power, red=HR, orange=elevation)

Seward Park Race data 8/27/09:
Duration: 29:11

Work: 398 kJ
TSS: 52.2 (intensity factor 1.036)
Norm Power: 295
VI: 1.3
Distance: 18.517 km
Elevation Gain: 379 m
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 967 227 watts
Heart Rate: 98 187 172 bpm
Cadence: 15 132 88 rpm
Speed: 3.4 88.6 38.1 kph
Crank Torque: 0 175.8 23.1 N-m

Coming Soon..

The Carnation Circuit Race is going on this Saturday, and the two key words I keep hearing about the course are "flat" and "fast." Should be fun. And on Sunday there's the Seward Park "Season End Classic," a USAC-sanctioned race that'll get me two credits towards the 4's (Men's 4/5 race & Masters C/D). And then the Blackberry Crit out in Bremerton on the 6th of next month.

And if all that weren't enough, the SiR "Mountain Pass" 600k brevet (aka "Ramrod++") is on Sept. 11th, with a 9PM start time. A nice way to end the season, at least the official one. The 600k ride description has daunting paragraphs like this:

"These are serious mountain passes with little traffic and often outside cell phone range. Consequently a mini-survival blanket is required in addition to the standard requirements of helmet, lights, and reflective gear. A spare tire (not just a tube) is recommended."

Bring it on!

Gig Harbor Circuit Race - Failing But Loving It

It was Saturday, finally time for the 2nd edition of the Lake Wa Velo circuit race series. Part of a three-race series, this was finally a chance to try something different than .08 mile lap Seward Park race or a 1 km-lap four corner criterium. This course was four-mile laps, five laps our Cat 4/5 group. Oh, and with a few inclines along the way too. Sounds like a good time to me.

Kira was her usual wonderful self and offered to give me a ride out to Gig Harbor, to come cheer me on and maybe get a few pictures of me suffering. Thanks, baby! It helps to have someone out there rooting for you.

Still having randonneur (read: crazy) blood in my veins from the recent brevet series I completed (200k-600k), initially I thought about pedaling to the start, at least from the Southworth ferry dock. The route was about 25 miles, not too much to add to a 20-mile race I figured. But in the end I decided to save any energy I had and hopped in the car at 7:15 AM for the drive down there.

Google directions led us into a dead-end driveway, and the race's directions didn't make sense either. (though they do now, I saw on the way back I was reading them wrong - but the Google directions were still off!) We asked for directions and eventually found our way, following a group of 10 or so riders training on the course.

The Race

The Masters C/D (30+ Cat 4/5) started five minutes before us, and the 4/5 70-man peloton rolled out at 9:05 AM. Since I started at the back of the pack more or less, and since the "center line rule" (can't cross the 2nd yellow line in the middle of the road, e.g. only take one lane), I had to somehow move up through 50 or so people if I wanted to do anything useful in the race.

I was happy to be in the whir/buzz of the peloton again, and this time it also counts towards the Cat 4 upgrade. We rolled out of the Kapuchuck Middle School's parking lot and took a left down the hill, then taking a quick right on a nice 8% downhill, now on the race course. We passed the official's stand and the ambulance, and zoomed downhill at a nice 45-50 km/h. The air was cool but dry, perfect racing temps.

The officials warned us before the race that there are bumps & reflectors in the center and you really don't want to be riding there. But sure enough, about two minutes into the race someone goes around another rider and into the center, and their bottle flies out. Nobody went down but a bottle is one of the last things you want to see in front of you when doing 46 km/h on rough chipseal is a water bottle.

And of course there was the ever-present possibility of someone randomly going down in front of you and taking you down with them. In fact I watched a few riders having speed-wobble issues - or was it just control issues? I suppose for some it's hard to ride in a straight line. So it's a mix of risk & trust in the peloton, a delicate balance.

The pack dynamics on this course were interesting, as even though space was limited, you could find space to move up now and then. Some were more daring than others, but nobody went down.

One thing that really sucked at the back (reason #501 you don't want to be there) was all the slowing - the "accordion effect" as it's known. People four rows up slow for whatever reason, and of course that sets of a chain reaction of yelling ("Slowing!") and squealing brakes. In fact I swear I could smell burned rubber at few points during the race..

I tried to move up a little here and there and made it about halfway up the pack. When the uphill sections came I listened to a fireworks show of grinding gears and popping derailleurs. I stayed in the big ring, afraid of dropping my chain if I tried to downshift - in the end this was a huge mistake, though at this point I felt fine and though this first 7% uphill (w/ 12% spike) was tough, it was doable. Or at least seemed that way on the first few laps.

After the first uphill section, there's a shorter 5% section, followed by a slow rise to the finish. One lap down, and I was about halfway up the pack. So far so good.

The second lap was straight-forward, and while I wasn't hurting too much and was still in the middle or so, I wasn't really moving up either. Just wanted to stick this position out until the end, and see what happens.

I think it was on the third lap where my legs seemed to fall apart, and I knew why - pushing the 53x25 up the 8-12% grade. Talk about wasting energy! I wasn't red-lining yet, but knew it was around the corner, and it became progressively harder to recover on each lap.

On the fourth lap I started to drift back a little. I usually don't look back but as I did I noticed there were only a handful of riders behind me. Damn, at the back. We slowed down a good deal on this lap (I'm sure most were tired), and this was a welcomed chance to rest. But when the uphill came it was all I could do just to hang on.

Then The Race Went South

On the final lap I was going backwards uphill with about 1k to go.. first time in my 15-race career that I watched the peloton pedal away from me, I was officially OTB ("Off The Back"). Damn. Legs on fire, lungs gasping, it was all I could do to at least keep the pedals turning to the finish.

I looked back and wasn't even sure anyone else was back there - I'd just been passed by the official's & wheel cars, and the peloton was up and over the last little peak, someone was probably already crossing the line. I wasn't even sure if I was supposed to dismount and walk in shame to the end, or what, but I just kept going.

Not a good feeling, coming in off the back - spectators giving you the "pity clap" or the "blank stare" - but at least the official was still recording finishing numbers so I was at least still a part of the race. Finishing upright and close to the pack is good enough for me at this point, though a little disappointing.

In the three other USAC-sanctioned races I've done I got 13th at Ballard, 11th at Joe Matava, and 15th at Derby Days. Not wins or even top 10's - but I was really happy to having showings like that in my first season. Those were all criteriums and about half the length of this ride, and flat - so maybe this just isn't my type of race at this point.

I wasn't DFL like I thought at first, or even worse DNF. The official result showed me at 49th out of 70 riders - but as a Cat 5 I guess all that matters is that I started. At this point it really is mostly about gaining fitness & experience. Now just six more (official) races and I'm a Cat 4.

That's Great, But Who Won?

Hopefully my tale of life in the day of Cat 4/5 pack fodder was at least entertaining. But in the end, any race is all about winning - and it turns out my friend Jordan took the win! He's a 5 as well, we've been racing at Seward Park a lot where he's taken a few podium spots. Though I didn't get to see the finish, here was his recount:

This was my 1st circuit race and It wasn't bad, the pace seemed a lot slower than I expected with a lot of yo-yo. The 12% climb and the slight grade at the finish made the difference!

Nothing eventful happened during the race until the last lap.. I made sure I was close to the front on the 12% climb so I still had about 15-20 guys ahead of me by the time I got to the top.. After I crested I punched it and leap-frogged wheels and quickly caught up to the 15 off the front and had shit-tons of momentum I decided to just go for and jumped all of them.. Unfortunately those 10-15 guys had the road blocked, I had no where to take all of this momentum I gained going off the backside of the climb into the last 300m.. So I had to think quick and well there was no choice except to go onto the shoulder into the loose gravel and grass and go around these guys and jump back in front of them.. It sure worked, but there was still 1 guy off the front another 20 ft. and I punched it again with 200m left and that was that! I won by a few bike lengths!! Fun times!!

Huge congrats to Jordan on the strong & creative win!

Race Data

This graph from WKO+ shows all five laps - red is heart rate (horizontal red line is 171 bpm for ref.), yellow is power (horiz. dashed yellow line is my estimated FTP 285 watts), and the orange-ish is the elevation.

Here is a zoom in on one lap. As you can see my HR (red line up top) went down as we descended the hill, then a big power spike (yellow vertical line) at the turn onto the uphill section. It doesn't tell you much by itself, but compared to other laps I can see how on the last lap my HR was not recovering like it was before - and that I wasn't putting out the power I was earlier in the race.

Splitting the race into halves, I obviously put out more power in the first half (and went faster) - but I found it interesting that the average bpm (heart rate) was a bit higher on the 2nd half.

1st half:
Duration: 28:00
Work: 354 kJ
TSS: 46.8 (intensity factor 1.002)
Norm Power: 285
Distance: 17.107 km
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 946 211 watts
Heart Rate: 82 185 162 bpm
Cadence: 22 129 83 rpm
Speed: 4.9 91.4 36.7 kph

2nd half:
Duration: 27:57
Work: 345 kJ
TSS: 44.1 (intensity factor 0.973)
Norm Power: 277
Distance: 15.425 km
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 935 206 watts
Heart Rate: 132 186 166 bpm
Cadence: 35 150 87 rpm
Speed: 2.7 79.5 33.1 kph

From the complete race data I can see that my HR didn't even get over 186 - whereas I usually top out at 195 each time at Seward - perhaps this points to my lack of a warm-up this time around, not sure. Seems like I basically wasn't firing on all cylinders..

Entire workout (210 watts):
Duration: 56:00
Work: 700 kJ
TSS: 90.8 (intensity factor 0.987)
Norm Power: 281
Distance: 32.546 km (~20 miles)
Elevation Gain: 648 m
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 946 208 watts
Heart Rate: 79 186 164 bpm
Cadence: 18 150 85 rpm
Speed: 2.7 91.4 34.9 kph (21.7 mph avg)
Crank Torque: 0 203.9 22.4 N-m

The third installment of this circuit-race series is on the 29th, in Carnation - and then the Seward Park "Season End" Classic (an official USAC race) is on the 30th. But before that, there's a Black Diamond-Sunrise permanent (~300k in total) on Monday, and the Baker Lake (Redmond-Baker Lake) 400km (249 mi) brevet on the 22nd.

The season's not over yet, folks!

Seward Park 4/5 Race 8/13/09 - In The Rain

The forecast called for rain, and was it ever right. Looking at the animated weather map before the race, I could see a big blob of red/orange/yellow spots oozing towards Seattle. It wouldn't be the first time I'd race at Seward in the rain, just the second time. I remembered from last time that while the pace was still slower, it was still a race, and depending on who was pulling the pack it would still be a tough one.

As I set off at about 4:40 or so for the ride down to the race, it was lightly raining and somewhere in the mid to high 60's. My rain jacket quickly got wet, but since I chose to wear my (heavy wool) SiR jersey I felt nice and warm. Also wore Ibex wool knickers & thick wool socks I usually wear in the winter - but it also works great for rain gear, even in the summer.

I took it easy pedaling down, even avoiding chasing a strong guy in an Amgen kit, who ended up being in the same race I was doing. Usually I end up chasing people on that stretch of Lake Wa Blvd down to Seward, as there are always rabbits to chase other cyclists around to ride with.

Got to Seward by about 5:15, perfect timing though 10 minutes extra after signing in meant standing around under a tree, trying to stay out of the rain. Lining up meant two groups of people standing under two trees near the start line, trying to avoid the wet. With about four minutes to go I got out there and lined up, ready to get it on. Not a huge crowd, only 20-25 - but not surprising given the weather.

The Race

Pre-race instructions, given from under an umbrella as the rain was coming down pretty hard at this point, told us that unlike the usual at Seward, we would be doing a "win and out" format, borrowed from track racing. The idea is that instead of doing just 15 laps, we'd do 9 laps and then who ever crosses the line first wins, but then they pull out and the race continues. The next lap decides second, and then that person pulls out. Since they place up the first six riders at Seward, we had six deciding laps for a total of 15. That format change and the rain really made things interesting.

Most of the usual characters were there, including Mark on Starbucks team that usually kills it here. Jordan, riding for Blue Rooster, was also there, looking to place as he's done a few times already. Laurent, I think his name is, who rides for Byrne/Invent and who won the last two races I think. All wheels I was keeping an eye on.

The first lap of the race was a tad chilly, as I'd taken off my rain jacket in order to not overheat during the race. So my wet bare arms were catching wind and quite cold, though I either forgot about it or warmed up by the time we got on the uphill. It was a messy affair - riding in someone's draft also meant riding in their rooster-tail of water.

The trick is to sit just to the side of their wheel, and let the spray hit your shoulder instead of the face. Even then it's not perfect, but it at least allows you to see. On that note from the 2nd lap or so I had a stream of water coming into my right eye - salty water at that, so it stung.. I could barely find time to try to wipe my eye without knocking off my glasses, and even when I did it barely helped.

We stayed in a pack until the first prime lap came and Mark took it, stringing out the pack. After his prime win and going down the hill on the other side, I could see him motioning for someone to join his newly-forming break, but nobody had the energy or speed to catch him. And at that point I think people were still going around the hard left turn (e.g. way behind the head of the race), so the "pack" was now a line of strung out riders.

The order of riders from here on out was probably close to how it all ended. But remember that since we were racing a win-and-out format, once someone wins the race it keeps going for five more laps, each lap the winner of that placing drops out.

Because of that, I didn't want to try to chase Mark et al down (I was about 5-6 riders back, and maybe 20 meters) just to have him beat me in the sprint, and then have to fend off more riders after a failed attempt. If I was going to sprint, I wanted to make it stick and have that be the end of the race. Simple enough, but making it happen is tricky.

So the "final" lap comes around and Mark is way up front, further stretching everyone out. Jordan was up there somewhere, along with two or three other riders. When we came around on the final lap we could barely see but I assumed Mark won it, and we kept going, the next lap counting for 2nd place. (So there were still five more laps left, if that makes sense)

It was still so stretched out that I didn't want to chase and then lose a sprint only to have to try again. So I stayed in my spot, and after a lap or two there were only two riders around me, nobody visible up front or behind. Had everyone up front won their laps, or was this "our" turn?

As we come around the bend at the bottom of the hill, one of the riders in my group asks, "Is this our lap?" I say I'm not sure, the other rider says, "Yeah." Of course, we're all close to red-lining already so talk is not easy. I hope their right, and start thinking about a sprint which is about to happen in 30 seconds or so.

We come up to the steep uphill section, and I was happy that neither of my opponents (we were going for 4th or 5th, I wasn't sure) had gone for the sprint yet - much like on the velodrome, we were playing the cat and mouse game of who goes first, and who then jumps on their wheel and tries to overcome them before the line.

I've been doing some 1-minute intervals earlier in the week and was doing them well (480w for me, or 7.07 w/kg), and those practice intervals were in order to better in this exact situation.

So with a little confidence, as we crested the steepest part, I mutter something cheesy like, "let's do this" and give it my all for the finish, hoping that this is indeed the right lap to be sprinting for.

20 seconds or so of sprinting down, and I glance under my arm to see if anyone's there. I got the jump on them, but are they about to pass, or left in the dust? I see a wheel about 10 meters back, but it seemed to be slowly moving away - that's a good sign! Another kick and I'm approaching the line, giving it all I've got and really hoping this is the right lap to go on. No need to look back any more, I figure if they're gonna pass I'll find out, now is just the time to dump everything I have left. So I do.

I crossed the line alone, happy to have beat out my two opponents for this placing (ended up being 4th!), and started the cool-down in the parking lot next to the course. It takes me about 2-3 minutes to regain enough breath to have a meaningful conversation with anyone.

Sure enough, Mark took first (nice job!), and Jordan took 3rd. I was just happy to have sprinted at the right time, and to have enough kick to beat a few people out before the line. Training has been heading in the right direction, but still not enough for a win - one of these days..

The ride home was wet, as it was still raining - but at least it was a bit lighter now. I just looked forward to a warm shower once at home, and getting all that heavy wet wool off of me. While it does keep you warm, jeez it seemed to weigh a ton at the end of the ride.

And tomorrow: this (Gig Harbor circuit/road race - stay tuned for a report!)

13th Annual DBB Downhill Race/Party: Insane Fun

On the first Friday in August each year the Dead Baby Bikes group puts on a huge race and party, showcasing some of the craziest stuff you'll see in the bicycle world. I've gone to the event twice, my first one was in '04. And I've missed it a few years as well, and have always regretted just hearing stories about what went down.

So when I saw this poster on the walk to the bus recently I was happy to be reminded that this year's edition promised to impress just like previous ones, and that I needed to go!
Yes, this monkey was ready to race.

I met my friend Matt down at the Comet on Pike St at about 6 PM, so we registered & hung out for an hour waiting for the race to beging at 7 PM. There were plenty of bikes to look at while we waited.

The crowd was getting pretty big, with most of the side-street blocked off by human traffic, music blaring. Yeah this is not your usual race.

Inside The Comet (note the dollar bills on the ceiling) to purchase my entry in the race, a DBB water bottle for all-you-can-drink beer, and a "contender" t-shirt.

The thing about this race is that you'll see all types of bikes in it: tall bikes, BMX, fixed gears, road bikes, and even ones like this:
Oh and there was at least one guy riding on rims, I heard he did the race like that.

Getting closer to the 7 PM race time - the crowd is getting thick and now blocking most of Pike St. It's gonna be a great night of all things bike.

The Downhill Race

Before too long a loud firework was set off (a tradition in this race), actually I think there were two, and it was time to race. Too bad we were still kind of in the middle of a huge crowd, with some people not even on their bikes yet.

The great thing about this race is that there's no official route, and not many if any rules. In fact the first time I did this race in 2004, we bombed down Beacon Hill to the same general area, and the race was cut off by a slow moving train. So what did some of the more daring competitors do? They threw their bikes onto the flat platforms and hopped up on them, scrambled across, and kept riding! Yeah, it's that kind of race. (The PI has a picture of this in action, here, scroll down a bit)

Here's a video of the start:


We weren't even sure of the best way to get down there until we overheard someone say something about 12th Ave to King St (skipping the stoplights on Jackson), and then a left on 6th which gets you to Airport Way and the destination of the race. Pretty much what I had in mind except skipping Jackson.

After weaving through the standing crowd I filtered through more riders in front of me, also squeezing through traffic and ran every red light in sight. We blazed down 12th Ave, and when people in front of me started slowing when crossing Boren a group behind yelled "Don't stop!!" - in this kind of race you can break any rule in the book, and running lights is part of the thrill - and sure enough we found a way through traffic and kept moving. Not the safest thing but I'm sure traffic survived the delay.

When it came time for King St nobody in front of me was taking it, a huge group was going up Beacon Hill. I don't know what flyer they saw but this is supposed to be a downhill race! Still, I took a right on King though it didn't' go all the way through like I thought, and instead dumped me on Dearborn.

There were other bikes around so I figured it couldn't have been too bad a route choice. Before too long we were on Airport Way, a flat stretch of rough road. And heading south we were going straight into a nice headwind. Actually I shouldn't say we, at this point I was alone, chasing a few rabbits up the road. I passed a few people here and there, but couldn't catch a larger group up ahead. I wondered what route they took.

I saw one rider bomb down the Lucile St ramp to Airport Way, which is really steep, blasting through a red light at what must have been at least 35-40 mph. Now there's some risk-taking for you.

Even though this was just a 5 mile race it was enough to make the legs burn, and to make the lungs beg you to quit. But I kept chugging along, catching a few riders at the bridge closer to our destination, but not making any progess on anyone else and not feeling super strong.

Once to the destination in Georgetown we saw a few "Dead Babies" waving us into a gravel alley. We made it! Here are a few riders streaming in from Airport Way:

Now in the alley, more riders showing up.
And more bikes.. bikes were coming in for what seemed like 30 minutes. On the way down I heard one guy say he had a flat but, "Fuck it, I'm riding it all the way," and surely others got lost along the way.

This guy had a nice race costume:

And this guy's bike was a portable sound system, blasting some kind of crunk-ish bass. Awesome.

The Party

No that's not a crucifix you see. This creation is four guitars connected to a drivetrain - when you pedal it strums the guitars and plays music! Put together by Cyclecide, an SF group that builds human powered awesomeness.

Or how about the merry-go-round powered by four cyclists? It was fast, as you can see in this video: (if you don't see a big video below, get Flash)


And the pedal-powered ferris wheel is always a hit.


Later on this wonderful bike showed up. Is it a group bike? Monster tall bike? Who knows, but I love it.

We made our way inside the venue to get some beer in our water bottles, and chow down on some veggie burgers. Later on in the night there was a huge line for beer, but Matt & I would just sneak around to the left and just make it happen, only taking a few minutes! I was sure to tip well even though we'd already paid for it.

BMX Tricks

The first event we saw was the BMX action. There was a set of ramps set up for BMX madness, and about 10 guys were doing some crazy stuff. As seen in the videos below.

BMX 360 on video:


And a back flip:


Or how about three 360's?


Here's a snapshot of one of their back-to-back-to-back 360 tricks. Wow. There was a dumpster turned sideways they were jumping over too.
Some impressive stuff:

Later on, the "guitar-ride" in action:

And the merry-go-round:

Bunnyhop Competition

This even featured riders trying to clear an ever-rising horizontal bar. I remember doing little 6" hops back in my BMX days as a kid, but these riders were serious about this shit! After all, most of the competitors were the same stuntmen from the BMX ramp course.

They started at about 6", and raised the bar by three inches each round. A guy on a fixed gear got pretty far into the rounds, and cleared 18" I think, pretty impressive.

Eventually it came down to two BMX guys, hopping over the bar raised up to 36" or three feet. And when they both cleared it, the judges decided to have their helpers put the bar on top of their hands, adding an inch to the height. They both cleared it, so they went to best two out of three, and they tied again. So it was best trick over the bar, as judged by crowd feedback, best two out of three. Something like that - anyway eventually there was a winner, who I think landed a 180 over the high bar.

Bunnyhop video from early in the competition:


The Bicycle Belles & B:C:Clettes

The Bicycle Belles doing a Tour de France-themed performance (the music was Kraftwerk's TdF song, I believe). Note the malloit jaune:


And here's a shot of the B:C:Clettes from Canada doing one of their dance routines:


Tallbike Joust!!!

At 12 AM or so it was the moment we'd all been waiting for. Two people face off in what is really an amazing event, and I had a front-row seat, sitting on the ground only feet from the action. Only downside to a front-row seat in this even is that there's a good chance you might have to "catch" a tallbike and/or rider coming down on you. And by catch I just must survive the impact.

The poles were about 10 feet long, with a boxing glove on the end. Only rules was aim for the chest, not the head.



Here's a video of the tall bike jousting - yes, it's as crazy as it sounds! (again if you don't have Flash, you won't see the video)


And this one featured a rider who went straight into the crowd - lucky for me it was on the other side. I missed the actual crash since I was busy watching the carnage in person.


The Ride Home

I slowly, and a little buzzed, pedaled home at about 2 AM, cutting a hilly route up 7th Ave, 6th Ave, and Yesler to Broadway. I had my new DBB water bottle, a new t-shirt, and a new appreciation for creativity in the cycling community. It was a great night.

Here is the full photo/video set from the night. The camera was running out of batteries, but it does this weird thing where I can turn it off for a while and then turn it on for 30 seconds or so, hence missing some key moments.

Of course I wasn't the only one snapping pictures. Here's what else I've found so far:

• Bike Hugger's photo set
• A few more pics
• Another set
• Yet another set
  

Huge thanks to the crazy mofos at Dead Baby Bikes for putting on this crazy event! I'll be out again next year for sure. If you're interested in seeing something different, it's the event for you.

Seward Park Race 8/6/09 - Back In The Mix

It had been too long since I've raced; almost a month in fact since the Derby Days Crit back in July. Sure I've been riding lately, but mostly longer rides like Ramrod & toodling around Lake Washington.

I've been doing some interval stuff, it hasn't been enough to keep me in top racing form. The training I was doing doesn't match the fitness you gain just by hanging in a peloton at 40 km/h. (Cat 1/2's are probably snickering right now, as they cruise at 50 km/h no doubt)

It wasn't like I was starting over fitness-wise, but I could tell towards the end of the race that I usually felt stronger at that point. Or maybe it was just the pull at the front I took with two to go that send me over the top.

Still it was a lot of fun to see the friends I've made at these Seward races, and to "turn the pedals in anger" once again. And unlike my first race, I feel relaxed during the race and even find time to ask how people are doing - making small talk during a race is probably a good sign you're not red lining.

Photos

I'm somewhere in there, hiding from the wind. Back in the mix.

Near the end of the race I saw a small group starting to form, with a bunch of familiar faces in it. People that contend for 1st place - well, at least the guy on the yellow bike anyway. So I got in the group, though I don't think we were as far off the front as I thought, and we were eventually swamped on the downhill.

In the black/white jersey, trying to close a little gap.



Final sprint - I'm outside of the pic, breathing heavily and watching the race finish from a distance. The Byrne/Invent rider (blue/orange) won last week, and Mark (in the green Starbucks kit) has won a few himself. I believe the Byrne guy took this one - but now that Mark's on a team he's really gonna be a threat!

More riders trickling in for 10th+ - once I saw I was out of contention for the top 6 (what counts at Seward), I let off the gas and got yelled at by a guy behind me. As he sprinted around me I shouted, "You're going for 10th - maybe you can get 9th!" You can see me in the black/white, feeling like I can barely breath. I really need to quit smoking..

Ended up cruising in for about 15th or so, felt cooked in the final uphill surge. Still, great training for some upcoming races!

Thanks to Beki for taking and posting these shots as always - you can see the whole set here.

Good to see all my race buddies - Jordan, Rob, Mark, Doran - see ya on the road! And like I said after the race, you guys better watch out if I ever quit smoking!

Race Data

Entire workout (225 watts):
Duration: 28:53
Work: 394 kJ
TSS: 47.3 (intensity factor 0.991)
Norm Power: 282
VI: 1.24
Pw:HR: -2.85%
Pa:HR: -1.84%
Distance: 18.572 km
Elevation Gain: 446 m
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 973 227 watts
Heart Rate: 116 192 179 bpm
Cadence: 21 148 94 rpm
Speed: 4.6 86.5 38.4 kph
Crank Torque: 0 180.9 21.2 N-m

Ramrod 2009 - From the City to The Mountain and Back

I didn't sleep too well before the start of this year's Ramrod, but that's usually the case for me and big rides. The combination of having to get up early (when I'm used to going to sleep late), and of course nervous jitters kept me awake.

Still, when the alarm went off at 1 AM I got up and prepared for a big day in the saddle. I could think of lots of excuses reasons why I shouldn't do the ride: the fact that I didn't lay down until 10 so I had less than three hours of sleep, or that there was a 20% chance of thunderstorms near Elbe and I couldn't find my rear fender, or that record temperatures were forecast, and that I just got a new stem (2 cm longer) and hadn't done more than 30 miles with that setup. None of these things could really stop me from doing the ride as planned, which meant riding to the start from Capitol Hill just like last year.

I had many generous offers of rides to and from the start, but the goal was to stick it out. After all if I plan on finishing that big 600k (aka "Ramrod++") this year stuff like this can even be chalked up to practice, believe it or not. Randonneurs really know how to take a nice idea like Ramrod and really stretch it out to its limits and beyond.. which is not to say that Ramrod is an easy ride - for me anything over 80 or so miles is a long haul, so this wasn't a walk in the park for me by any means.

In prep for the ride I'd forgotten to buy a good breakfast for the day before, and stuff to make caprese sandwiches. So the plan was to just have coffee and eat some Clif Shot Blox on the 60km/40mi trip to the start of the ride in Enumclaw.

Ciocc on 12th & Jackson in Seattle at about 2 AM:

Since I was starting an hour earlier than last year, the whole ride down to the 'Claw was dark this time around. But since I'd converted the Ciocc to an LD bike for the day, it was equipped with the dynohub & Schmidt E6 halogen light. That light emits a beam that's about 10 feet wide and about as long as you want it to be. The light provides the confidence I needed to roll through total darkness on some of the stretches of Highway 169 through Black Diamond, Maple Valley, and finally to the start of the ride in Enumclaw.

Now in Enumclaw at 4:30 AM or so at the intersection of Highway 169 & Griffin Ave. Making perfect time as it officially started at 5 AM:

The ride start at the highschool in Enumclaw:


Breakfast! So worth the $10 and 40 mile ride:

Soon it was almost 5 AM and time to line up for the start.

Saw Joe P. from SiR at the beginning, as well as my friend Jesse. After a few minutes of antsy waiting we rolled out. It was still dark and my E6 light seemed brighter than most others' lights out there. I guess you can say randos have extreme lighting to match our rides..

Compared to last year, when I didn't start until 6:30 AM and did this part of the route solo, I was flying. Pacelines were cruising at 40 km/h (~25 mph) and while I wanted to keep the HR down to about 140-150 bpm, it was pretty easy to sit on the back of some of these at 160 bpm or so. I took a pull in one line and just about blew up when we turned into a headwind and I was still trying to hold 40 km/h.. I'm pretty sure that's when my HR peaked at 185 bpm. It was time to back off so I let them go and cruised solo a little.

On the way to Eatonville I hear "On your left - hey Matt!" as Brian O. from Seattle Rando came flying by in another 40 km/h paceline. It was a huge one, with maybe 30-40 people on it and nobody at the back taking pulls - this shot was the best I could do at 40 km/h:

Before too long we arrived in Eatonville, though I'd let the paceline go on the uphill. I was riding by my heart rate and when the little climb came I had to let them go or risk wasting more energy than necessary.

Looking at the ride photos I was somehow the 36th rider (out of 765 photos, not sure how many riders actually came out), landing on Page 2. Last year I was on the very last page since I started so late! It's weird how you can't tell where you are in the group, I thought I was somewhere in the middle since I felt like I was only being passed by people.

When we got to Eatonville they were still setting up the water supply - guess we were a bit early? Huge thanks to all the volunteers along the way - they really do a lot to help out the riders along the way:

The plan was to keep the stops short as possible, as practice for doing faster brevets, so I rolled out after filling up the water bottles. I've found it isn't so much rolling speed that holds me back on rides but the time spent off the bike or stopped. Brevets aren't races, but on the longer ones the faster you go the more time you have for sleep, which is of course precious on rides like that.

After Eatonville the riders seem to spread out more, and I rode almost solo from here to Packwood. It was clear out, but not as hot as I'd expected. There was plenty of shade for good stretches of the route which helped a lot. I was expecting to be baking on the tarmac but things were going well. And the rain forecast was totally off, as I was hoping, so it was smooth sailing.

Lake Alder near Elbe, Wa on Highway 7:

The township of Elbe - with the "Hobo Inn" on the right - last year I stopped here for water and food, but this year bringing a third water bottle and more food allowed me to continue on:

The tip of "The Mountain" was visible - having started north of it we were now roughly west of it:

Rolling to Ashford on rolling hills:

Food stop near Park Entrance - there was rider who said he went down on the railroad tracks a few miles back. Shane from SiR and others were helping him patch up the wounds and continue on. When you're doing a ride like this, where you've probably been planning it for a while, it will take more than road rash to stop you:

Heading down a long road - we were warned of an "incident" up ahead but at the bottom there was just a police cruiser and I saw the officer climbing back up over the railing of a bridge so I'm not sure what was going on there:

A bagel on the go - my other strategy for saving time was to eat on the go instead of standing around to do so:

Matt, a blog reader, and friend on Skate Creek Road - I was surprised at the number of people along the way that knew me or of me from reading the blog - it really is a small world out there.

There were some gravel/rock patches on this road, as we'd been warned about. Though they said to bring lights for the shadows my E6 didn't illuminate much, so after the climb I slowed down for a manageable and safe descent. A bunch of riders blew past me on the way down, but I was scared of the gravel patches I'd heard about.

Sure enough one came up and I saw a rider ahead of me fishtailing a bit in the patch - so I slowed down to what seemed safe (probably 20 km/h or 12 mph) and went through the patch in the straightest line possible. But soon I saw a pile of what looked like loose & deep gravel. As I hit my front wheel gave out a bit, and I had that uneasy feeling of being out of control of the bike. I was really happy, and lucky, to make it out of that one unscathed.

Nice little view on the way to Packwood - nothing like the stunning shots from the Paradise climb, which was blocked this year for us, but still beats the usual scenes I see in King County:

The Ciocc in Packwood at about 10:30 AM:

At the gas station in Packwod - the one Robert & I sat outside for hours once - I filled up on a Sprite & what they deemed an "egg roll." I'm not sure of what was in it but it was a nice change from the Shot Blox I'd been eating up to now. I sat down for a few minutes to eat, then put on sunscreen, and rolled out with Joe P, another randonneur. Joe just did a 1000k recently, the Portland to Glacier ride - just goes to show no matter how far you ride, there's always someone out there who can ride further. I've yet to do a 1,000k but one of these days I hope to.

Joe on Highway 12 - and the sign is spot on - "Mountain Pass Ahead":

At the turn on to Highway 123 off of Highway 12, they actually had a State Patrol trooper in the road allowing bikes to freely make a left across the four lanes. Plus we were going uphill and traffic is coming downhill around a blind curve. They had more water here, and Joe pulled off for water, where I decided to risk it and push on to the Deli Stop, just after the Cayuse climb. When I saw the "30 miles to next food stop" sign I thought twice about it, but decided my two full water bottles and Shot Blox were enough (I brought about 8 packs of Blox with me, thanks to Lloyd at Velo Bikeshop who helped me out).

The very start of Cayuse - not that steep:

The road slowly tips up and soon we were at the Park Entrance, where the 2-3% grade & rolling hills turns into a steady 5-6-7% grade for a few miles until the top.

Still shooting for about 140-150 bpm (195 max) I settled into a speed that seemed to hover around 10 km/h. When I did this pass on a 600k once, it seemed to be the slowest slog ever and I hovered at 5-8 km/h. Granted, that was on an old Miyata and after 300 miles..

Anyway I felt pretty good up the climb, and had a few riders up ahead to pace on. It wasn't that I was chasing them, but trying to keep the gap about the same. Of course single riders would blast by me now and then, but I just stayed put and let them go.

It wasn't too hot yet, even though it was 11 AM or so - and last year I was just about overheating on this section. I was wearing a wool jersey last year and I think that made the difference. Plus this year I was pacing more than usual, trying to keep things level so I could finish strong.

Nice greenery heading up Cayuse:

Rainier view on Cayuse:


A nice view of the tip of Rainier:


There was a water stop where I filled up a bottle, know that even just a few miles to go on a pass can take a while. The tunnel on Cayuse - "only" three miles to go!

Nice view near the top of Cayuse - it was a perfect day for a jaunt around The Mountain:


Cayuse near the top - I've always wanted to stop and see what it looks like from the edge, but I guess I'm always too excited to be close to the top of the pass.

The top of Cayuse - 4765 ft above sea level - it was nice to be done with climbing for now, get some more water, and get ready for a speedy descent down the other side.

In the official ride photos on the way down (with Rainier in the background) I was 128th or so - no wonder it felt like I was getting passed a lot, almost 100 riders had traded spots with me since the last photo. Not that it matters since this wasn't a race, but I like to know where I slot in just the same.

Even though I like my new stem, which is 2 cm longer than the old one, I couldn't quite get comfortable in the aero tuck for very long. But it was still fun to spin it up to 120-130 rpm and accelerate while going 60 km/h..

Finally I hit the deli stop, just before the climb up to Crystal Mountain. Huge thanks to all the volunteers that worked here!


Lunch in the shade:

Dirt buildup on the arms - my legs were covered in dirt as well:


Now time to head up to Crystal Mountain - I heard some saying this climb was too bumpy, and that the descent wasn't fun enough. Or that it was too hot to do it (it was starting to heat up now at 1 PM). But I wanted to complete the whole ride as set out by the organizers, just to say I did.

The climb up was pretty uneventful, and the scenery was OK but nothing special. Maybe I've been spoiled by all the routes provided by Seattle Rando, but it definitely wasn't worth doing if it wasn't part of the route. Still, it was a challenge and I wanted to complete it.

By this point I felt a little weaker than I would have liked, and was looking forward to another snack at the deli stop once I got to the bottom of this climb. Keeping my extra mileage ahead of me after the ride in mind, I was happy to keep about 10 km/h up this six mile climb. Sure enough, it took about an hour to get up there.

On the way up a few riders had just passed me, and I chased (only a 1 km/h acceleration, but that makes a difference over an hour) a little to keep the gap constant. Then a rider came up beside us and passed up like we were standing still. Not standing or mashing, this rider was spinning at a comfortable cadence and was obviously stronger than us.

For some reason one of the riders ahead of me poked at his buddy: "You gonna just sit there like that and let that happen?!" They accelerated slightly, one faster than the other, but the rider that had passed us ignored the comments and kept on spinning, clearly dropping us like a lead weight.

Not sure why it bothered them that a woman was passing them up the climb - even as a "joke", double standards aren't funny. There are those that will always try to push old, dead, and useless ideas, and judging from her speed I'm guessing she had to hear a lot of it on this ride.


The top of Crystal. Not a whole lot going on besides hot pavement:

On the way down there were some pot holes, but I could see them coming and the descent was still pretty fun. At one point I even sprinted on the downhill, going from about 60 km/h to 66 km/h or so. Good spinning practice for the races.

Upon return to the deli stop I found that many riders had since shown up. The back of the line you see there stretches all the way up to the tents where the food was served.. so much for my 2nd snack unless I wanted to wait for a while. So I pressed on.

Highway 410 heading west to Enumclaw - a now familiar road since I've done this on quite a few rides and brevets.

I rolled out solo, and felt decently strong, though I was never going as fast as I wanted. On what were measured as only 2-3% grades by the Garmin 705 I was only pushing 16-20 km/h, e.g. not impressing anyone. Of course eventually a paceline passed by, and I hopped on the back. Speeding up the flat speeds to 32-40 km/h again we were covering good ground.

Eventually the makeshift paceline (actually I think there were five team mates and two of us stragglers) broke up when most of the riders stopped. Two of us continued on, and I just sat on their wheel for a few minutes. Eventually they said "your turn" and I tried to keep it around 40 km/h, what we were doing when I was drafting. But after a few minutes of that I looked back and my lone partner was in the distance, a dot on the horizon. Oops.

Close to the Mud Mountain Road turnoff there was a volunteer warning of another "incident" up ahead. There were a bunch of bikes on the ground, a few cars parked around, and a group of people, including my friend Jesse, holding up a sheet to block the sun for a rider on the ground. He looked awake but had apparently fallen hard.

I wasn't sure what was up, but didn't want to stop and get in the way of what looked like a bad scene. I heard the guy went to the hospital, hope he made it OK.

I bombed down Mud Mountain Road like I've done a few times before. Though at this point I was expecting to be surrounded by other riders, but was alone and my folded up cue sheet was too deep in jersey pockets to dig for, and I got off course. Turned right at that forced turn on Mud Mtn Rd, then took the left just after that. I remember missing that turn on a previous ride, but was it Ramrod? Hmm, not sure. I saw a rider behind me, so I figured I must be doing something right.. unless they're following me.

Eventually I'm in unfamiliar territory and seemingly off course, the rider behind me gone. I could have sworn this was the way back to the start/finish at the high school, but it apparently wasn't. I could tell from the sun I was heading the wrong direction, west when I figured I should be going north. Finally the road turned back to the right and I saw a stream of riders going straight on a road perpendicular to the one I was on. So that must be the course.. I threw in a few bonus kms but was happy to be back on course.

Before too long another trooper was directing me through an intersection and there were a bunch of volunteers clapping and cheering me on. At about 4:30 PM, roughly 11.5 hours after starting. About the same amount of time it took to do last year's course, but finishing a good hour earlier since I started earlier this time around.

The ride finish - for now:

I was considering taking someone up on the offer of a ride home, as my feet were starting to feel it a little, but nobody I knew was around. I think my "summer socks" are so thin they don't provide enough cushion, or something, because normally I can ride further than this and not have foot pain.

But the free ice cream sandwich, cold water, and shade provided at the end was enough to lift my spirits and get me thinking about rolling out for the ride home. I got some more sunblock at the Medic's tent, and while there overheard the volunteer say something about it not being a good idea to do any more riding today. She was probably right, but I thanked her for the sunblock and got ready for the ride back.

On the way back a few cars with cars on the back gave a light honk, which helped keep me going to get the ride over with. Even if this isn't the longest ride I've ever done, that certainly didn't make it easy!

One guy in a Jeep with a bike on the back turned around, and stopped on the other side of the road. As I passed, he said something like, "Hey are you Matt?" "Uhh, yeah." "I know you eat these big rides for breakfast, but I can give you a ride home because of the heat if you want." "Thanks! But I'm set on riding home. I appreciate it."

It was nice to know that people would help me out if needed. But I figured this just wouldn't be the same post, and it wouldn't be the targeted training, if I skipped out on the last 40 miles.

"Food" in Maple Valley - about half way between Enumclaw & Seattle. I realized somewhere along the route that I didn't really eat enough real food on the ride today. Not that Mc'D's is real food, but it counted for some calories.

The ride back to Seattle really is pretty much downhill, and I just cruised on the shoulder of the small two-lane road that is Highway 169. Yes there's the Cedar River Trail parallel to this road for a while, but I enjoy the open road compared to a trail that crosses driveways and has posts to slow you down.

But the section of 169 near Renton is a little rougher, and the road opens up to four lanes with no shoulder or bike lane. Last year I remembered being buzzed and honked at quite a few times there. So this time I decided to hit up the trail and play it safe. Seemed to take longer that way but it was much quieter for sure.

Before too long I was on 2nd Ave in Renton, heading towards Rainier. On Rainier I was finally on the home stretch, only about 12 miles to go. Not quite the reception one would hope for at the end of a ride (not much of a bike lane on it), but it's a quick way to get back into Seattle from the south:

I was really happy to make it back to Seattle in one piece, even if few in the city even knew of my adventure of the day. Luckily I have this blog so I can trumpet my escapades to the world!

Full photo set here.

Ride Data

The graph summaries for power, cadence, speed, and heart rate. The yellow is power, and the one that shows "training zone" shows that I spent most of the time in the Active Recovery (e.g. light pedaling) or Endurance zones. Fitting since I was pacing, or trying to. Cadence (green) shows I spent most of my time in the 60-80 rpm, as intended. Heart rate (red) was mostly in the Endurance zone, followed closely by the Temp and Active Recovery zones.

The ride graph. The little gaps are the stops along the way. You can see how the HR (red) was high in the beginning of the Ramrod, then of course went down over time as energy levels went down in general. But overall I was happy to pace it correctly and not waste too much energy, even though I did a good deal of that too.
(red=HR, green=cadence, yellow=power, blue=speed (km/h), orange=elevation)

Cayuse Pass (5.4 %)

(the drop in the middle was the water stop)

Cayuse pass:
Duration: 1:04:15
Work: 667 kJ
TSS: 41.7 (intensity factor 0.624)
Norm Power: 178
VI: 1.03
Pw:HR: 5.15%
Pa:HR: 0.74%
Distance: 13.051 km
Elevation Gain: 870 m
Elevation Loss: 171 m
Grade: 5.4 % (698 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 362 173 watts
Heart Rate: 124 165 148 bpm
Cadence: 20 100 59 rpm
Speed: 0 30.9 11.8 kph
Altitude: 729 1427 1093 m
Crank Torque: 0 62.8 27.8 N-m

Power data for the entire ride, starting and ending in Seattle. I think the actual ride time was 15.5 hours or so - some of the data got dropped.

Entire workout (134 watts):
Duration: 12:58:20 (18:57:12)
Work: 6517 kJ
TSS: 476.4 (intensity factor 0.608)
Norm Power: 173
VI: 1.23
Pw:HR: 16.24%
Pa:HR: -4.11%
Distance: 385.486 km
Elevation Gain: 6859 m
Elevation Loss: 6859 m
Grade: 0.0 % (0 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 894 141 watts
Heart Rate: 80 188 133 bpm
Cadence: 15 124 69 rpm
Speed: 0 196.1 26.1 kph
Pace 0:18 0:00 2:18 min/km
Altitude: 5 1428 412 m
Crank Torque: 0 204.2 19.0 N-m

Another great Ramrod edition, even if it wasn't the "classic" route. Still, the weather was perfect and the ride was great from my perspective. Thank you to the organizers and volunteers who put in a lot of work to pull this off. Having volunteered for a much smaller ride, I can't imagine what it takes to run an event with 800+ riders in it!

Other Ramrod Stories

• http://www.yunt.net/blog/?p=394
• Ramrod in 30 seconds (video)
• Another Ramrod video