Walburg and Pacebend

What can I say about Walburg. Its lived up to its reputation again this year, not only in epicness but in its ability to keep me from finishing the whole race!

The weather was again dreadful, but that was to be expected. However, I thought this would be the year that I don't DNF this race and maybe get a result. I've been feeling especially strong this year and was sure I could do it. I knew that there would be a break and it would likely go early, and it did. I didn't think it would be a total gutterfest as it was realatively calm.

After about 10miles of racing a break of 3 had gone up the road, and after a few miles of people trying to bridge I was able to get off the front with a rider from Rica Buerger. I went during a short lull in the chasing just before a hill and we got a monster gap right away. A few minutes of rotating and we saw 2008 State RR Champ Mr. Wheeler himself making his way across solo. We agreed to wait up as we had a much better chance of getting across with him than without. Once on, we decided it was all or nothing, kill it getting up to the front group or we would be swallowed up and probably not have a chance at a result.



During our chase the front blew in and we had 30+mph winds, tough conditions when you are out there for almost an hour. Needless to say we didn't get across, we did close it down, but not all the way. What was left of the front group (about 10 guys) got us in sight and then Wenger and an ex-Toyota rider bridged up. By then we were all gassed. We dropped Rica Beurger, then Wheeler started having problems but we waited up. Then I had a hard turn and missed tagging back on and that was it. I had a 60min NP of 330w again! Totally drained I limped back to the finish and had to call it a day.

Pacebend:

I woke up around 8am and felt great, really great. The race was 80miles but on such a short circuit it races like a crit.

I was told the work the early stuff and I did. After the second time up the steep back section a few riders had a gap and I saw Blackgrove gun it, for what ever reason I jumped on his wheel and we where off. Wow we were off. He pulled so hard I thought i wouldn't be able to rotate through. After looking at my powerfile I saw that I was doing 400-420w just sitting on his wheel. I for sure burnt a handfull of matches on that effort, maybe not the smartest move but what can you do when you have a gap? I tried a few other moves that had promise, then that was it. I sat in the last 45miles hoping to recover enough to help the team. No dice, just didn't have the power to stay at the front when it got strung out.


I'm still pretty happy with the weekend. I had 3 weeks of very hard training and the 3rd week was told to dig a bit of a hole as I would have the week of the race to dig back out. I dug back out no problem but was flat due to the lack of miles and intensity that i'm used to.

Next week is Lago Vista!

Castroville Omnium

My current training and race recap to Chann:

Chann, I attached a screen shot of my Performance manager chart.



In 2007 when I was riding fairly well, i had a peak CTL of ~68 (not that high) but was built on a solid base. This explains to me why I complained about feeling tired, yet putting out a decent FTP (325w).

In 2008 I had a significantly higher CTL, but (working with another coach) it was built on a poor foundation. ie not enough miles or threshold and FTP stayed about the same. I hit a high of 82 after back to back weekends of Joe Martin Stage Race and Tour of Arkansas.

This year I have been very diligent in getting in the miles, especially the big rides. Not only that but making sure that my base rides were done at a bit higher power, closer simulating average power you would see sitting in during a long P/1 road stage. I'm currently sitting at CTL of around 88. It only makes sense that i'm putting out new power highs week after week. During the crit on Saturday, I had a 60min NP of 332w, putting me at 5.0w/kg.

Position too aggressive? Losing 30w is too much.

As for the specifics of the race.

TT: decent warm up, felt good. I think your assessment of bars being too low is spot on. They are a bit lower than what livingston set them at due to a bar change (Livingston's request). I will make the adjustment this week. As far as the effort went, it was full gas, but hamstrings/glutes did feel tight. Only averaged 320w for 22min. After that I felt a little down, wasn't sure what to think about it. I think I also need to be working on my flexibility more.

Having a go in the criterium

Crit: Felt great. Didn't get clipped in very quickly, and the race was on right from the gun. It took me 4-5 laps to get moved back up to the front. I made 2-3 goes off the front, and really pushed it. I even made the small group that formed at the front a few laps from the end (very hard!), but came back together just as the end. After a couple of near accidents in the final lap i rolled out of the back, not completely spent, but pretty tired. New FTP confirmed!

waiting to jump back in after a mechanical

RR: Honestly my head wasn't as in the race as it needed to be. I believe part of that is due to pushing it so hard the day before, i didn't feel sharp, kind of sluggish but still did ok. The course was similar to ToNB, with flat exposed roads and having to be near the front all day. I was doing ok at being near the front but not great. I missed a split mid race since being near the back and also because I wouldn't cross the yellow line and follow wheels. The whole race was stopped by the official after that because they were echeloned all the way across.

We started rolling again and on the next lap, miss another split, formed a 2nd echelon with about 20guys and we easily caught back on. From then on I was top 1/4 of the pack. I really surprised myself, was able to fight it out at the front all the way in, very windy, very technical going through low water crossings and neighborhoods. I didn't have the legs to sprint it out, but ended up in the top 20. The head ref decided that 44 of the 60 guys left were too far over and relegated us to the back after the finish, so they put me down as 49th. Not cool, but what can you do?

jmac


John McAllister
Chann McRae Cycling Coach
http://www.channmcraecycling.com/

Tour of New Braunfels

This last weekend I headed up to New Braunfels to do a couple days of racing. Neither day is really 'my' type of course, one being a crit and the other being a flat exposed RR.

The crit was pretty easy overall, there were a half dozen attacks, a couple of which i went on, but in the end nothing was able to stay away. However, up until we crossed the finish i thought for sure we would not catch that last group. With 3 laps to go (~6miles) a group of 3-4 still had a 45 sec gap, but most of that was eaten up in the final run to the line. I coasted in mid pack.

I got a great nights sleep, got up around 8am and felt great. No signs of fatigue in the legs. The RR was tough! The weatherman was off a bit saying <10mph winds. It was more like 20+. Combining the wind and the exposed roads made for a hard race. There were about 75 starters, and only 21 finished, it was like an early season preview of what Walburg is going to be like.

Coming up to the end of our 4th of 5 laps, we again were being guttered. I had a mental lapse and allowed myself to make that turn into the cross wind a little too far back. The rider in front of me opened a gap and then sat up, I sprinted around but couldn't make contact, and that was it. I collected a few 'bonked riders' as i went along chasing the final lap. I ended up 13th but very happy with where my season is starting.

My power numbers are up as well, FTP is only 4% below my peak from last year. Maybe 5.2w/kg is a reachable goal this year?