Durango Squawker 2012 Crit Race Report

This weekend was jammed pack with road cycling fun. The Fort Lewis Cycling team organizes an event called the 'Squawker Road Classic'. It attracts many collegiate teams and USAC cycling racers (I fit in this later category)

The Squawker consists of a Saturday morning Time Trial, an afternoon Crit, then a Sunday Road Race.  I signed up for the entire package!

I performed decently in the Time Trial in the morning but was more nervous for the afternoon Crit.




This race report discusses my crit experience! The crit was a 40 minute effort consisting of 25'ish Cat 4/5 racers (Don't let this lower cat deceive you of the abilities, many of the racers are the finest Durango Crit racers, and it weighed on my mind!)

(Click on any of the images for original size!)

The course was fairly flat except for a steeper 20 second climb on the backside. Each lap was approximately 1 minute and 40 seconds. My strategy, stay with the pack and draft. I felt some fatigue from the morning Time Trial.


Here is a decent video of the course; the video is of this years collegiate racers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa5ZgJm_7cE&feature=youtu.be

Like most Crits, the first part was 'balls-to-the-wall' to destroy the competition and it did.  I was able to keep on the pack's wheel for the first 15 minutes and then felt my self 'blowing-up'...

Here I am in the back of the pack trying to hold the pack's wheel...

Soon, I found myself getting dropped.  Thoughts of, "Just pull out next lap and tell Rebecca you blew-up", "Lots of riders from the prior Crit pulled out stating these words, why cant I".  While this weekend is still 'training' where I have the opportunity to hold hard race-paces, I quickly changed the above possible outcomes and decided I wasn't willing to accept defeat.

I ended up with a small group of 6 riders who were also dropped.  I had to figure out how I could catch up!  I realized two things needed to occur. First, I was in too big of a gear on the climb and it destroyed my legs for the downhill and flats.  I resolved this by reducing the gear even further than before and increased the cadence on the climb; I noticed a huge difference (only if I figured this out earlier, I may have been with the pack). Second, the new group I was with needed to work together.

The small group.

After suggesting to the group a 'plan', it was not well received by all. I spoke with the guys after the race and most admitted they were already throttled while drafting off the wheels in this group. I felt I still had strength and decided to start pulling.  The group shrunk to 3 of us, and these guys were willing to rotate till the end.

The final 3, I am in the middle.

Realizing, we were not going to catch the pack with 5 laps remaining, I decided to still 'race' these guys.

My strategy, with two laps remaining, attack the hill climb and hopefully pull away for the last lap.  While this dropped the 3rd rider, the remaining rider drafted off me and counter-attacked me on the final laps climb, I couldn't hold the pace and he pulled away.  I still sprinted to the end and was smiling from ear-to-ear!!

Barely able to breath and almost puking, I finished the Crit!

Thank you Rebecca for the cheering support and photography!!

Now to hydrate and get ready for tomorrow's road race.

DWC TT Race Report - 19April2012

The Durango Wheel Club Time Trial Series started today. It was at 5:30, afterwork.

Here is the map:

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/85001893/

It was a two loop(9.5 mile loop) TT. Think of the loop as long sided rectangle.

The weather was 60's, cloudy and 25MPH winds from the west with gusts up to 35MPH. The first long leg was into the wind, and coming back was with a tail-wind.

I really enjoy Time Trials (The race of truth). I am not sure why, maybe it is because I know that all my concerns in life will be forgotten for the next 45 minutes. Why? because all I can focus upon is maintaining a tight aero position, trying to relax, not crashing, and holding an above-race-pace effort: gasping for air like a fish out of water, feeling like I am having a heart attack, and the sensation of battery acid flowing through my quads!

My strategy was simple, don't blow-up on lap one and increase intensity more aggressively on lap two.

All the riders lined up in their departure order. (I think 20 seconds separated each rider) and the robotic voice from the TT recording machine began calling out the next riders name and counting down to their start . It sounded like a sickly HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey

Sickly HAL TT machine: Matt "Overt"

My thoughts: Oh, he sounds like Carl from work

Sickly HAL TT machine: 10,9,8,7,6...

My thoughts: (Anxious) Maybe, I can disconnect the wire and it will delay the countdown...

Sickly HAL TT machine: This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.

My thoughts: (Surprised) How, did this TT machine read my thoughts...

Sickly HAL TT machine: Matt Overt, although you took thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.

Sickly HAL TT machine: 5,4,3...

My thoughts: (More anxious) Ok, maybe I can act like I am sick and ask Hal to kindly stop the countdown!

Sickly HAL TT machine: I'm sorry Dave, err Matt Overt, I'm afraid I can't do that.

Sickly HAL TT machine: 2,1 (BEEEP)...

I forget about the mental dialog and immediately focus with the following mantra, "Race your race", "Smile". I then continually check-in with myself: "how does this effort feel, can I do more? ", "keep relaxed and do good form", "breath".

The first leg went well, it was against the wind, and I quickly found myself on the return leg with the wind to my back, soon enough, I was passing the sickly HAL machine. Lap 1 down... "God, i would love to just do one lap tonight, No, keep going, this is great training!"

I maintained a similar pace for both laps, but the perceived effort was higher on lap two! Finally, I completed the time trial...

Afterwards, I felt great, I was thrilled to hold a higher level of effort for 45 minutes and actually finished 3rd for lap one and lap two.

This was Rebecca's first time trial. She was on a time trial bike with her aero helmet! I was so happy we both participated together. I think it is very cool! I look forward to seeing her progression!

Here were the results...

http://durangowheelclub.com/2012/04/19/2012-dwc-time-trial-series-results-april19/

Xterra Las Vegas 2012 race report

Distances: 1.5k swim/ 30k mountain bike/ 10k trail run

My age: 41, racing the 40-44 age-group.

Competitors: 300 competitors. The 40-44 age-group had 60’ish competitors registered (and also my age group). But, the overall race was fairly large compared to other Xterras. I think the popularity is growing…

Weather: Cloudy, drizzle, gusty winds, air temperature of 45-59 degrees (it warmed up over the race)

Water Temperature: 57 degrees

The Event…

Pre-race …

“Race your own race”, - my brother,

“Trust your training”, - co-worker and friend,

The above pre-race pathos alleviated my apprehension! I trained well for 5 months; I trusted the smart training my coach provided. And, I raced my race!

The Swim, a 1500 yard open-water start, many folks were concerned about the cold, it energized me! Maybe it was from my military experiences of cold open ocean swimming in San Diego…

The start seemed a bit confusing, I think the race coordinator was not aligned with the announcer, people were confused on what wave was starting, and some folks had on the incorrect swim cap color (designating their swim wave).

Then, BOOM, my wave’s canon fired, my nerves tingled and I was off. I positioned myself up front and decided to push the pace harder getting ahead of the flailing arms and hands of others. After the first 200 yards, I was able to find a draft line and focused on bringing my heart rate back to race pace and smooth form.

I picked up the pace the last half of the swim, and ended with a 25:15 swim. Last year was 30:59. A 5 minute 45 seconds faster time than last year! I am not sure how I stood compared to the other 40-44 age-groupers. The post results showed I swam 95 out of 300.

I transitioned a bit slower out of the water onto the bike. My calves cramped due to the cold and sat down to put on my bike gear due to the vertigo.

The Mountain Bike: 30k of mars landscape consisting of loose small gravel conditions, six .2 - .3 tenths of a mile climbing efforts, and plenty of open areas to pass. The course is relatively not technical…I raced with a front tire: 28PSI S-Works 'The Captain' 2.0x29 wheel, and a rear 30PSI Maxxis Ikon (a faster tread) and my bike is a Carbon Scott Hard-Tail. I felt these tires allowed me to remain confident and under control with the loose gravel conditions.

(Dan Hugo on the bike, pic from Triathlete Mag. Take notice of the loose trail)

One annoyance, the race director decided to let the Sport’s Race (half the distance of the championship race) start first. This put all the triathletes in an unnecessary hazard. Specifically, I was crashed into by a new triathlete. I was flying quickly downhill and gaining significantly on this rider. I yelled from the back, ‘On the left’, she moved to the right but lost control as I was passing and crashed into me putting both of us on our backs...

After getting back on my feet and recognizing she was fine, I continued racing.

I held a consistent pace, and was not passed by any 40-44 age groupers, for both laps and finished feeling strong, again, I was not sure what place I was holding in the race. Hindsight is 20:20, I could have pushed harder during some of the sections of the race; specifically, on the climbing. (Next year). I completed the mountain bike in 1:31, last year was 1:42.

The Trail Run: a mars landscape with plenty of areas to pass (or be passed). The first 3 miles consists all the major climbing. There were a couple steep areas I had to walk.

My training thus far has been bike-run transition bricks; primarily, 3 miles of running after a bike at a 7:30 to 8:00 min/pace. Due to an ankle injury during base training, I felt I was not able to gain much from last year’s run time.

While I did hold various 7:30-8:30 pace on the flats and downhill, the longer climbs destroyed me!! I averaged a 9:30 pace overall which was still better than last year! Last year’s run was 1:03:24, this year was 59:42. Just under a 3 minute gain…

Overall, it was a great trip, my wife and I meet some great new people Shelby and Courtney. We stayed with the famous Father/Son Rakita combo, and Ryan is improving faster than he knows!

I was very pleased with the race results. I gained 17 minutes. Now, if I can gain another 17 minutes next year!...