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Race Result
| Racer: |
Richard Gendron |
| Race: |
Trade Zone Training Series #1 |
| Date: |
Sunday, February 15, 2009 |
| Location: |
Upper Marlboro, MD |
| Race Type: |
Bike - Other |
| Age Group: |
Male 40 - 44 |
| Time: |
1:05:00 |
| Overall Place: |
3 / 65 |
| Comment: |
Team Work Works |
Race Report:
My 09 Triathlon season is over, I need surgury on my left knee to clean up an articulate cartilege flap tear. I can ride, so I've scheduled the cuts for June followe by six weeks of nonweight bear. I really should not run till it is cleaned up. June puts me on a schedule to recover for Spring 2010 Racing. So If Trirats don't mind, I'll continue to post bike race reports and hang out on the list in case anyone wants to race bikes.
Tradezone is the very first race of the season. It's a training race so it doesn't count for upgrades or BAR points, but it's a great chance to get the race wheels back after a winter of roller/trainer fatigue. For a description of the course see "Turkey Day" report from 2008. It's a big Triangle. Very safe, very open.
When I registered on Thursday, the C race (Cat 4/5) was full so I went early enough to go standby. I was seventh on the list and they only let in five. Well, at least I got good long warm up for the B race (Cat 3/4)
Lined up next to Rusty. We talked and he said he was looking for some work but did not want to contest the final sprint. I wanted some work and wanted to make sure to unleash some kind of sprint. So we agreed to the roles, Rusty lead out, Rich Sprint. Mike rolled up a few minutes later (he had just taken an unassisted 2nd in the C race) and we kinda agreed that he would lead me out and Rusty would put us into position, but when I asked if Mike wanted to sprint rather than me, he said he would let me know (team mistake, more later). We also agreed to find each other with no fewer than 3 laps to go.
The race started briskly, I stayed close to Rusty on a 0km flyer. I settled in and did my best to stay in the front 15/20 and out of the wind. Seems like I used my brakes more than I should have the first two laps, but then settled into a better rhythm of gliding into turns and picking the gaps to keep from losing momentum. Nothing eventful for a while until about [guessing] lap 7, when they rang a preem, I worked my way to the front quickly and then Rusty found me - quick words and we went for it. During the preem. We moved to the front after turn 2. As Rusty pulled onto the front, I lost his wheel but
was right behind the guy who got it from me. Rusty pulled us into decent position, then bled off, Bike Lane behind me jumped early and i hopped his wheel, then the guy in front of me jumped as well, I jumped but spun out really early (too small a gear) so I sat up and let the crowd go. Info that came in handy later.
The rest of the race was pretty mundane for me, till the finish. I sat in, worried about the breaks, but committed to a field sprint strategy. I talked alot to the other teams "C'mon boys" " big engines to the front", "Take a hard pull and move off", "Make it a race, drag these guys back", After a second preem I used the lull in the peleton to do a couple of micro bursts to see what I had in the legs, and started to feel REALLY good.
Rusty, Mike and I gathered about midpack with 4 laps to go. We talked a couple times, Mike ended up behind me and I was on Rusty's wheel, that's when I signaled to Mike that he was going to sprint. He asked "why not you?" so I waffled and said,"OK, get in here". In retrspect we should have decided on a strategy from the very beginning. I'm not saying Mike did anything wrong - we, as a team, made the mistake of not deciding. Lucky for us we sorted it out with 3 plaps to go. For the last three laps I was glued to Mike's wheel and he was glued to Rusty's. RUSTY WAS AWESOME, surfing wheels, hitchhiking, really getting us into good position without spending that much energy. FF to
Last lap, between turn 2 and 3. We got pinched on the left side of the road up against the yellow line, when the entire pack shifted to the right side of the road (there was a huge gash in the middle of the road, so you had to decide) just before the turn. Rusty made his move, and rounded the last turn in about 14th (meanwhile i started shifting into my biggest gear) and pulled us up into about 12th when he faded, Mike stood up and gave it a couple big cranks and got us into about 8/10. I realized we started a bit late, so i pulled around Mike without a real jump (Mike got us up to 35 mph on the downhill
sprint).
Ahead of me I saw 5 guys sprinting about 15 yards up the road and one fading leadout, but i was closing fast and had a shot at the win, based on my speed. As I closed, the 5 split into two leaders and three fading fast, If i was going to have a shot at the win I needed to come around the three and shift my line to the right and then split the lead two. In my mind It looked like I had a shhot, but video shows I was not closing on the leaders as fast as I thought. In the process I clipped my read derailleur into the front wheel of the lead guy in the pack of three fading. It was not the safest move, I misjudged how far out my derailleur was sticking out in the big gear. So I settled for 3rd and a prize water bottle, and a bent D-hanger.
A great day of racing, awesome teamwork and good fun.
Here is the Video: WWVC kit is Red with a black chest stripe.
http://www.vimeo.com/3232726
Data : I missed a bit of the first lap. I clearly did not work as hard as Mike or Rusty. With the downhill sprint the max pwr was pretty low. In fact I hit the max on he preem, not the final.
Duration: 1:03:42
Work: 783 kJ
TSS: 109.3 (intensity factor 1.015)
Norm Power: 233
VI: 1.14
Pw:HR: 3.19%
Pa:HR: 0.54%
Distance: 25.973 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1062 205 watts
Heart Rate: 144 186 165 bpm
Cadence: 36 141 88 rpm
Speed: 17.6 38.5 24.5 mph
Pace 1:34 3:25 2:27 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 275 56 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 968 199 lb-in
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