[Closed] So I want to try road racing + build a bike specifically for this

Argh that sucks CH!!

Okay first ever structured training session done, I think I was fairly consistent!

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https://www.strava.com/activities/1003505409

I'm only 60 pages into the bible so no formal plan yet..

Epic write-up CH. I hope the actual race was that involving.

With just enough hours and very little intensity

For tapering, you should be keeping the intensity and reducing the volume. Otherwise you lose all your snap.

Matts- yeah it was the last R+R week not a proper taper. However, what with trying that TT and enjoying the club runs, this was the first R+R week I'd done properly. Hence being (using the correct bible terminology of course) 'over-aroused' 😆

First Peak week this week but I'm thinking of being a first class hypocrite and swapping Saturdays 'interval medley' with a C race....... It's Big Events at Hillingdon and it's gonna be 24 degrees and sunny...

I'm thinking of being a first class hypocrite and swapping Saturdays 'interval medley' with a C race

It's a C race, so you can go ahead and make pointless attacks for your intervals 😀

Exactly 😆 Which should focus my attention for Tuesday 🙂

But it does rather undermine what I said about crisp intervals being better than race fatigued ones so I need to be REALLY lazy inbetween too 😀

Will you listen my words of wisdom for this one?

Flowers worked a treat so should see you Saturday!! 😆

Niiice! Did you email Alice?

No, I'm coming to watch you get some points!!

Entered the 3/4 race at Milton Keynes bowl last night, couldn't make the 4 cat only race due to an early start. Wasn't feeling great to start, hadn't ridden since going deep on Sundays road race and had a hectic few days at work since. My legs never felt good but I got stuck in the first few laps were frantic, our bunch caught the e123 race and then had to back off a bit so the two races didn't come together. Was starting to suffer and sat near the back of the bunch and then the course was extended mid race through a gate and a few different bends which I wasn't expecting,at the back of the bunch I was caught in the back of the whiplash effect and soon shelled out the back. Rode a few laps on my own and pulled out as felt like I was getting in the way of the e123 race.

Apparently after I had pulled out there was some chopping and a crash followed by a punch up on track so maybe for the best!

That's it for my racing this year I think, my wife's due to give birth in 2 weeks with our first child so priorities change big time for now.

That's it for my racing this year I think, my wife's due to give birth in 2 weeks with our first child so priorities change big time for now.

Congratulations. 2 weeks off to ride!!

Hopefully you'll get back in to it later on. I took a "break" from road racing 2 weeks before our second was born - that was nearly 5 years ago now.
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Unless you are near to front when they open up the gates at MK it's always going to be a struggle to keep with the leaders, gets me every time.

Interesting there were fisticuffs at the end i'll have to see if I can find out more.

Congratulations on the imminent arrival Tom and good luck with it all! My wife has 4 ponies so I could race three times a week and still retain the moral high ground 😆

Congrats Tom!!

For those of you who haven't met CH when he's not racing:
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Looking forward to watching tomorrow's racing, it's going to be a bit of a mixed bag: really hot with the chance of rain/thunderstorms. May bring my camera too.

there were fisticuffs at the end

Someone won't be making it to 3rd cat if it's reported. It's a [url= https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/about/article/British-Cycling-Disciplinary-Home ]very serious infringement[/url]. I know someone who was banned for a season. Another rider is banned for four years (don't headbutt the comm!)

Had a little verbal at our [url= https://www.strava.com/activities/1004536397 ]Vets V50[/url] on Wednesday. I set off at a rocket pace; laps 2-4 were all bang on 2:00 😈 . Sadly on a still night, despite lots of attacking, it came down to a sprint, and I'd done far too much work for that. May have garnered a point.

I'm trying to find a peak power testing protocol but can't remember where I saw it or the exact specifics, but it was something like;

From a standstill sprint as hard as you can for 40 secs.
The source then gave some reference points for ability ie max >1000 and average over the 40 secs >700 equals pretty good, or something.

But I can't remember where I saw it, anybody know of it?

It's hugely weight dependent.

If you were Domenico Pozzovivo, those numbers would be awesome to the point of people praising the explosively of your manliness. At 80Kg, you'd be more likely to be needing to reply to those "This one weird trick" spam emails. 😉

That's not me Nath! I'd never be seen on the shooting field without my Tie on 😆

Haha @CH

Okay I'm sold on Z1 recovery rides, I'm fortunate to live near Hillingdon circuit and it's dead during the day so although boring it's perfect for zoning out.

So 25mile Z1 ride out on the training/cx/commuter: https://www.strava.com/activities/1006645100

Got back, drank a load of water and ate an energy bar then did this: https://www.zwiftpower.com/race.php?id=7564

😯

Watching CH - currently half way through the race and this just happened:

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Go CH!!!

And? And?

Finished a 2/3 RR with a bunch sprint today. Blocked to keep team mate away for a few laps and chased down numerous counter attacks. Sadly four of our six riders punctured, but we got a third place 😀

Go CH!
I even detect a hint of elbow bend 🙂

So what happened...? The suspense is killing me! #Go CH!

When I spotted a FB post from Big Events saying “E123 and Cat3 full but Cat4 places still available!” my heart skipped a beat! This wasn’t on my radar at all. Blundering through the BC website, I looked expectantly and yes! It was at Hillingdon.

I pencilled it in as a C race instead of my interval medley (which was supposed to be race-specific by now anyway) and got myself entered. How exciting!

The by now predictable text banter with Nath began and my dilemma was actually a nice one to have. Sit in for possible points, or play around and get some training benefit.

It surely has to be a sign of how far I’ve come that I now lose fitness in a race if I sit in. What used to take me a mammoth effort to achieve is now relatively simple. The problem is I’m still stuck beneath the next rung of the ladder- which is making a decisive move.

I managed to get out last night for a leg spin and bunged in a couple of sprints and a couple of 90 second threshold efforts. The second one actually dented my confidence somewhat. 315w in my best impression of an aero position was only good for 23/24mph into a slight headwind. Relating this back to Zwift and the wonderment about where people compare to real life- it highlights a pretty basic point (and one Zwift ignore by not having live Average speed I think)- that Watts and W/kg are lovely metrics for some things but out in real life, it’s only actually speed that matters!

Arriving nice and early, I watched the end of the Cat 3 race and saw Johnny do his usual trick of attacking too much and finishing in the bunch. Knowing how powerful he is relative to myself, it made me certain that points for me are an irrelevance right now. I don’t have Cat3 power so learning to race has to be my number one priority.
Which also confirmed my thoughts that trying something, indeed anything, was the only option today.

Nath arrived and seemed bemused by my timings! I have a good routine now and like to do each step at the same slot relative to my start time. I left him and Johnny to watch the E123 finish and retreated to the carpark to prepare.

A nice sedate warm up with Nath and then back to the car once more to switch jerseys and pop a gel before a final few laps.
Alice and the Commissaire did their speeches and we were off!

The headwind was even worse than during warmup. The forecast was 18mph with gusts and it felt like it too! After negotiating Brian’s and the climb, we hit the full force just in time for the kink- resulting in much bunching up, weaving and swerving each lap.

The first two laps were a bit potent power wise at around 300w but I soon settled in and started to chill out. Laps 4 and 5 were down to 235 and 240w respectively and that for a 2mph faster lap speed!
I had roughly settled on a plan. I needed to try something. Either a bridge to another move or a solo effort. I planned to do these at 20 and 40mins and then sit in for the sprint.

As it was, I was finding it tough to get to the front. I mean, I wasn’t taking any wind but still, it was a very fair bunch today I’d say, in that we were pretty evenly matched. The wind helped of course!
Lap 10, I averaged just 190w! In the same way as everyone else finding it hard when it’s hard, I knew everyone else would be finding it easy so time to apply some hurt!

Luckily, a slot opened up without too much effort and I found myself in the wind almost by accident then just kept the power on. Wattages in the 4 and 5 hundred gave me a gap and apparently (I barely looked behind) it got out to about 3 seconds at one point. After about a lap, which turned out to be 320ish watts average, I knew I wasn’t fast enough. Whatever the root course is irrelevant really- I don’t have the solo pace and that’s that. Anyway, I had hoped another solo entrepreneur would have bridged over to me and shouted ‘GOGOGO!’ for some through and off but it clearly wasn’t happening.

I soft pedalled a bit and it seemed to take an age to get caught but wasn’t long in reality and London Dynamo launched a counter almost straight away. This was good as it gave me some more training rather than sitting in. It soon settled down though and I drifted to the back for some refreshments as it was a little warm!

Soon after, another attack was launched from well back on the left-hand side of the bunch as we flew down the wind on the start finish straight. I began to follow the move before most of the pack had even twigged but then had a brainwave and just bellowed: “UPUPUPUP!!” which got people surging before the breaking duo had even passed the lead riders. What could have been a two-lap chase was instead a half-lap dampener! Smarter not harder lol

Anyway, the sprint was a’coming and the race went by really quickly this afternoon. There was a few attempts to string things out and the final five laps were actually by far the quickest of the race-whereas often there are a couple of slow ones in there as people empty their bottles, fumble with gels and stare at each other.

Everything came back together and my attempts to move up with three and two to go, got me pretty much nowhere! Ah well, last lap then and I played to my strengths by accelerating through Brian’s, carrying my momentum up the hill and shouting at people not to cut at the kink. They didn’t have to oblige of course but they were head-down, guns out at this point so didn’t have time to realise my bluff and gave me a nice gap.

I continued moving up down the hill and for once, my efforts seemed to be getting me there.

At this point, I’d like to quickly reflect on my plan. What is the point of periodised training? Why go through all the faff and hassle? Isn’t it all a bit overblown for Cat4 racing? Well this is why. My peak powers at all the different durations were fairly unremarkable this race. But what was different was my stamina. The nose-diving fitness score on Strava has been worrying the past ten days but the rocketing Form score is the point! By trusting my plan, it had delivered what it promised. A peak when it said there should be one!

Thruxton the other night was a B race following an R+R week rather than a peak week and to be honest, the result was a little bit ‘meh!’. But this Peak week (of basically just rest and a race) has really delivered.

So, past the club house then and the legs weren’t fading and the mind wasn’t addled by the effort. I felt as strong as I ever have at this point. I was right in the bunch so decided to carry on drafting a little longer. As the 200m mark went under my wheels, I pushed harder and there was a good 1100w kick!! That’s never happened at this stage before either! I kept pushing as hard as I could, now back in the saddle and accelerated right over the line.

The top 15 was just 0.5 seconds apart and I got my new best finish of 14th!

Could I have got a point if I hadn’t attacked? Not sure. Nath says yes- I have no idea, but that was epic! The composure, control and confidence I now have is just incredible and makes the racing much more enjoyable.

Such a shame Big Events aren’t back there until October- I really enjoyed that!

Nath- you could have bigged up the picture a little better- it looks like I'm getting lapped 😆

Haha.

Nice write up!!

No one thought you were being lapped!!!

Well done though, that was an epic achievement - doesn't that tick off some more of TiRed's racing list?!

Slow motion vid: [url=

1. Buy a race license and enter a race
2. Not get dropped
3. Finish mid pack
4. Finish top third
5. Work on the front
6. Contest the sprint
7. Bridge to a break
8. Attack
9. Contest the points
10. Win!

I still don't know how many I deserve. 1,2,3,5,6,8 are fair I reckon??

Getting there. You aren't expected to do them all in the same race though!

Lol!
I really want number 7. I just never seem to be in the right place to try as the bunch are generally already attempting to bring the break back at a pace too high for me to get clear of.

Getting there. You aren't expected to do them all in the same race though!

Another update from me.... ORRL #4 at Arncott yesterday.
Think I need to work on my explosiveness as I thought I was sitting well around halfway in the pack (I know TiRed says top third, next time!) However around 2/3 of the way round the first lap (7 and a bit laps, 55m) I found myself off the back with 4 or 5 others and didn't even see it happening..stuck out 5 laps together but ultimately it was nice training miles at a reasonable pace.
Outlasted a couple of guys I stopped with at the first road round so I'm claiming that as a (very) small win. Looking forward to the next flatter round which may suit me a little more and also the criteria following that, will be my first. May try and see if I can get a cat4 a thruxton before that to get settled in.
Cheers for the thread guys, very motivating!

Well done Leigh2612! It can be a mystery what's going on a few rows forward in a Crit sometimes- let alone strung out on the road I imagine!

I have that race on the 17th pencilled in as a possibility but I won't know until nearer the time.

So I started my formal training plan yesterday, like all good plans it started out with doing nothing... welll a Z1 spin up 😆

I'm at target weight now so I've stopped the -500 calorie deficit per day so I'm hoping that will help energy levels.

First test is on 24th June so I guess that'll be the first indicator.

Hillingdon Tuesday nights aren't off the table either as on Tuesdays my plan indicates 2.5 hours with 5x6-12 min intervals up to zone 5a (189bpm or circa 350w), but they will be a C priority race.

First A priority races are Hillingdon on Saturday 12/19/26 August.

So this 'Bridge across to a break' thing..... How close do I have to get to tick it off 😆

Grrrr! Stupid TinyPic!!!

Have to join them 😆

No luck with three photo hosting sites so stuff it! I'll have to explain instead 😆

@Nath- Yeah, kind of thought that was the case. Ah well 😀

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They were a little further away than I thought 😆

Sorry CH, that definitely doesnt count.

Yup, sorry that doesn't count 😆

Also, judging from the size of that 'break', are you sure its a break and not the peleton?! 😛

Well what another lovely evening for racing! The forecast wasn’t that good but actually the weather was great.

There were loads of friendly faces their too. Ben from NRC, Matthew from TFC and Chris from Southampton.
Matthew and Chris were both on their second Crits and did awesomely well! Great to see.

My goals for tonight were simple. EITHER bridge to a break, or get a point from the sprint. My plan was simple too. Sit in nice and tight and lazy for 9 laps and then surf my way through the bunch for a sprint finish UNLESS the opportunity for a break attempt arose, in which case go for it full gas.

The overriding theme though was commitment. In the first instance, I had to be 100% committed to being lazy and if a chance for a breakaway occurred- I had to be willing to sacrifice my race for it. Limping home last if needed.

Prep was chilled but thorough. Everything done when needed and I was feeling excited in a manageable way.
All that remained was to clip my visor on at the start line, pop my last gel and press start on the Garmin. And then……

So last week, the Comm had a go about my number being in the exact same place as everyone else’s. This week, I moved it up to where he was suggesting it should have been and the other Comm told me off and made some random lady move it down for me to exactly where I had had it every other race!!! I was absolutely livid! And subsequently forgot my gel and my visor! Thank god I pressed Start still or I think I’d be banned from BC for life now!

Matthew was next to me on the line and joked that the new position was going to cost me 10w. I replied that on the contrary, it had just given me 100 extra ‘Anger Watts’!!

Off we went and I have no idea what I was doing. I was probably doing 400w but just seething about the Comm still. Time to calm down and focus. Not easy with the amount of Sugar I had crammed in during the proceeding couple of hours.
I was hyper aware though and spotted Craig (the solo artist from the other week) ride straight off the front.
Bugger- I had suspected he might do that. He was trying harder in warmup than last week and positioned himself on the front row.

Shortly after, two guys bridged across. (See Strava Flyby for graphics) As they steadily edged away, I tried to see who they were. One was a Heart Evolution guy with three team mates still with us. One was Craig of course- with a team mate back with us I think. And the last one (haven’t checked) seemed to have a team kit similar to a couple of guy still with us.

I knew they were gone for the duration. This straight away reduced the appeal of the sprint.
Right- go hard or go home!

Heart Evolution and a few others shut the front down as we passed the start finish line and I made up easy places, drifted off to one side and sprinted my little heart out!! 1240w followed by a sustained effort and I knew I was actually clear for once! Pedalling right through the top chicane (which nobody at Thruxton seems to do despite it being nothing for a bicycle) this was it 4th place or last!!!

As the view down the circuit opened up, I couldn’t quite believe how far out they had already got! They were killing it. My adrenaline subsided and I resigned myself to my destiny.
Now hide fast and recover!!! Trouble was we were approaching the climb and I was about to get punished. Of course, I had the luxury of slipping room and I used every last place, cresting the start/finish rise at 180bpm.
The pace stayed higher than usual for a couple of laps and I just tried to survive but slowly we got on top of things.

Every time I saw Chris and Matthew- they were in textbook positions and when I asked them if they were ok, they both smiled and nodded.
Ben was there too, mid to rear of the bunch, saving his matches.

With three to go, the pace lifted a bit and a few guys punted it off the front. It was obvious they weren’t going anywhere this week so I just used any slipping room I had to stick with the bunch and then made up places as they slowed again.

Two to go and Matthew was true to his word. He took some wind and moved up the outside, settling into top five of the bunch.
The pace on this lap felt high and as we hit the bell lap, I mentally assessed things. Legs were ok. HR was back to normal (in fact, looking at Strava- I recovered better than I felt I think) and look- there’s Ben! Let’s follow him to a top five ( I guess actually top 8 including the 3 guys away) bunch sprint!

Well, I had never realised how hard it is to follow someone before! It took so much concentration to follow his moves without cutting anyone up but I managed it. I even got a better run than him at the top of the circuit and eased off to let him back in front at the Apex.

The pace lifted down the hill and I resisted the urge to look at numbers or second guess my effort and just concentrated on Ben.
Into the hill and the pack veered wildy as it often does here. Hey!!! What the heck are you doing man! Ben set off way too early- totally unlike him.

I decided to ride the bunch and let them chase him and then two people touched bars in front and I had to flick the brake to avoid.
That was it really- end of move. Anyway, keep calm and carry on, I steeled myself for the post chicane sprint- the leaders weren’t a million miles away and could yet take themselves out I suppose.

Doh! There’s Matthew, 15 yards in front!! I mean, I’m pleased for him, he rode a smart race but there’s Team TFC banter on the line here!!!
I sprinted as best I could and it was ok actually! 617w average for 300m and 1037w max but he was looking over his shoulder and just held me off to finish one place better!

With hindsight, I should have played the sprint game it seems. The extra freshness would have possibly, maybe, potentially helped me avoid the pinch in the bunch but who knows. It is so dependent on luck at the moment- there are fifteen guys with very similar abilities fighting it out for, well 7 places tonight. Ok, if I roll the dice enough times, I might get that point. But instead I’ve got the glow of actually racing. Of being out there in the wind for a moment of glory and I’m happy with that.

No Crits now until two weeks’ time and that’s dependant on work. Time to dust off the peaked helmet……

Fifeandy- there was only 3!!!

Nice write up as always!!

I knew you couldn't sit in though 😆

The three guys who stayed away averaged 26mph for the entire race and were all around the 300w mark.

Craig basically rode at 30mph for half a mile off of the start line to make the initial break.

The other two needed 35mph efforts to bridge and they all did 27mph for the first few laps!

That sprint is suddenly sounding more dead cert 😆

Doh! Just noticed the 'there' not 'their' spelling mistake. Stupid boy!