W@W # 2 - w/ pics from the 7pm race

Last night was another great time at Wakefield Park for W@W #2. The rain gods smiled on us and kept the park relatively dry and the event unaffected despite the threatening radars and thunder and clouds. A huge shout out to the Patomac Velo Club for all their hard work in putting this race on; as can be deduced from the number of riders coming out, the race is great and I believe I speak for all of the racers when I say thanks you guys are awesome!

I decided this week to try a different approach to getting out to the race, mostly just because I didn’t want to ride back to the metro after the race this week. I still took the metro out though just to West Falls Church where I got a Flexcar (Subaru Imprezza Wagon which was pretty sweet) and hopped down 495 a couple of exits to the park. All in all a pretty easy option and the air conditioning on the way to the race was a nice break from the days heat and humidity.

I had some high hopes and expectations for myself after last week and learned a good lesson here in my second race. The start is oh so important in mountain biking for the finish. Especially in a short two loop race. I ended up lined up in maybe the back of the front third, definitely somewhere mid-pack about four or five rows back. This changed everything for the beginning sprint and entry into the single track since in the climbing sprint you can only go as fast as the guy in front of you and it’s hard to pass too many people in such a mass sprint. This week we had 49 starters on the results!

Once I fell in line I think I rode a solid race and this time I was able to focus more on the upcoming trail and remembered all my trouble spots. My lap times from last week with the first lap right at about 21 minutes and the second closer to 20 and had no crashes/falls and only a couple of foot downs due to rider block ups. I tried hard to pass folks when I could and managed to make up a few spots along the way with highlight of my efforts being rewarded with a huge thorn bush to my whole left side that almost threw me off my bike. Not sure it was really worth it but in that section I passed about 5 or 6 riders.

The posted results have me in 6th place which I’m very happy with as my main goal was to break the top ten, though I did hope I could break into the top five. None the less I had a great time and can’t wait for the next race on the 11th!

Though it's hard to tell, this is a FatCyclist Jersey.

You can check out the rest of my shots from the 7pm race here; though don’t expect too much out of them. I need to learn how to focus better on the rider and not the folks behind... Maybe next time I'll get out to the section where the jumps were for some more exciting shots and see if I can turn out some better images.

I think this is a shot of Gwadzilla about to pass another rider, but unfortunately the next two attempts at pics came out poorly and I was too busy trying to work the camera.

A new family member

I got some great news the other day from my sister and her husband; I’m going to be an uncle! Ok, maybe not really but close enough for now. They’re getting a puppy from the rescue league where I volunteer. The other weekend I’d been talking up a sweet Weimaraner named Greta that is by far my favorite current dog there right now. The next thing I knew the two of them were talking about her and possibly getting her. When they came to see her they decided she was too big and fell for a little black lab mix puppy instead.

The puppies temperament reminds me a lot of my dog when I was a kid and I think she’ll turn out to be just as great a dog. Sunday I’m planning on riding my bike up to Laurel to visit the new pup in her new home. Can’t wait till they need me to dog sit.

In other news tonight is the second W@W race and I’ve decided to take a different approach to my transportation option. I’m still going to head out on the metro around 3:30 but this time I’ve got a flexcar reserved from 4 to 8 which I’ll get at the West Falls Church metro and I’ll drive the 10 miles down the turnpike to the park. It could end up being a really bad idea, but at least this time I’ll be able to have a beer after the race…

The mental hill ride

Lately while riding with Chris and Bryan on for me somewhat longer rides I’ve come to the conclusion that what I’m lacking is good hard long miles and even more so hills. So, I decided that while I’ve got some time in between big races I’d like to get as much riding in as possible, both hilly and long. In that mindset I joined the lunch time hill ride out in Arlington; the post ride mindset is significantly different, though mostly because the current mindset is blank.

Scott told me earlier that he was planning on attacking early and often and doing as much damage to himself and others as he could and attack he did. I basically got shelled up the first hill and only managed to catch up after a couple of traffic lights stopped the group ahead. They let down a bit after that and I managed to hang on for a while until my chain fell off and I never saw them again. I did join up with two other guys for the majority of the rest of the ride, though I ended up going the wrong way and chasing them for a while and afterwards was dangling on and off the back of the remainder.

I’d wanted to head out Glebe to Chain Bridge so I could stop by my house and switch bikes so as not to have the Cannondale out with me for softball tonight on the mall, but I went the wrong way on Glebe and ended up catching 50 back through Clarendon. Probably for the best since I think the way to my house from Chain Bridge is a bit of a tough ride. All in all I think I got in a good 25 or 30 miles so I’m happy with that.

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately depending on how you look at it) while reviewing my heart rate data I noted that I was well below my max levels meaning I had a lot more I should have been able to give. I know that mentally when I first went off the back I got defeated, though when I got back in I started to feel a little better and rode a little harder. I can see now that I’ve got some work to do on the mental aspect of my riding as well as the physical.

Not saying I could have hung with those guys up front, but I think I can ride harder then I allow myself to believe during rides.

No Rest at Reston

I had every reason to be nervous before that damn race. It was by far the hardest and fastest race I’ve done yet with average speed of about 5 miles per hour faster then anything else I’ve done so far. Unfortunately there was a breakaway from the start line that survived the entire race and ruined any chances I had of a top ten finish since I missed it, watching people take off around the first corner as I waited for the guy in front of me to clip in. I doubt with the speed they were going I would have hung in there anyway though so I guess it’s all relative.

The work in the main pack was a bit frustrating since even with the group off the front people were riding like they were trying to conserve for the win or get positioning on the other riders. There was no communication along the lines of team work and about 3 or 4 guys were up front doing all of the pulling. A couple of laps in I got up in the front to take a turn pulling and after a few seconds when I looked back I had a 10 or 15 foot gap on the pack. I wasn’t trying to get a breakaway and certainly didn’t accelerate hard away from the group so I’m really not sure why no one grabbed my wheel. I thought about making a run for a guy just up the road from us if I was still away at the bottom of the hill but going through turn 4 I slammed my inside pedal into the ground and threw my back wheel a foot right before regaining control and wussed out of my breakaway.

I got back in the group around the mid-pack section to sit in for a bit a rest and basically for the rest of the race the pulling was done by just a couple of guys. Not sure if it was just that no one would pull through or if the guys weren’t giving anyone an opportunity to but whatever it was it didn’t help our cause. Back in the pack people kept jumping up and jockeying for position and then just sitting in and not getting up to do any work so it made it almost impossible to get a working rotation going in to try and catch the break. That all said, the breakaway eventually slowed down and we managed to basically match their pace for the remainder of the race thanks to the very strong work by the guys at the front that were pulling. There were a couple of guys who every time they took over the pace really picked up and you couldn’t help but notice.

With a handful of laps to go I heard a prime announcement and worked to move up the field to give it a go since sprinting for a win was pretty much out of the question. I got myself up to within about four or five guys of the front coming around the last corner before the line and then sprinted for second in the two place prime which felt pretty good. I was pretty crushed after that though I managed to hold onto to the back of the pack for the last couple of laps and finish a still respectable 19th. From what I heard, there were 8 guys in the finishing breakaway front group with a splintered group of 4 behind them. Our group probably finished with about 12 to 15 guys and there were a number of people that we lapped out on the course. It seems the attrition in that race was ridiculous and always is so looking back I guess I’m just happy I finished. Hopefully next time though I’ll be a little more prepared for the early moves.

Big race tomorrow and W@W results

Well it's late Saturday night and while most 24 year old single people in this city are probably out having a good time with friends I'm home writing this post. Tomorrow morning is the Reston Town Center Grand Prix and my race being at 8:45am I ought to already be in bed. Getting up at 6:30 on a Sunday morning is not exactly my idea of a great time though the race should be worth it. As long as the 8 turns don't kill me.

Driving a flexcar out tomorrow again and since I have it for the whole day I'm considering bringing the mountain bike along and hoping out on the Wakefield trails for a bit on the way home. We'll see how I'm feeling after the race but I'd really like to get a couple of run throughs of the course before Wednesday. The results are posted though they still aren't to linked from the official website so that leads me to believe they are not official.

They had me at 10th but tonight they say 11th; either way better then I thought I did and I'm definitely happy with it. I'm a little bit suprised my second lap was slower then my first since I crashed a few times on the first and stayed up for the second but the lower speed likely played a big roll in that. I was also stuck behind people a lot more during the second lap which would explain a bit as well.

Any way, now it's time to focus on Reston and more importantly get some rest before the early race. Oh and I finally picked up a new point and shoot camera this weekend so I'll try and get some pictures while I'm there, if I remember.

Pics from W@W #1

I saw a few photogs while I was riding the race though I never got any sweet "poses" in for them. I was too focused on keeping the bike upright. Turns out those guys took some awesome pictures, and have been for a bunch of the local mountain bike races.

Lee had a cool shot right at the top of the hill at the very start of the race. The guy in the front of this shot was the eventual winner who I stuck with for about half of the first lap ripping through the course.



John was riding a strong race as well but ended up cracking his seat post and fearing for the future of his lineage dropped out.



Photo by Gary Ryan of Too Fat to Race posted at pbase.com.



Photo by Gary Ryan of Too Fat to Race posted at pbase.com.

Gotta love pictures; I'm working on finally getting a new point and shoot to replace the one that crapped out on me back in October. Hopefully soon!

Some forgotten things

I just realized I forgot to mention that the Wednesday's at Wakefield series actually benefits the Trips for Kids organization I recently posted about. How cool is that? There seemed to be a bunch of them out there last night for the event too.

On another note I am happy to report that I spotted my first Fatcyclist.com jersey before the race last night. It wasn't the pink version I'll soon be sporting but it was cool to actually see one out there.

Live like an amateur pro

I just read this awesome post over at Belgium Knee Warmers and had to share. While I'm still new to the cycling world in general, I completely agree with this sentiment and even in my limited cat 5 racing experience I can tell you my respect for the pros who go out and do this as a living is immense. Better yet though, the fact that I get the opportunity to get out there and have a go at it (even at such a low comparative level) is amazing and I will enjoy every minute of it.

Who sprints for 15th place in an mtb race?

Me, that's who... (dumbass)

Well, I think I only managed to piss one person off in my first mountain bike race last night. Otherwise I’d say the evening was a tremendous success! For whatever reason and it’s still not really clear to me now, I decided to sprint past a guy in the opening for the finish line… for probably 15th place. Hah, ah well next time I will have the presence of mind to not do that and hopefully the guy won’t hold any grudges against me on that one. What can I say, I’m a total noob.

The race itself was incredible and I had a blast. The course is amazing and completely different from anything I’ve ever ridden and the racing was by far the hardest I’ve ever ridden a mountain bike. The mass sprint let out to me sitting pretty in second place keeping the leader in sight before losing control around a 180 degree uphill turn and dropping back a few spots. I ended up having the hardest time with unexpected sharp turns, crashing about 4 or 5 times on them and losing all of the places I dropped due to them, though only in the first lap. The second lap I managed to ride a better lap mentally and remembered all my trouble areas and didn’t even drop a foot.

Not sure where I placed though I’m guessing somewhere in the upper top 20 or so, though it may have been closer to 10th. I do know I’m pretty pumped about the rest of the series and I think next time with a little more understanding of what to expect I should be able to put together a more solid effort out there. Oh, and hopefully next time I’ll manage not to lose a contact in the first quarter of the race as well. That was kind of a bitch.

Self Induced Suffering

I've been feeling a bit like I'm not getting nearly enough miles in on the bike lately and now with the new ride I've been even more anxious to get out and ride. Today I decided was the perfect time to log a few miles and get some good moderate and steady riding in. I think that may have been a bad idea.

Not really sure what the temp got up to today and I probably don't want to but with just under 70 miles at a good tempo for most of them I'm feeling more drained then I've felt in a while. What's worse is that my first mountain bike race is tomorrow so now I'll definitely suck it up. Oh well, as long as it doesn't kill me for Sunday's Reston Grand Prix.

The lunch time haines point ride was rerouted once again due to the sprinklers, though this time we went up to the Clara Barton Parkway and out a ways into MD and back. The majority of riders split off somewhere along the way and so it ended up being myself and Jose Nunez chasing a group of four further up the road for a while. It was a good moderately hard ride and was basically exactly what I was looking for today. The two hour lunch and 30 miles was a little more then I was thinking however.

After work I joined Chris and we rode out to meet Bryan for his commute out to Vienna. Bryan, who said he needed an easy ride took off like right away and I knew I was going to be in a bit of trouble. The ride was not fast but certainly not slow and I struggled to keep my legs turning over. I also made the mistake of not filling my bottles after the noon ride so by the time we got to Vienna I was just about bonked. Luckily when I really started to die out there Chris and Bryan slowed up for me and I was able to get some water out in Vienna.

The ride back was much better with some water in me and Chris and I cruised back through the city. I'll probably think twice the next time I want to try this kind of riding on a day like today; at least I'll make sure I have more water and food. I doubt the small chicken salad and small bag of trail mix was enough recovery food after the old heart rate monitor said I'd burned 1300+ calories during lunch.