Monthly Archives: April 2016

Joe Martin Is Over

This entry was posted in Racing on by .

Yesterday was the final day for Joe Martin this year.  It is a pretty challenging criterium in downtown Fayetteville.  It was windy, so the race was just that much more tricky.  I have a zillion observations from the whole weekend.  Enough to probably do a month of posts.

GC changed in the 1/2 race.  Connor Dilger, was super aggressive and rode away towards the end of the race with Friday’s winner, Kyosuke Takei.  With the time bonus and 4 second split they finished ahead, he ended up winning overall by 2 seconds.  Pretty close racing.

I was pretty alright during the race.  The first few laps were painful, which seems to be the case nowadays starting hard.  I don’t know if that is an age deal or just tired legs syndrome or something.  After a few laps, it was pretty easy for me.  I was a little lazy, thinking it was going to be a field sprint.  If I could do it again, I would have tried to expend more energy towards the end of the race.

I was a bit surprised a little group rolled away.  That got me a little unmotivated, not sprinting for the win.  On the last lap, I hooked up with my team mate, Alex Hoehn.  I told him to get on my wheel.  He did, but he had to fight for it.  I jumped up to the last corner, which is about 300 meters from the finish.  We went into the corner just a couple guys back, but it is a long haul up to the finish line.

A couple by went by and I glanced back and Alex was at his limit.  He had done such a good sprint on the Friday’s night finish uphill, but I think he was feeling the past three days.  I eased up a little and he went by before the finish.  He was 10th, which is a good result for him.  He is a category 2 and needs upgrade points.  I guess Joe Martin is good upgrade points, not really sure how that works.  Alex rode great all weekend and finished 10th overall.  If he would have just be a couple places further up, they split the field at the finish 4 seconds, he would have finished 7th.  I was 13th in the criterium and 26th overall.  The GC came down to the time trial pretty much.

I went to Strava and compared the Pro race lap times to the 1/2’s.  They are fairly comparable, just a few seconds off one way or another.  Their average speed was a little less than a mile an hour faster, but that race is so controlled, so it isn’t the constant jumping and slowing.  My final lap was 2:40, which is the 6th fastest time this year on the Joe Martin criterium course.  And it was windy, so it was slow compared to previous years.  I’m good with that.

We stayed in Fayetteville last night.  We had a room, plus, I have a Apple Store appointment this afternoon in Kansas City, so I don’t have to turn around and drive the hour back to KC.  We ate pizza at this Wood Stone Craft Pizza.  I ran into the Lupus team there.  They were just hanging before flying back to NYC tomorrow.

It was super interesting talking to those guys.  They have a super passion for the sport and come at it from a really unique angle.  They live in Manhattan, or Brooklyn and say they can race 5 days a week.  I think a couple of the guys used to be messengers and they had ridden the Red Hook Criteriums.  Red Hook races are road criteriums on track bikes.  Fixed gears, no brakes.

They told me about the Japanese rider on their team that was 3rd overall.  He just flew over on Tuesday and started racing Thursday.  Man, that is a feat.  I am so, so jetlagged coming back from Japan to the US.

Anyway, it was a good conversation, really interesting.  Smart guys with the passion.

We’re gonna ride a little here and then do the 4 hour drive to KC, so Monday will be gone before I know it.  I feel a lot better than before I started the race.  Pretty okay, could race a few more days.  Hopefully this will jumpstart me a little for more important races later on.  I have to race to get into shape.  Training just doesn’t do it for me.

This is Nancy Martin and her son, John. I met John yesterday. I tried to go across the street to talk to Nancy, but they were doing a family introduction at the race and they were busy. I raced with Joe the first couple times I did this event. Seems like such a long time ago, but then when I think about it, it seems short. Time is strange.

This is Nancy Martin and her son, John. I met John yesterday. I tried to go across the street to talk to Nancy, but they were doing a family introduction at the race and they were busy. I raced with Joe the first couple times I did this event. Seems like such a long time ago, but then when I think about it, it seems short. Time is strange.

Kind of missed the photo of the 1/2 podium. All these guys rode great.

Kind of missed the photo of the 1/2 podium. All these guys rode great.

Lauren Stephens made a super move with a lap to go and won the women's criterium solo. She moved into 3rd overall from the effort.

Lauren Stephens made a super move with a lap to go and won the women’s criterium solo. She moved into 3rd overall from the effort.

And Travis Mccabe killed up up the hill and won the Pro 1 race. Pretty impressive sprint.

And Travis Mccabe killed up up the hill and won the Pro 1 race. Pretty impressive sprint.  Nancy applauding in the background.  

 

Tucker got a lot of attention this weekend. Especially from kids. He likes kids a lot, maybe better than other dogs.

Tucker got a lot of attention this weekend. Especially from kids. He likes kids a lot, maybe better than other dogs.

Stage Racing Tired

This entry was posted in Comments about Cycling on by .

I think I am just an okay stage racer.  I’ve never done a 3 week race, but have done a bunch of 2 week events.  I usually leave the race feeling much better than I started.  I’m not sure if that is because I was under trained going in or that my body responded better to multiple days than other guys.  Either way, it usually worked out pretty good.

There aren’t that many long races I can do anymore.  Not being on an active UCI team really limits the events that guys ride.  Now it is just 4 or 5 day domestic races like Joe Martin, North Star Bicycle Festival and such.  By just, I don’t mean to belittle them.  I mean there is a huge difference between racing 4 or 5 days and 14.

I woke up yesterday feeling pretty good.  Like good enough that I wished there was another hard stage at Joe Martin.  Joe Martin is a funny race.  The stages are pretty hard, but the general classification always seems to come down to the time trial and time bonuses.  I guess that is just the nature of the “new professional sport of cycling”.  Win the time trial and then control the road races. That didn’t quite work out for Jamis on Sunday, but it usually does.

Anyway, I was surprised racing the hilly criterium on Sunday how bad I felt the first few laps.  I felt pretty great warming up and then when the race started, I was pretty gassed for the first 3 or 4 laps.  Then it got super easy.  I think one aspect of aging in athletics is that it is much harder getting up to full gas race speed initially.  That has to be the explanation for these short, uphill time trials.  I feel like I’m climbing alright, but I seem to suck at doing a 10 minute race effort. That isn’t a very good sign for cyclocross.

Anyway, like I said I felt pretty good yesterday morning.  We had a 5 hour drive back to Kansas, with a stop at the Apple store in KC to get my phone repaired.  We got back to Topeka with 15 minutes to spare for the 5:30 evening ride.  I changed pretty quickly and just made it.

I felt pretty good the first 10 miles of the ride and then began to fall apart.  After about 20 miles, I was ready to head back.  I pretty much was done at the finish, just a little over 30 miles.  That is so weird because before the ride, I felt like I was going to do another hard day on Monday, because it was supposed to storm all day today.

Anyway, Andrew Talansky did an interview last week where he said, ” With the level that cycling is at you can’t race to train, you’ve got to train to race and it rarely works the other way around.”  I planned to do a post on that on how I totally disagree with the statement.  I think most guys only get to top form by racing.

I’m trying to decide what to do next weekend.  There are a couple MTB race options and then there is Iowa City weekend, which is always fun.  Hopefully I’ll feel better tomorrow.  I think I’m ready for a nap and it is only 9am.

My Strava form and fitness is the highest since Joe Martin two years ago. I'm not sure what all they use to come up with this number, but obviously it takes race numbers into account.

My Strava form and fitness is the highest since Quad Cities  two years ago, where I broke my hip. I’m not sure what all they use to come up with this number, but obviously it takes race numbers into account.

I left Tucker in the van while we were packing up yesterday and he got into the back and got caught up in the bikes. He was covered with chain grease and very unhappy. I'm going to give him a bath today after taking him out into the country for a wet run.

I left Tucker in the van while we were packing up yesterday and he got into the back and got caught up in the bikes. He was covered with chain grease and very unhappy. I’m going to give him a bath today after taking him out into the country for a wet run.