Right place at the right time, just did not hold it...

Well, 2nd race at Milton Keynes and nill points, now comes the excuses, err, sorry, analysis.

Read the race quite well and managed to keep with the lead bunch and conserve energy, even when they tagged on to the CAT1/2 bunch, which subsequently ripped the CAT3/4 field appart. They also reversed the circuit round so we were turning right (clockwise round the circuit), which form the warmup laps I figured that I'd be better waiting until the last lap and joining the sprint on the hill as it was just enough (and with a back wind) to make an outright power (aerodynamics less relevant) based sprint possible, which should have suited me better. The crux of the problem was getting in to the right position and holding it until the last turn before the hill, which I did not manage to do.

For the sprint I maxed out with a HR at 189 (new high), 1083W peak and a 30sec power of 750W, which allowed me to pass around 10 rides, however a very small gap had opened up on the last 2 corners (the difference between those at the front going round corners without braking and the right line and those following...) which I had not noticed until passing through the bunch on the hill. After getting through the back group I continued up and joined the front 12 just before the line, outside the top 10.

Earlier on when the CAT1/2 bunch passed through I kept and eye out as I was expecting them to tag on, however with the first bunch they did not, but the 2nd they did. This subsequently created a couple of difficult laps (HR at 172 avg, 183 max and 378W avg), which in turn dropped over half the field. I held on after bridging some gaps and tagged along, hoping it would last for a few more laps before turning back down again as this would thin the pack out further as it seemed to have reduced to around 15. ,Unfortunately it did not last and they eased off and the following 2 laps were 100W lower, which allowed the chasing bunch to catch up again (alternate strategy out the window).

The chart at the top includes the warm up and cool down. The cadence distribution shows how much time was free wheeling in the bunch (around 10-15min) and the spinning up the hill section (15min)

Duration 1:09:26 - 47km - 1137kJ

TSS 110 IF 0.977 VI 1.25

Norm power : 342W avg 273W

Max 1083W, 10sec 1014W, 1min 503W, 30min 286W, 60min 277W (344norm)

Climb 380m

Things I did differently

- spin up the hill 100+rpm on more occasions

- decide to go for the last lap gallop

- take it easy until I had to put the power on

Mistakes

- Breaking harder than required on the 4th to last corner

- Not staying in a good position when I had the chance on the 3rd lap to go

- Thinking the bunch had a deathwish

What I'd do differently

- Hold the position better towards the last laps

- Try and position for the corners better so I don't have to break or as much

Sunday ride with no coffeee stop

Todays outing was made a bit harder by not stopping for the usual coffee and cake at the mid point in the run, which created a TSS of 256.8 for the ride as a result, which in turn is the largest TSS for any day I have done this year. Riding to work and back would create a TSS of 226 (60 miles round trip) although todays run was 70 miles. 3,500kCal burned in the process and my CTL is still below 50, although todays ride gave it a kick up 5 points.

Registered a new max HR at 187 for 5 seconds on one of the climbs, out of breath a bit and looked down to see where my HR was and then supprised at a 186 value at the time as I did not expect it to go so high. The 1 min power during the clumb was still sub cat 4, although registered my 3rd best 5 min power. The previous 1 min power readings were done from rest as a comparison.

Debating weather to postpone any more races this week and to get more longer training sessions in and then race the following week, which should provide enough of a boost to win if I get the recovery period right.

Broken chain woes - must remember to get a link kit

Riding out today, though I'd swap the chain back to a Dura Ace chain for my training and unclipped the other chain and put the new one on. The pins that come with Dura Ace seem reasonable, although they can be problematic if coupled with a bent FSA chainset. Well, after a few miles a click developed, which (sod's law came into effect) at the furthest point away from home it snapped. Anyhow, 30 minutes later and now acomplishet with the chain tool I managed to bend a few more links and shorten the chain that much I could not use some of the gears, but I managed to get home. Oh, well.

The picture above is early on when I went to the front to pull a group back and to try out the pace a little as I was not feeling all that good and had not done anything for the first few laps. I though the group was all on, however on the slight hill on the circuit it appears not as 3 of us ended up creating a gap. 3rd back was the guy who I think won as he was on my wheel on the lap before the bell when I thought I'd try and split things up a bit or see what happened. Thinking back I should have tried a break to make a gap and then end up dropping back in rather than tow anyone along. When I moved to the front it was without any significant speed difference, but it was at the start of the hill where everyone seems start the breaks from.

Strategy for next week is to possibly try something along the same lines again a little later and with more conviction at the start, although if I'm feeling better then I'll go for the jump break and then 2 / 3 up if we get much of a gap.

Compared to how I have felt in the previous few weeks I should have been stronger than what I was and felt a lot better (weather that would have translated into watts and a few more seconds on the front is unknown). All good fun though...

Milton Keynes 2/3 points for 8th or 9th

Not feeling that great at the start (feeling hungry driving down the motorway did not feel right) I had a couple of biters of a bannana and some sweets in the car on the way. 15 min of gentle tootling round on my bike (getting passed by everyone) during warm up made things a bit more calm and then felt a bit better.

The race was on the shorter oval circuit (no braking) for the first 30 min and then opened up to the extened circuit (3 corders where you ended up braking some of the time) for the remainder of the hour+5 laps.

During the race for the first few laps my HR was quite low averaging 146bpm before going at the front for a lap warmed things up a bit, but did not feel as good as I thought it should.

Overall the power output was lower than expected, averaging 273W for the race and 318W normalised, with a HR avg of 154bpm (ok sat at the back for a while). The periods of rest at the back and the downhill free wheeling did distort things a little as well. The chart on the right is a good indication of what happened, the bar on the right is the race compared to the previous 3 weeks of training and riding. Picked the wrong day !

The difference was in the last few laps where I moved up from the back as we had 5 laps to go.

As the 3rd lap came round I figured I had over 10bpm left in the tank and moved further up, into the 2nd lap to go I pushed a bit more and moved into the front at a pace I thought may have split the bunch a bit more. My reasoning was I did not have the sprint, so the only other option was to try and go at the 2nd or 3rd lap to go with a break or to fragment the bunch. On the bell I went through the line 2nd having pushed my HR to 182bpm and in need of a little rest I hooked on to the guys wheel, who had passed me. Looking back I can't recall if we had a gap as I think a gap had opened as he indicated for me to move up again to work 2 up, however the pedal was near to the floor and I needed some reserve for the last half lap to make sure I got some points as I started to realise we were not going to hold out the full distance. On the last corner people moved by anbd I gave it all realising my position was moving backwards.

Across the line with my HR at max (186) and a 15sec sprint at 658W, which in retrospect is a lot lower than what I can do (if you exclude the previous hour and a bit of racing). Crossing the line I tried to count my poisition out and it was either 8th or 9th.

The last 3 minutes were at 420W and 5 min were at 380W (NP404W).

Race: Duration: 1:12:53 Work: 1196 kJ

TSS: 100.7 (intensity factor 0.91)

Norm Power: 319 VI: 1.16

Distance: 46.727 km

Elevation Gain: 385 m Elevation Loss: 376 m

Power: max 964 avg 274 watts

Heart rate: max 186 avg 154 bpm

Speed: max 56.7 avg 38.5 kph

TSS for 12 minutes in a farmers field ?

What a week, rain, gales and the inability to get out (or the lack of wet weather gear and a 2nd bike).

What I was hoping to be a good training week's holiday turned out to be a wet and windy session with only 2 days half decent riding.

The most amusing session was a quick run out between the rain that was forecast to arrive in a few hours. Into a near headwind that was about 25-30mph and only going about 14mph forwards a truck on the opposite side of the road passed by, which prompty blew the cap off my head with what must have been a 50-60mph gust. Upon stopping I realised that it had possibly gone into or over the top of the 7ft embankment at the side of the road and then spent the next 12 minutes wanderin up and down it trying to find my cap. The cap turned up eventually a few feet into the field of what was fortunately short green wheat shoots. After the off road session my cleats were a bit clogged up and any sprint felt quite loose on the pedals as a result, although they never came out of the pedal.

The first days run out was quite good and I felt good after a gap off the bike with only 1 day on during the week, although I should have eased in with an easier session, I ended up setting a new personal best for 5min power on some of the hills of 5.52W/kg. Tonights session on the iMagic also set a new peak 5 sec power at 1123W (14.97W/kg) and is just in to the CAT 4 zone in cyclingpeaks.

One thing that seems to be the case (for me) is that it is easier to get watts out on the move than on a trainer. The developing power profile also seems to indicate that I am more suited to an early (joint) or late (sole) break than going for the sprint finish in a bunch....

Race analysis form last year and a bike tune up

Looking back at the race traces (Crystal palace and Milton Keynes) from last year I think I need to try a bit harder during the races. My HR max is 186 and my average for a Cyrstal Palace 3+4 event was 166bpm, which included a coule of laps off the front (1st mistake - not commited - gave up after the first lap and thinking I could not maintain my HR at around 177 for 8 or so laps). During this event the average speed was 24.2mph with 343 meters of climbing. That was not so bad...Milton Keynes was a little different as my HR averages were 156, 157 and 158 for 3 races with average speeds of 26, 24.4 and 24.5. The first race was on the inner circuit, which had effectively no corners but stil had 285m ofclimbing over the 28.1 miles. The other 2 races at Milton Kenes were 33.7 miles and 29.8 miles (approx 1 hour + 5 laps) in distance with around 343 meters of climbing (matching CP). The difference between Milton Keynes and Crystal Palace though is the duration, the inclusion of a hairpin that drops the speed right off and a single steeper hill climb. Crystal Palace seems more of a sprinter / interval style intense burst type circuit as a result, which makes it harder. The one difference though is it can be easier off the front,as long as you have the average power... From a friends trace (www.lbrc.org) the average lap power seems to be around 360W-380W (I'm guessing this was with his nose in the wind from the picture he sent me) so in theory all you have to do is maintain that on your own for 45-50min !

Spent a while last night doing some fixes and adjustments to the bike, which had been overdue, whic included taking 16" off the brake and gear cables that were almost usable as a washing line on the front of the bike. That in theory should save a watt or two into the wind !

The other change was fiting 25x700's with my old 23x700's inside them with about 7mm cut out and the beading cut off by around 4mm on each side. This makes the tyres quite heavy (dual garotskins) although they should make them near on as puncture proof as you can get, while making the hills a bit longer. That was after a couple of punctures in the space of 7 days (glass and flint pushed through a gatorskin) and also wanted to try out some 25's for more comfort while training. The weight is irrelevant at the moment as the power meter will show the same value regardless and I will just be a little bit slower on the flat and a bit more slower up hill.

This weeks training total has added up to around 50 minutes on Tuesday night and that's it until Saturday before a big week in Devon with lots of miles and hills.