AZ State Crit
Santa Catalina Omnium
The UofA crit course was pretty fun, long and fast save one very tight, very technical corner. Early in the day, when it was cold, the paint in the crosswalk there was super slick, 7 separate crashes in race #1!
I went out to try some different ways of breaking away to see if one would stick. I’m just trying to learn and develop some skill and instinct really. So if I don’t crash and I learn to be a better racer, it’s all good!
Nobody got away in my race, myself included. After reviewing the race I now know how I could’ve won. Whoever was first into that tricky corner, which is the last corner on the race, was first to the finish line. I should have slammed past everybody on the front half of the race on the last lap and just buried it on the back half. If they all followed my wheel, no matter, because once you’re approaching that corner, there’s no passing and so much speed is scrubbed in that turn, that whoever is there first has a huge jump.
As it turned out, I was 7th overall and 4th in my group. I made my hardest move in the 2nd to last lap and it didn’t stick, so I just chased down people that were in the omnium competition on the last lap. I let one slip away, I didn’t realize he was up there.
It was nice having Rich Horn there cheering me on! I’m looking forward to racing with some teammates tomorrow in Oracle. If I win the race I win the omnium. But, twice up that cat2 climb is a tall task. Should be fun.
Rubber side down and GO!
Here’s the footage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
-Philip
Merry Crit-Mas 12/17/16
This was criterium number three for me and since I crashed out in number two, I was a little nervous. The field was pretty big compared to the other races on the day … 38 racers I believe. The weather was windy and cold.
My goals going into the race were as follows:
- Have fun – Stay Upright
- Discover weaknesses I have
- Learn tactics
- Gain Experience
- Win
Yup, winning was pretty low on the list. In fact, I had a very tough week of V02 max work and over-unders (intervals where the rest is at 95% of FTP), a trip to the gym for weight lifting and a whole lot of bad sleep. Also, I’m working on losing weight and lost 6 pounds the week of the race. That’s great for the future racing, but lose 6 pounds in a week and you’re weak and tired.
My pre-race ritual was better executed than last race. I remembered my gloves (left them in the car last time), and turned on my every-important GoPro! My warm-up routine seems to work well for me, so if nothing else, I think that’s pretty dialed in.
At the whistle there was some dude who just took off, but he was given zero leash. Two turns in, on the back stretch (directly into the wind), and the whole field was stretched out single file. I found myself on the back as I didn’t line up early enough for a good spot (lesson learned). So I had to move up to the front 3rd of the field into the headwind, burning some matches. What also got burned off with the match were my nerves. Once I was racing, I was calm.
About five minutes into the race, Team Tolero decided to toughen up the race and they shelled a large portion of the field. Thankfully, racers that were lapped got pulled in this race, unlike last time. During this time with Tolero working hard to soften the race I realized that I suck at corners. Watching the GoPro footage I realize that I scrub off too much speed heading into the corners. I got gapped every single corner for the whole race, but especially when there was a high pace. I burned a lot of matches regaining contact coming out of corners.
The first prime lap was interesting as the field slowed down and they let one dude take off solo and win it. Here I made my second big mistake … I chased him down, dragging everybody with me. I had planned on attacking after the prime, but had I read the race better I would’ve known it was a bad time.
The second prime was more like I anticipated, but I messed this one up, too. There were aggressive moves and the top riders all took off. I let them go and reeled them back in. (I was fully confident that nobody in that field could ride away from me, so I could burn fewer matches by not matching their explosive attacks, knowing they’d blow up, and then have juice to counter attack when I caught them.) On the back half of the course they sat up and looked at each other, which is when I should have attacked. I don’t know why I didn’t attack there, doh! Big mistake number 3 … which is perfect, I came to make mistakes and learn from them.
The rest of the race unfolded like the other crits I’ve done. I did a good job allowing others to close gaps, just following 2nd or 3rd wheel. Then, second to last lap there was a move, I followed it. Once that dude seemed vulnerable I attacked him but not hard enough to shell the guy at the second wheel. This time I didn’t get cute, I played my card which is putting out power and that last lap was the fastest of the day, 27.2 mph. I figured that if he could hang on my wheel and roll me at the finish, he deserved to win. That’s exactly what happened. I hate finishing second or third usually, but am perfectly happy with how things shook out.
It was very cool having Doug and Liz Perry and Tim there cheering me on.
Here’s the gopro footage (edited) of the race: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJQA1yn6vzI
–Philip Brown
USAC Nat’l Hill Climb
Aggressors:
This inaugural event was my only significant objective for 2016 so I did set up and try to follow a training regimen to prepare for it. Since the race was to be 20km up Pikes Peak with a start line at 9,380 ft and a finish line at 14,110 ft I included altitude acclimation as an integral part of my preparation. I researched several training blogs and concluded that about one month at altitude was the optimum acclimation period. If one cannot do that, little or no time at altitude is the next best approach. Most of my training effort was put in between 4 weeks and 1 week before the event. I took 2 days off shortly before the event and did a wake-up ride with a few pushes the afternoon before the event.
Weather for this event was forecast to be lousy until the afternoon before at which time the forecast changed to clear and sunny. In the end, it was clear, sunny, calm and cold for the race.
The format was a staged mass start in waves. My scoring group comprised about a dozen riders (MM70+) and left the line at 0703. The first mile or so was deceptively flat and all of us enjoyed a bit of respite before the grind. The grade then ramped up to about 10% and was relentless with very little easing. Our peloton quickly fractured and soon Durward Higgins and I were alone off the front. I have previously raced against Durward last October at the Huntsman World Senior Games where he beat me in 4 of 4 events. Halfway up he bumped the pace 1 km/hr which I could not match, although I felt that I was performing well, and slowly but surely rode away from me. I continued to be functional to the summit and was actually able to increase my own pace slightly the last 3 km. I am admittedly a bit disappointed with my 2nd place finish, yet I feel that I performed about as well as I could, free of strategic or tactical errors, and without any equipment issues during the race. Durward is simply stronger than I. After summiting, I took some time to enjoy the views, which I reckon were 50+ miles in any direction; truly grand.
Given that this was a US National event, my feelings about how the event was run are ambivalent. The choice of venue was a profoundly wonderful challenge and would test the mettle of virtually any rider. However, the extreme altitude should favor those who are already living at altitude. Yet, having said that, it did not turn out that way for my group; 3 of the top 5 are living at low altitude. Of course, for other groups it may well have been different. Surprisingly, there were mistakes in posting of results; I was initially not even listed in the results, and I know that other riders also had issues. Fortunately, I had a “receipt” which I had obtained at the finish line listing my exact finish time and my finish position among those who had finished in my group; a neat feature, I thought. Perhaps the most frustrating issue was the limited timing window; cutoff shortly after 0900 with riders starting between 0630 and a bit after 0730. The road was opened to the public at 0900 and a steady stream of cars was nearing the summit by 0915, intimidating a couple of the racers in my group into giving up and turning around to avoid the press of vehicles in close proximity. The Pikes Peak hgwy is city owned and I speculate USAC was simply unable to negotiate a reasonable closure window with the city. As usual it was likely about the money.
Rick E.
State Road Race
Howdy, esteemed Aggressors!
First off, congratulations to those that raced, you guys all represented Aggress well! Tim, two years after shattering his femur, killed the field. I was more excited to see him win than had I won myself! I did a dance of pure joy when he told me! Rich, Shane and Rich and Cathy (who I just met), all raced well and had great results.
For me, I’ve never been less relevant in the outcome of a race. Yet, I can only think of one race where I was more proud of the outcome. I’m literally in uncharted territory regarding my recovery. There was hope I’d be “here” by December.
As Tim mentioned, the race organizers lumped together all masters under 50 years old in one group. I believe that was 35 total men. I was nervous, which is very unusual for me. No matter what happened in the race it was to be a surprise, and I don’t like surprises during a race. Just before the race, out of nowhere, my wife showed up and hugged me. I really needed that! She drove 6 hours the night before and stayed at our friend’s cabin! I had no clue. It was the best surprise I’ve ever had! Thank you Tim for helping pull that off!
As for the race, mine wasn’t much of a race. On the first real climb, about 18 miles in, I got dropped. I tried to position myself up front before the hill so I could drift back and catch on, but I have a negative V02 max… I did drop back, but did not catch on.
I found my own pace up the hill, and started catching and passing a bunch of other guys who also got dropped. As normal, they were all surprised because I look more like a beer league softball dude than cyclist. I went by them all hoping they’d catch up and we could work together to catch back on. We eventually formed a small group of about 10 or so. They tried to form a pace line but frankly, they sucked and were really slow. I was upset to be with such a group. When we made the series of right and left turns pretty quickly where there were a few houses around mile 22, I went to the front. I didn’t attack at all, just gradually lifted the pace hoping to flick the clingons off the back. Well, all 10 of them were clingons. So I rode from there to the finish by myself. I did just enough to keep them at bay. I had about 43 miles of solace. It was a great time. I really wasn’t hurting, kept my heart rate around 155 most of the time, and just stayed as aero as possible.
I had some problems on the ride with my feet and hamstrings, which isn’t unusual still, but I knew how to keep it in check. I kept looking back to see how close the chasing group was. On the big rollers to finish the race I could them, so I stood up to make it look like I was attacking those hills even though I was just going a steady, relatively easy pace. Anything to break their spirits! From reading Strava accounts they were trying to catch me, and were upset they didn’t. I thought they’d given up really.
I’ll continue to take things one day at a time, but this was a big victory for me. Not a result I’m used to, but I’ll take it!
-Philip
Mt Evans HC
Aggressors:
The weather for this year’s edition of the highest road bike climb in North America was the best yet for me; sunny, warm (sort of), winds light and variable. At least half a dozen other Tucson riders, including Aggress Sandbagger Rich Horn, were also there to give it a go. Six were registered in the MM70+ group but at our start (0715) there were only 3 on the line; Herb Johnson, Michael Raber, and myself. Within the first 3 miles Michael was gone and it was down to Herb and I, as usual. I knew going in that I would be more or less at the minimum point on the altitude acclimation curve (5 days at altitude) but it needed to be scheduled that way to give me a month at altitude before the Nat’l climb up Pike’s Peak. I mostly followed Herb as we got close to Echo Lake (approx. halfway point) and I must concede that he was better able to maintain a good pace during his “stand and deliver” segments then I expected. As we approached Echo Lake I began to suffer significantly and shortly realized I would have to let him go; dang! My race was basically over at that point and it was henceforth a good training ride. I pushed but did not bury myself and in the end finished 2nd, 8 min behind Herb and 13 min behind my own PR, set when I was fully acclimated.
The consensus in the training blogs seems to be that when racing at altitude one should arrive at altitude either the day of the event, or more preferably at least 2 weeks prior to almost fully acclimate. 3-4 weeks are required for full acclimation; 4-6 days at altitude is the low performance point on the curve. I guess I will know for sure if that was the difference in this case after Pike’s Peak.
The Summiting credential is attached, Jim A.; GOATS!
Rick E.
State ITT
TBC 2016
Aggressors:
The weather was great, and the race was well attended, although my age group was bereft; there was only me and J P Holloman. Stage 1, Prologue. This 3 mile TT is likely more important to race outcome than it should be. A 20 sec advantage here will frequently be insurmountable; the RR and CR time bonuses are not enough to overcome it. I chose to ride my road bike with my Reynolds MVT32 climbing wheels and I am comfortable it was a good choice. Although I beat JP by half a minute, I was not adequately warmed up; I only had 14 minutes on my rollers before the start. I need at least 30 to be fully functional. Oh well… I got away with it.
Stage 2, RR. We did 2 laps around the Sahuarita course in a combined field of 65+ (9 riders). Lap 1 was relatively uneventful; a few attacks on the uphill pitches shelled the two 75+ riders. Reg Dowdall took off as we entered the feed zone to begin lap 2 and all except JP (my competitor) managed to hang on, so now we were 6. Several attacks by Reg and Steve Worley from Boulder proved useless, and we were still 6 for the coast down Helmet Peak Rd. As we turned onto La Canada I looked back to see if JP was visible, and he was not, but our pace seemed slow enough that I was getting a bit anxious so I went up front and picked up the pace down La Canada to Duval Rd. As we turned onto Duval, I took a good look back up La Canada and JP was not be seen, so I knew my race was in the bag. The finish sprint started with Steven Worley at just under 1km to go, with Reg and Curtis on him. I did my best to respond but my sprint sucks and by the finish the gap between me and Curtis had grown to 10 sec. Reg won it and I gained another minute+ on JP.
Stage 3, CR. The action here began on lap 2 going West up the Anklam hill. Curtis Ingle was in front with me on his wheel. Reg and Steve came around at speed and I expected Curtis to jump on their wheels. Nothing! I hesitated just a sec or 2 expecting him to stand and deliver any moment. Finally, I realized he was going to let them go and I went around and began hammering up the last of the hill. One other rider, Ken Starke, tried to go with me. Reg and Steve got over the summit 30 m ahead of me and the gap immediately began growing. I got on the toptube and managed to keep the gap fairly stable down to the Speedway turn. Ken came around me just after the turn and we began alternating pulls to close the gap. The closest we got was up the Anklam hill on the next lap; it got worse after that and we rode together to the finish; 3rd for him, 1st for me.
Rick E.
Nice job out there, Rick.
I’ve given in to the fact that my fitness has been less than desired this season, but that hasn’t stopped me from having the busiest race season to date.
The prolouge was a bit on the warm side with a moderate W-NW wind to knock me around a bit on the downhill. I couldn’t get comfortable or produce the power I wanted on the downhill so I hung tight and tried to stay calm before the climb. As I hit the first hill a Team Winded rider came past me, which signaled to me that it was time to start making it hurt. I stayed in the saddle, in the big ring (brandishing a new 53t Rotor Q-Ring this season), and slowly started to increase my power output. Over the rollers I took the slight downhill sections to increase my speed rather than take a breather. Then the big climb approached, and I got out of the saddle to lay more power down. I quickly overtook the Team Winded rider that I’d kept in my sight after passing me, and found what I had left to finish the TT as strong as possible. Official time was an underwhelming 9:49, but given my fitness and the wind I was happy with anything under 10 minutes.
The road race was a slug fest from the start line. The first lap was frantic as the pace would go from fast to faster with the occasional immediate slow down. It was apparent that multiple factions at the front of the pack were vying for control of the pace with little resolve. As I’d done last year I spent most of the race trying to hang in and chill out for as long as possible, but the pace proved to be quite demanding no matter where I was in the group. By the final lap the pack had dwindled significantly from an inital 55 or more to under 30. I was also starting to become noticeably dehydrated, and began drinking more as time permitted. Somehow we were still hammering away. I started to begin to position myself further forward in the group (no breakaways at this point), and tried to eat a little extra for a big finish. As we rounded the corner from Duval Mine to La Canada I got out of the saddle to close a gap caused by our rubber banding around the corner, and the inside of my left leg cramped up from hip to heel. Struggling to stay in the group I tried to keep pedaling, but my leg wouldn’t have it. I quickly slipped out the back of the pack. Sitting in the saddle and drilling it proved less painful, but it was too late. I finished the rest of the race solo. I was pretty upset about not being able to finish in the pack as I’m a big fan of sprint finishes.
I have come to love the TBC circuit race. It hurts a lot, but it’s over before you know it. The pace, again, was set very high and remained very high the entire time. Laps flew by as I sat in reflecting over my underwhelming performace the previous two days. By the fourth, I’d convinced myself that I had nothing to lose, and to just focus on kicking some ass today, here and now. I started to poke and prod my way forward in the group, which proved difficult due to the size of the group. I commited to sneaking up the right side of the group whenever there was a lull in the action, and by the sixth and final lap I’d made it up to Michael Hast who was sitting quietly letting everyone else do the work. He was comfortably 3rd in the GC so I thought he might be a good wheel to follow to the line. After the final corner Hast swung from right to left and I followed him. We swiftly cleared most of the pack with 10 or 15 riders up the field. I realized Hast wasn’t going to do anything drastic so I rode off his wheel, and took a sprint clean down the (open) left side of the road to finish 9th for the day. It was a nice and reassuring finish to an otherwise frustrating weekend at the races.
I’m looking forward to finishing out the main thrust of my road season with Marana Heritage Crit and State Crit Championships. After that I’ll be training for the Whiskey Off-Road.
JA
Southern Arizona Onmium 2016
VOS 2016
VOS Podium 2016
