3Man 1Woman TT

The summer biking season is over, at least in Chicagoland, and to top off the road racing year I competed in 1 more race. It is by far the most fun and the hardest of the races. It is the 60K, 4 person Time Trial in Utica, IL. A TT is called the race of truth because it is your team against the clock. I really love this race because 4 people ride as one.

My team is made up of 2 new comers to cycling with VQ, Tony and Ted, both about my age, and Mia an experienced tri-athlete in her early 30's. Mia and I have been riding hard this summer and have a good aerobic base. Ted and Tony are strong riders but do not have a lot of endurance. Our main impediment to success is our lack of time riding as a team. The 4 man requires a fair amount of coordination and trust in the other riders so no one crashes by overlapping wheels. Another fun fact about the race is that each team has a captain who needs to understand the riders strengths and weaknesses so he can maximize the teams speed, with a limited amount of practice it is harder for the captain to do a good job.

The race was last Sunday. Our team finally assembled on race day. Because the race was delayed for an hour, due to fog, we had some time to practice. We first practiced rotations and then cornering. We got the rotations down pat however the cornering was a bit ragged.

To heighten the fun, or just for the hell of it, our team, The Chicago Rollers, decided to challenge another VQ team to breakfast. The other VQ team was composed of Noda, Lyons, Lydon and Deanna. We were closely matched; It was going to be a close and epic race.

After an hour of practice it was time to line up for the start. Beep 5 beep 4 beep 3 beep 2 beeep go, went the timing clock and the timer. We clipped in, put pressure on the pedals, went through the gate and we were on our way. I was the team captain and pulled first. My responsibility was to to call time for the riders and to set pace.

The race was going well. We each pulled for a minute and everyone was feeling great. The first corner was ragged, like practice, however we regrouped quickly and sped on our way. There was no real wind and we were going fast. As we approached a left-hand turn a group came buy and screamed, "slow down; gravel." Gravel in a turn can be deadly, the bikes slip and can easily go down. (In fact 4 people crashed in the turn.) As we entered the turn we saw that the road was a new chip and seal surface. Chip and seal roads are made by putting down a layer of tar, seal, then pouring gravel, chip, over the tar. When a road is new it is very gravely and a horrible riding surface. Luckily we had the warning and were able to ride though the 1/4 mile of bad road moderately and without any incidents.

The race went very quickly. I am calling time every minute and checking in with the riders. Our goal was to pull 110% of LT for 1mn then go to the back and recover. Typically the last rider is pulling 50% less watts then the front rider. Several times during the race I checked with each rider to see how they were feeling. At the 3/4 point Ted and Tony were feeling tired and I switched their pulls to 30-45sec, I took 90 sec and Mia felt real strong and took 2mn pulls.

Quickly we rounded the last corner, beautifully if I may say, and began our sprint to the finish. I took the first pull at the 1 mile mark and gave it all I had. Our time was governed by the 3rd rider over the line. The others sprinted after I was done. We covered the last mile at 28mph (very nice.) Our final time was 1:42:02 or an average of 22mph for 37 miles.

Unfortunately we lost our bet. The other VQ team beat The Chicago Rollers by 15 sec or so. They also received a 5th place finish in the open category. Great job, Lyden, Dave, Deanna and Kevin.

Here are some interesting numbers from this race as compared to my last 4MTT 2 years ago. My adjusted watts, a normative number, were at tad higher, 5% the my 1st TT. However the average watts were 12% lower meaning I did a better job drafting and conserving energy. Even with the lower average power I was still a 1/2mph faster overall. That shows that a good group that works together has a real benefit.

Now that racing season is over it is time to build base and maybe do some Cyclecross events. 2009 was a great cycling year. Its on to 2010.

Getting Back into Form

Since retuning from Japan I have been trying to recover my biking form. Before I left for France I was riding at my highest level ever and was feeling very strong. After returning from all my exotic touring I had the mental ability to ride but not the physical ability. I would go on a long ride, get in front pull hard and blow-up, or I would race some local riders and do great for the first 200 meters then blow-up. In fact I have been blowing-up for several weeks now and I have been getting pretty frustrated.

To figure out why I have not been riding at the level I thought I could I did some research, but before the answer here are some numbers. Before I went to France I was riding 12-14 hours a week, some days doing long distances and other days doing shorter more intense workouts. I was also doing intense core work. Once I returned from the ETape I had 10 days at home 5 of which I had to travel due to work and a niece's wedding. I was able to ride some but only 5 hours the entire 10 days I was home. Then I went to Japan for 2 weeks where I did not ride at all. Upon returning from Japan I had work and killer jet lag which took another 10 days to feel mostly normal. In summery I worked out like a fiend then took a month off with little or no riding.

Ah Ha you say, that is the answer, I took too much time off; and you are partially correct. The real answer is Consistency. There is a woman I know in VQ. She is a tri-athlete and just won the Louisville Ironman in her age category. I asked MJ what she attributed her win to. She immediately said VQ workouts. However, after some further questioning from me she thought a little and said the real difference is consistency. After thinking about MJ's comments and my training schedule, consistency is the reason I became better, and lack of consistency is the reason I have had a long recovery.

It is frustrating to learn that to get fast and stay fast, riding consistently is the way to go. Unfortunately there are no short cuts for us mere sports mortals. So I am back on the road and I hope to see you beside me. This week I am training for the 4man TT on the 13th. More on that later.