Switching it up: 24hr Summer Solstice MTB Race

The first time I did this race was with a 5 person team, with a bunch of guys at the end of high school that didn't know too much about biking. We ended up with 2nd in our category by default but left happy with lap times that I would be upset to put up now. My best lap in 2010 was I think 1:16.

The race can be done solo (for the insane) or all the way up to teams of 10 that do it as a relay. Each team gets a card that they scan as they come through each lap. The computer uses this to count laps and record times. They hand the card off to the next person and then they tuck that card up their shorts from the bottom and the spandex keeps it there holding it against the leg. Thinking of it makes it seem pretty gross because its covered it sweat from the last person but your so excited to get going that it doesn't even cross your mind. Trick tip: bring tons of kits (shirt and shorts, maybe even extra gloves and probably socks) to this race, nothing worse than getting up in the middle of the night to have to put on a kit still soaked in sweat.

The race is held at Albion Hills conservation area, and included in your race fee is a camping spot so you can camp the weekend, makes for a great weekend! This year the course was perfect, not too dry and a little rain before we got there made the course tacky. There was no rain during the race, only extreme heat! I heard some people complain that they thought the course was too hilly, but I thought it was rather flat. Maybe I am just use to going up hill and enjoy it! The course was crazy fast and flowy and the harder technical sections had bailout options for us roadies and the others that didn't feel so confident with them. I hit most of the technical spots though wanting to feel like I belonged with the rest of my team that was composed of dedicated mountain bike racers. At one point there is a 5km to go sign and it is a dream crusher. You forget that 5km is almost a third of the course and you still have 15-20mins (if your moving quick) left. Im used to 5km being under 10mins to go!

This year we chose the 4 person mixed, no night category. Being the youngest on the team and the one with the least off road experience I had to make sure I didn't let the team down. We started with our top guys for the first two laps so that we were positioned on the course with the faster riders. Eventually the course gets so dispersed with riders of all abilities all over the course because of the varying lap times people put up. This can slow you down as it is hard to pass slower riders on the single track but people are usually kind and move over when they can. I went off third and did my first lap at 57:52. About 5 mins slower our teams top lap time and 10 mins slower than the top lap time the course saw this weekend.

The second lap really hurt and tacked on an extra minute to the first lap. We weren't fast enough to get an extra lap in before the 7:20 cut off for  no nights but we were sitting in first! We got to enjoy the evening and relax at the camp fire as we watch riders all over leave their camp sites with super bright lights head out for night laps (which are really fun but it was nice to switch it up this year).

Sunday saw us start racing back up at 6am,  and we kept the same order as the previous day so I ended up heading out just before 8. This ended up being my slowest lap as I just couldnt get much power out of my legs when the course opened up to the double track. Lap time was 1:00:29.

The race was pretty close with 15mins separating second place team from us and all it would take is a flat or mechanical and it would completely change the race. Luck was on our side and I got send out on the final lap at around 11:40. The cut off to leave for your last lap is noon but you must be in before 1pm or the lap doesnt count. My legs felt alright this lap and I tried to ride the single track as smoothly as I could. I thought I was flying and was about to post my best lap time. Ended up being just under an hour for this lap. My team was waiting for me at the end with a celebration beer, we WON!

Got my first winners jersey, and a gold medal. Have to thank my team RaceDayRush.com/CoachChris.ca for carrying us to the victory. The race is a great time and I would recommend it to anyone that can ride a mountain bike. With around 2100 participants this year (yes 2100), hardly any of that number are dedicated mtb racers. Most people are out just to have fun and ride their bike! (and if your competitive theres the fact that it is a race and you can try to beat the rest of your teams lap times :P )

Next races for me will be the two provincials races with the crit next weekend and the road race at the end of the month! Ill try and get pics up when I find some from this race.

Results: http://www.ontariocycling.org/web_pages/results/20130623-191629-SummerSolstice2013oca.html

Garmin data for one lap: here

Time Trialing Tips!

The time trial is a simple race of you against the clock. The fastest person wins. There are no excuses; you can’t say you didn’t have a proper lead out into the finish or you were boxed in and did not have a good sprinting path. There are a few things you can do to save you some time without having to be “faster”.  I’ll list some time saving numbers at the end that I have found online, but first we will examine the active things you can do to have a faster time trial.

-First off if you want to improve your time I highly suggest that you train. You cannot just occasionally hop on you bike and expect to reach a blistering pace.  Also you want to train regularly on the bike and in the position you would use in a time trial. As I will get to shortly, if you use the advantages of an aero tuck position it uses slightly different muscle recruitment and takes great core strength to maintain. You also cannot just expect to go into this position on time trial day and be the most efficient machine you can be at your fitness level. Equipment can give you a couple free km/h, but to go from 30 to 40+ km/h you are going to have to log in some solid hours!

-Second recommendation is aero bars or a time trial bike. The first option is wallet friendly if you just add clip-ons to your road bike and you will still get most of the advantage. A time trial bike has the added benefits of a sweet looking bike with extra aero properties to help it slip through the air. It is usually hard to get into a good position with just the clip-ons because your road bars generally do not go very low (compared to a TT bike). At the local club time trial last year, I rode a 14.5km time trial on my aero road bike (felt ar4) with Zipp 404s and posted a personal best time of 21:39 (~41.5km/h, using normal road bars). This year I picked up a time trial bike, using slightly deeper dish Chinese carbon tubulars, but the main difference being a good aerodynamic tuck. I also added the aero helmet and booties, and managed a new personal best time of 20:18 (Just over 43km/h). That is a 1:21 savings! Id like to think I got faster but with my injury in the fall, I am going to attribute most of this to the bike and position.  I would also recommend the serious riders to get a bike fit. It helps prevent unnecessary injury, makes you more comfortable, and gets you into the most efficient position your body is capable of holding. Most people make the mistake of trying to assume the most aero position possible but many times this comes with a loss of power. The ultimate goal is to find the best compromise. Many bike shops offer aero fits. I went through the specialized BG fit and it was pretty good. Dundas speed shop looks to offer a really good fit program as well.

-Third tip is a little harder on the wallet, you can dive into the extras to look the part and add speed. Aero helmets, although look ridiculous to many people, do provide significant advantages to justify using them. If you use one with a visor like me (because they look badass), just try to come up with a solution to pick up your sweat as the visor blocks most of the wind-flow from evaporating the sweat on your forehead and it comes dripping into your eyes (solution - http://store.haloheadband.com/). When buying a TT helmet, make sure you try it on. I use the giro selector and while it is a great helmet, it is tight and can take a little bit of time to get on. If you are into triathlons this is a problem because you do not want to waste time in the transition if you don’t have to. For the time trialist, they have all day to put their helmet on so its no problem and the tighter helmet may have some aerodynamic advantages to it. Just be sure to try it on to check that it meets your needs. Other add-ons include booties to smooth the air-flow over buckles on your shoes, deep dish rims and a full disc wheel. The thing I like about the rear disc is that it makes a nice ‘whoosh’ sound that makes you feel like you are going faster Another great piece of time saving equipment is a speed suit. Using a speed suit can provide you with some of the most savings per dollar spent. It is a one piece, skin tight suit (usually long sleeve with shorts), without any rear pockets to cause drag. Without the extra seams and pockets, your body, which causes most of the drag (so there’s only so much you can do to your bike before you have to start changing you) slips through the air nicer.

- Fourth tip is you must be able to pace yourself and you should feel like you are completely gassed when you cross the finish line.. You want to stay right at your lactate threshold. Go a little bit easier going out and down hills, and a little bit harder on the way in and up hills. Your threshold is like a line, if you cross it you can only maintain that pace for a maximum of 5 mins (which isn’t good for a 40km route).  So you want to give the maximal effort possible, while being able to maintain it for the whole course. You can try and find this yourself, or do a fitness test to get your threshold in watts (good if you have a power meter) or heart rate zones. CoachChris.ca has coaches that offer these services for pretty cheap (it will also help with your other training by knowing your training zones).

-Last tip is if you’re really serious is to cut some weight. A thinner person is smaller and therefore has less drag. This will also increase your power to weight ratio, which will help make you faster on any uphill sections. This is not an option for everyone but it is for some. Remember once you drop below a healthy level, you WILL lose power and will be much worse off. Always maintain a healthy weight, if your serious about getting as low as you can go, contact a health care professional to find out where that is for you.  The pros have constant medical attention making sure they are safe and healthy at ridiculously light weights, which they usually only maintain for certain races.  And never stop eating!

Before I get to the numbers just a bit of physics. Drag increases with speed between squared and cubed. Therefore in order to double your speed you will have to put 4-8 times the effort in. Some of these numbers were found at a ridiculously high pace that is not attainable for most people, but just know the advantages become more apparent as your speed increases.

Over 40km (completed in 48mins, 50km/h)

TT helmet -67seconds ($150+)

Speed suit- 134sec  ($250)

Aerobars- 122 sec  ($200+)

Aero frame- 17sec (Lots $$)

Booties/shoe covers- 30secs  ($30)

(Numbers taken from here, prices listed as I know them to be http://www.active.com/cycling/Articles/Buying-Time-Which-Aero-Equipment-Offers-the-Most-Benefits )

Remember speed comes with hard work and determination.  This event does hurt, but it comes with bragging rights of being the fastest rider. Just remember the faster you go, the less time you will have to endure the pain for!

The always fast Wiggins showing exemplary time trialing positioning. 

Mississippi Mills Stage Race -New Area- New Friends

This past weekend was the Mississippi Mills Stage race (if you have no idea where that is, it is close to Ottawa).  It was quite the drive from Brantford so we ended up staying Friday and Saturday night at the Brookstreet hotel in Kanata. I felt out of place almost as it was a really fancy hotel, but I had a great stay. The top tier guys got to compete in a 4-event stage race, and due to lack of volunteers the rest of us were able to compete in 2 of those 4 events. Saturday was the OCUP time trial that covered 37km (my garmin says it was longer than results page noted). Sunday was the Pakenham road race that covered about 85km.

Saturday’s time trial was the main reason I came down because I needed to get enough upgrade points here to move up to Elite 2. The course was an out-and-back style that we did two laps of. It was hillier than I thought and I think that could be why my speed was slower than I was used to at the HCC time trial events. Andrew House caught me before I started and gave me the team disc to use so I got some free speed. I gave it everything I had, and at each turn around I saw Grahame Rivers getting closer and closer to me (he started a few minutes back from me). I passed one rider just before the half way mark, and then tried to annihilate myself for the remainder.  With about 3km to go I got a wicked cramp in my side but I tried to push through it. At the finish you could most likely hear me screaming in pain. At the end I managed 2^nd to Mr. Rivers who did an outstanding job on his beautiful P5. He put up just over 2 mins on me, and I had a slightly bigger gap than that on 3^rd. My goal will be eventually to TT over 44km/h!

Coming into the finish!

Podium Shot!

Sunday’s race was just supposed to be a fun race. I talked a lot with the Dark Horse Flyers team at the start line and we joked about attacking from the start. The race started ‘neutral’ but I never noticed a difference between the neutral start and the rest of the race. About 15km in we hit a gravel section that was really hard pack. We moved fast through it, and I could see people were a little uneasy taking some of the corners, scared of sliding out. Once we got through that I knew the race could go really bad. It was an open style race so anyone could join it. People were all over the place; the women riders were either being too aggressive or just riding really stupidly. There were also a few masters guys that looked like they felt no one was around them and could ride anywhere. I was definitely scared at points that there would be a big pile up. We got through the first 43km lap safely, with the peloton neutralizing all attacks. For the second and final lap I made my way to the front (to get away from the crazy riders) and to try my luck off the front. They wouldn’t give me much room before bringing me back. Grahame again was a monster on his bike building pretty big gaps before people started to worry and bring him in. Not sure when it happened but a successful move found a break of 3 guys go with one Big Tree team rider. We were never able to catch these guys and they ended up with a 27 second gap at the line. Coming into the finish (which was a lot sooner than I expected), I found myself further back than I wanted and again people all around riding like idiots. We came around the corner and I let people go for the sprint. It wasn’t worth it potentially crashing for nothing when the top spots were already taken.  At the end I finished midpack in 27^th.

Start of the race, talking tactics

At the end of this I learned that people could always work on their group riding skills. I’m not saying I am exceptional at it either but there is some common sense to it, and nobody wants or needs to get hurt. One girl ended up leaving in a stretcher and neck brace, and another junior rider was wrapped up for road rash.

The one thing that I love about cycling is that when the race is all over and the people you were just trying to make hurt as much as possible can come up to you and talk like you’re best friends. Everyone suffers through the same experiences in the races so you automatically have something in common.  This weekend I made friends with a couple very strong riders, which I am sure, will come in handy in the future!

Also a big thanks has to go to my mom for planning this trip out for me and finding a great place to stay, buying me food, manning the feed zone and for doing pretty much all of the boring driving!

The OCUP season is over and I managed to finish 6^th in the standings! Not bad for having a bad start to the year, a crash in one race and a mechanical in another.

Not sure what is next for me. One thing I know is that I will be switching disciplines to mtb to compete with a CoachChris.ca coached team at the 24 hour summer solstice!

Results:
Road Race: http://www.ontariocycling.org/web_pages/results/20130609-192619-1315results.htm

Time Trial: http://www.ontariocycling.org/web_pages/results/20130608-173358-1314results.htm

Garmin Data:

Road Race: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/325598564

Time Trial: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/325598586

Crash-tacular! – KW Classic Edition

Sunday was the KW Classic, and the weather caused a whole bunch of troubles for our race at least. The course this year was run opposite to last year and I really liked the course this way. Started off on a flat section then a quick right-left into a fast slightly downhill section. This curved around to the back section of the track and then we were met with a short up hill. After this was a nice little descent into the residential area where we made a left and started about a kilometer gradual climb. We made a left from here to a little punch climb and then there was one more right to make then 100m to the finish line (although for our race we had to do 16 laps of this for about 75km total).

The weather was on and off rain and sun, with some pretty good down pours during the race. It felt nice as it cooled us off but also made it very slippery.

Right from the beginning of the race there were a lot of attacks. I decided to sit back as I knew it was too early for this category for a 1 or 2 man break to stick. I played it conservatively for a few laps not knowing how my legs would hold up today.  At about the 8^th lap in, on the top of the hill the pack eased up and I decided to have some fun and go off the front. They let me build a pretty large gap and I stayed away for almost two laps. The wind was too strong and I realized it was pretty unlikely that I would be able to solo the rest of the way. I sat back in near the front of the peloton and rode conservatively till near the end of the race. That’s when things got nasty…

Coming into the last lap just before the turn, two riders went down (not sure how) and I was able to ride in between them on the ground. I made sure to hold my position near the front. Pace was really high for this last lap, with on rider off the front still. We caught him on the final climb. I was sitting around 6^th wheel at the top of the climb getting ready to open up for the sprint. We turned the last corner and I see two guys in front of me go down and before I realize it I also went down. Not sure if it had anything to do with them, or coming around that wet corner at 47km/h. Either way it wasn’t fun and ruined my good chance at a great result. I am constantly reminded that there are a lot of things that can go wrong in racing and its not always the best rider that wins, there is some luck to it as well.

Anyways now there is more pressure on me to perform well at next weekends OCUP TT near Ottawa so I can get the upgrade points I need. Ill post pictures when I find some, didn’t have a designated photographer with me today.

Stay tuned: later this week I will post some time trialing tips. Pretty basic but good reminders to those familiar, and great starter tips for those new to triathlons or time trials and want to learn if equipment does matter. Also with all my new experience to road rash this year, maybe ill do a write up later on how to make things go as good as they can until it heals.

Until next time,

Happy riding!

Garmin data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/321929215

Race Results: http://www.ontariocycling.org/web_pages/results/20130602-220213-kwresults.htm