We got to the line, with a relatively loose game plan, really waiting to see how things unfolded and hoping someone would be in a position to be able to capitalize on it. I was hoping to get into the break but couldn't get clipped in at the start, so I ended up in the back. The race was a fury from the start, making it very hard to move up with a bigger field than usual (59 guys on the start list!).
I bet if you looked at (or have already read) my previous race reports, nearly every one I mention that I need to work on positioning. Last year I was getting better, but I did not start this one off right. The break got away without me, before I was even able to get to the front. I did at one point make an attempt to go across but was quickly marked, and before I knew it, I found myself right back at the back.
There was this devilish right hander... Actually both right turns in the course were times were you had to think "ok, you better buckle in son, you are in for a ride!". Both of them, terrible at the back, 90 degree right hand turns into the gusting crosswinds where the peloton was guttered. At the back i'd come to a near stop before having to sprint back up to 50km/h and just hang on for dear life. Not for me!
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| What the guys at the front probably felt like... |
Anyway, the rest of the race is pretty much a blur as my head shut down. A few laps in, there was a crash and we lost Rob Rice. We later found out he broke his collarbone so we are now down a good rider. We also lost Aaron in the race, as he said his brake seized up, so he was working extra hard and then blew up.
I ended up finishing the race, nearly 12mins back of the winners, with my other team mates Bryan and Tanner, who dragged me around the last lap. I was completely fried at that point. Actually well before that, and would have quit had it not been for them being there. Nearly half the field dropped out. It was one hell of a hard race. Keeping in mind the last lap or two, I really just sat in on my team mates as I had nothing left so my power numbers came down, but I was 288w avg, and 315w normalized for the 3 hours and 15mins. Looking at some of the other riders data, I have the power to be up in the mix, just not the smarts... some PhD student I am! So once the tactics get better sorted, and I am sure they will as the team gets better at knowing each other, we will be a force to contend with.
Leaving this race, I am very sad to have lost Rob. It sucks to bust your ass all winter, just to have it ruined right at the beginning of the season. I know the feeling, as it wasn't too long ago where my season was majorly set back from my P2A crash. He is a tough guy, and I am sure will heal quickly.
On the plus side, I am very happy with how my numbers are coming about. Numbers that just a few years ago, I thought there would be no way I could do them. I have to thank Cyclepath Oakville for helping outfit my new ride with a power meter so I have data to share with you! I have used Golden Cheetah software to make two plots for you lucky viewers to check out what it takes to shotgun a race with mega crosswinds. The first is a heart rate plot. Most of the time I am in a tempo zone, as that is really the max your body could sustain for 3hrs. The second one shows the cumulative time I spent in each power zone. The zones are rough as I haven't done an FTP test recently, but good enough to look at anyway!
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| Heart rate histogram. Note this also includes my warm up which was easy... |
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| Time spent in different watt zones. Yes 8 mins above 540watts... If I told my spin class participants to do that, they would either kill me, or leave... |
So I leave for Hawaii this week for a school conference, then I will be back to race in May!
Also, if you want to know how the race unfolded before I get to sharing, or want to see more race photos, check out the team facebook page here.
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