Wompatuck Training Race, 5/14

Wednesdays always present the most options for cycling. Head up to Concord for the Charlie Baker Time Trial? Up to the Loft for the Hill Climb ride? Or drive down to Wompatuck for the training race? Driving to Wompatuck takes up valuable daylight time that could be spent riding, so the CBTT or Hill Climb are a higher priority when I don’t have anyone to make the drive with. Last night, Rich and Jess wanted to do it up at Womp and I made my first appearance of the year there.

Unlike last year we left plenty early and were actually ready to go at 5:30. Every time I went last year traffic was brutal and we started a few laps in with no warmup. Rich and I were riding around for warmup about 2 miles from the course when his rear tire developed a slow leak just 10 minutes before the start. I raced back to his team car and we got it fixed in a timely fashion. We sprinted back and made it to the start just after the field completed its first lap. Maybe some day we’ll be able to do this race from the beginning!

I think we may have actually expanded more energy rushing to the start than we would have sitting in the peloton for lap 1. I spent the two laps or so sitting on the back to take a break (already!) and scope out the race. The turnout looked pretty good, and I think we may have had a field of somewhere around 50. There were a couple of NEBC racers in the field, but the only person I recognized was cat3 Justin Howe.

After two laps of resting on the back I was amped up and ready to race. It was way easier to move around than I expected on this narrow course. I was able to move right to the front with minimal energy and immediately launched an attack. Attacking seems so useless with 22 laps to go but hey, I didn’t come here for a recovery ride. Stayed away for ¾ of a lap or something before getting eaten up.

I made more useless attacks like this than I could count, and almost none of them ever had a real chance at anything. If I got eaten up and a counter went off, I would go with it if I could. When I got tired, I’d float to the back to rest.

Sitting in seemed to make things easier than usual. At one point I went to the back to see how Jess was making out in his first race. The drafting benefit was so great than my heart rate went as low as 125 (LT is 175-180) at times, into my recovery zone! What a change from last year when I was excited/relived during the few times my heart rate would drop out of the 170’s.

After Rich got settled in (it was his first race of the season) he came to the front to work too. I launched an attack with maybe 10 to go and he stuck with me. I led for about a lap and he pulled through to help. It was a pretty decent attempt and we stayed away for almost 2 laps. With another two guys we might have been able to stay away.

With five to go a rider attacked and I grabbed his wheel. We were fading after a half a lap and I was considering sitting up when I heard someone shout from behind that we had a big gap and to stick with it. Turns out another group had bridged up to us and we were now about 8 strong. We were really working hard but things finally slowed down as we passed the line for 2 to go and we were rejoined by the field.

Immediately after being caught 2 NEBC riders, Justin Howe and another rider, launched a very serious attack immediately getting a significant gap. I couldn’t get back in line and dropped back almost all the way to the back of the peloton. Not the place to be with 2 to go. I hate it when I can’t get back in the draft after being off the front. After a very short rest I made a quick move up the side to get about 10 wheels back. The peloton was really winding it up at this point, maybe around 28mph, so this took a little bit of an effort.

As soon as I got my position in line the pace really lifted with just over one lap to go. Being 10 wheels back, I knew I had an excellent position if the guys in front of me were to make a lead out train as they seemed to be doing. We were stretched out single file. I noticed Rich was ahead of me at this point about 6 wheels back. The NEBC pair was still up the road as we came across the line with the bell ringing.

A few riders fell off the train coming up the one small rise on the course and suddenly I was sixth wheel. We caught the last NEBC rider just before the hard left-hander and the pace continued to charge. The lead-out train was beginning to really fall apart as we came by the parking area and the larger MRC rider in front of me made his move up the inside and I continued to hold his wheel. As we made the final left-hander before the finish a Bicycle-Link train flew up the outside at a large speed differential. The finish line was too close and I couldn’t make acceleration in time and I finished in sixth. Rich was right behind in tenth.

I was very happy to finish sixth but with my perfect positioning I think I probably should have been able to at least take a podium spot. The finish line comes up very quickly at Wompatuck and it is difficult to know where to kick from. In hindsite I should have started my move closer to the parking area but I was afraid I would blow up in the wind. My heart rate only reached 181 by the finish. Normally finishes take my heart rate well into the 190’s, and as high as 200 (max HR). I do think I finished the race with too much reserve. Looking at my power data in the final moments of the race confirms this as well.

Power during final durations of the race:

10s- 720W
20s- 520W
30s- 424W
1m- 338W
2m- 287W
3m- 285W
4m- 282W
5m- 261W
10m- 267W

None of these numbers are very close to my max power figures. Ideally I would like to see at least one of these numbers close to my maximal power duration curve. The hard part is making a decisive decision during the race as to what effort will be successful. For example, I don’t think a 330W 5-minute effort would have ended up with a better finish than 6^th place as the field averaged 30mph over the last 2 laps. Ramping up to 650W for the last 30 seconds would probably have been my best shot as the pace never exceeded 33mph.

In practice I’ve achieved good sprinting power in the range of 1300W for 5 seconds, and 1100W for 10 seconds, but it’s totally different trying to make that kind of power in the midst of a 35mph field sprint with a heart rate of 180. When I came out of the saddle just before the finish line my 5 second sprint power was a pitful 800W, 60% of my best efforts in the past. I do recall thinking I was in too high of a gear to pedal smoothly and was cautious coming around my leadout man while being chased by other riders. I obviously need to practice this more if I’m ever going to reach full sprinting potential. Being able to produce high watts in rested state during training does not make a person a good sprinter.

Looking at the Powertap data for the night shows a high average speed, 25.2 mph, but Womp always seems to be on the fast side relative to other crits. For example, the Wells Ave B Race is rarely as high as 25mph, despite feeling somewhat harder. Perhaps the prime laps at Wells Ave just make the race peakier and harder? I spent a lot of time out in the wind during this race yet never really felt very fatigued. Power numbers show decent effort, but certainly not the highest ever. I'd like to try the Tuesday night race one of these days with the big boys. Imagine that'd be a lot of work just to sit in.