Wells Ave B Race - 3/15/09

My 2009 racing season officially kicked off of Sunday at Wells Ave. The weather could not have been much better for March 15th, 45 degrees at 10 AM and not a cloud in sight. Temperatures rose into the 60’s for afternoon riding. Dressing appropriately was challenging because it was 35°F or so when I left my house to ride down. I ended up taking 2 sets of gloves and socks, as well as a bunch of extra warmers. My pockets were stuffed full of extra clothing for the afternoon ride.

With the weather being nearly perfect, it was a great turnout. When we showed up the ‘C’ race was on its bell lap, and the field looked to be around 50 racers. I entered the ‘B’ race, and NEBC had good numbers there with Colby in from Boulder, Brain, Ian, Les, Stephan, and myself all the mix. Lots of other strong riders were there including Leo Desforges, Ben Regan, Jordan Winkler, and a bunch of Cambridge Bicycles guys. There were a number of other strong looking guys working the front that I didn’t recognize, and also some college racers that have great early season fitness. Total starters may have been as high as 75. It seemed like we fast forwarded right to May or June.

Right from the gun the pace was fast. Nothing insane, but it seemed like people were a little more motivated to race hard than usual in March. We went on to average 25.1 mph for the day which is the fastest pure B race I’ve done at Wells including all months of the year. There were a few break attacks right from the gun, but nothing that would ever stick. CB was playing their usual role at the front controlling attacks.

The first prime bell rang just 3 or 4 laps in (out of 30). I was in the front third or so riding next to Colby, and offered him a leadout. We moved up the outside coming around turn two, and by the beginning of turn 3 we were at the front. I drove on the best I could, taking my heart rate up near maximum (196/201) before pulling off shortly after coming onto the finishing straightaway. That’s really too short of a leadout for Wells. With the slightly uphill finish and a bit of a headwind today, I think the ideal leadout would go to 150m-200m out. Colby fought for the finish but I think we effectively just led out some other guys. That straightaway is deceptively long.

After a relatively short rest I was feeling OK but I was motivated to work some more so I went back to the front. Within a lap or two, as if it were on que, the prime bell rang again. Colby came up along side me, offered me a leadout, and brought me straight to the front. As we were coming up the side of the field, a smaller racer tried to squeeze in onto Colby’s wheel when I was obviously right there. I gave him my elbow and I think he got the hint that taking Colby’s wheel was not going to work. Anyways, Colby towed me to the front, and moving down the back straight hill I barely had to pedal. Coming out of turn 4 we were still on the front. I came around Colby way too early, trying to sprint the length of the straight away like he had on the prime before. I thought that I might be able to get an early gap by sprinting out of the saddle early, and trying to hold on. After 25 seconds of fighting the wind I blew up about 50-100m short of the line and was overtaken for the prime. It ended up being a 750W, 30 second effort, bring my heart rate back up around maximum.

By this point we were only about 10 laps into the 30 lap race and I had been working on the front about as hard as I could. Normalized power for this part of the race was just under 300W, which is a big effort for me based on last year’s data. I was also really feeling it from the prime lap, and recovering was pretty painful. Before I knew it the half way prime had come and gone and it was not until 10 or 12 to go that I finally felt OK enough to go play at the front some more.

Pretty soon after moving back to the front another prime bell rang. I was only 5 wheels back or so at this point, but I definitely did not feel good. I figured I would give it what I could given my lucky positioning. Coming around turn 4 I had moved up to third wheel or so, and the thought entered my head that Colby probably thinks I feel good because I’m at the front. Within seconds of that thought, Colby comes screaming around me and tells me to get on his wheel. He must’ve had a 5mph speed differential over me and it was crippling just to accelerate into his draft. Had my legs been stronger it would have been a killer leadout, as he blew up right around 200m before the line. Instead I winced in pain, unable to go around him. My heart rate wasn’t running high and I wasn’t having any problems breathing, my muscles were just burning.
With the end of the race less than 10 laps out, I retreated to shelter to give my legs a break so that I could make some sort of useful move at the finish. I rested for 5 laps or so, and with 4 to go I was back in the front 10 racers. Once again, the prime bell rang just after I returned to the front with 3 laps to go. I had no interest in chasing this one down, and tried to conserve as much energy as I could while maintaining a good position. An army of CB racers popped up for this prime and drove the pace. It wasn’t clear to me what their strategy was exactly, but a group of three were given a small gap of a few seconds. The group looked strong and it looked like they would stay away for the prime, but traffic slowed things up and we sort of neutralized, although the pace stayed relatively fast.

As we came across the finish line with two to go, Leo and Colby attacked off the front. I was on Colby’s wheel, but decided to sit up and make someone else work because a) I didn’t want to pull the field up to them and b) I obviously wasn’t strong enough to make that move work. CB was still all over the front, but they may have been a little tired from the prime lap and the attack quickly built up a sizeable gap. A Quad Cycles racer that was near the front saw the move and bridged up making it a three-man break.

The three-man break hovered about 5-10 seconds off of the front as we came to the finishing straight before the bell lap. It looked like it would be close at the finish. I was loving my situation, being positioned 5 wheels back with a man in the move. Work was being done at the front to keep the break within reach but then we hit traffic and everyone was forced to sit up. The break was allowed to keep it’s gap, but when the bell did not ring going over the line they gave it up.
We spent what should have been the final lap neutralized, and this was the easiest lap of the race. My heart rate was lower on this lap than any other point. The field swelled and racers filled up the entire width of the road. I went from having a good position to being completely boxed into the middle. It seemed like we were heading to a bloodbath.

As we came around turn 4 there was no traffic, and the race went live again. With everyone benefiting from a little additional rest, the pace really picked up to right around the 30mph mark. Coming through turn 1 I accelerated and really cranked up the turn 2 hill to gain position. I found the wheel of Ben Regan about 5 or 10 wheels back from the front. It was the perfect position because Ben went on to win the sprint, but I had to hurt myself to get there. Coming out of turn 4 the sprint began, but my legs betrayed me and seized up. I maintained enough pressure on the pedals to hold my position and avoid trouble, and ended up crossing the line in about 7th place with Colby right in front of me.

I was pretty happy with the race and my fitness felt solid, but my legs definitely did not have good snap in them today. In sprints I could barely top 1,000W and my muscles felt really broken down by the finish. I did a ski race on Saturday that had my calves feeling destroyed on Sunday morning. It also may be that I’m just not used to the violent efforts of a crit race right now.

I can’t include a screenshot of the Powertap data for this race because my laptop is on the fritz and can’t connect to the internet. The race data looked something like this:

Duration: 1:00:14
Norm Power: 267W
Avg Power: 213W
Avg Speed: 25.1 mph
Avg. HR: 170 bpm

It was interesting to look at normalized power for different parts of the race. During the first 10 laps when I was at the front NP was almost exactly 300W. During the next 10 laps when I rested it was down to 220W. For the last 10 laps it was higher again, around 280W. When I was at the front I still wasn’t doing a TON of work, so this goes to show the difference between resting in the pack and fighting at the front.

Nothing like an extra long race report for the first race of the season. At least I didn’t include what kind of food I ate.