Help me meet my goal

haribodie

I am probably very well trained by most standards. Just perhaps not compared to the people I train with. When I said All I had been doing was basic maintenace fitness, I was doing betwenn 10-18 hours a week. I dont think you need much more for a 5 minute effort. I do however lack any specific work. Havent done any intervals.

lanierb

Okay, I'll bite just for the hell of it: first, you should know that you only get the $1000 if you break Justin England's record time of 37 something. Also, given that you're from France I assume you will enter Cat 5 or something like that. It's going to be harder to break the record without anyone fast to draft off at the bottom (you'll also end up having to pass a lot of people in higher cat's ahead which could slow you down a little too). Also, the prize money for cat 5 is only like $50-100. Also, you should preregister as there's a decent chance Cat 5 could fill up.

If you want you should go ahead and post power files. People here do that all the time. Just realize that many of us who post are not really experts so you get what you pay for! From your numbers (6.9w/kg 5 mins and 5.9w/kg 20 mins) I'd say you could use some 2x20's in preparation for this race. Doing them on a not too steep hill might also be a good idea since the race is largely uphill. (I'm no expert. I just think that your 20 min wattage is a little below the level of your 5 min relative to other people and in this race you want 20 min wattage as it will basically be an uphill time trial for you.)

Lanier

Woofer

I missed this, too, but in an earlier message he says he is racing the P12 race.

Woofer

Race report from the record holder himself:
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/grou...lo/message/1922

haribodie

Wow that was very interesting. My goal is not to break the record just to ride as well as I can. I am not going to base my training on breaking the record. I have no idea what I would need to do to break it. But Justin from what I can see is one of the best climbers in the US and dont think I am in his company. I just want to finish the climb and be satisfied with my effort and preparation.

I am riding in the Pro I/II race because my UCI license allows me to do any race.

Pretty impressive if they were really at 30 mph the entire flat portion! I am not sure if there will be guys motivated to break the record. I hope so, not because I plan on breaking the record but it would be nice if attacks were minimized in the run up to the climb as I really want to start my race at the bottom of the climb.

Another problem has arisen, I have had to turn in my team bike and my personal bike is in fairly poor shape. Ill have to be investing a fair amount of money to get it into race shape. I hope I dont get tendinitis or anything from the change.

Il think two by twenty effort is a good way to go. I am not going to start with ten minute efforts and Ill post the data.

Thanks

Woofer

Useless for your goal but fun to watch.

http://www.motionbased.com/event/tam/index.jsp

RapDaddyo

FWIW, I have looked at the Mt. Tam route profile and tried to figure out how I think the race will develop. I have broken the route down into 5 segments. The segments are not of equal length, but rather they each terminate with the major climb for that part of the course. The interesting thing about this course is that the grade changes will make it difficult to get away and stay away because the course flattens or even goes downhill in several places. I'm thinking that the optimal place to get away and stay away to the finish is in segment #4, terminating with 3 good climbs in the last 2.2 miles of the segment. Segment 5 is relatively flat, but is only 1.37 miles. I'm thinking that you might want to just stay with the leaders until the last 2.2 miles of segment 4, then go hard up those three climbs and try to hold a gap the last 1.37 miles to the finish. I'm not sure you can sustain a break earlier than that. Likewise, if someone else tries to get away before this spot, I think you can chase them down. The detailed profiles are attached. The last profile is the entire route.

Attached Thumbnails

       

   

haribodie

Hello.

My theme for this year seems to be sickness. My training leading up to Mt. Tam was not going well. I understimated the stress of a move out of France to DC and a subsequent move from DC to california all in two weeks. I have also gained 6 pounds since I last posted. Ouch,. <Its just hard to control everything when you are always travelling. At least its hard for me.

The Mt. Tam course was much much tougher than I imagined. If you look at the average slope it doesnt seem that bad but appearances are deceiving. The first half of the climb is a terrible road with an average of about 9%. The second half is a series of sharp drops followed by steep ramps that dare you to take them in the big ring.

The week leading up to the race I got the flu and I only slept twenty five minutes the night before. I debated not going at all but figured it was the last race of the season I had to chance it.

The pro 1/2 race went out at a snails pace and into a strong headwind. Riders were going off the front just to warm up a bit before the climb. Pace was extremely slow. Slower than warmup at times. So any hope of fast time was gone when we reached the base.

I felt pretty awful and was haking loogies left and right. T

he pace kicked up dramatically on the opening part of the climb but no one rider was in control. I was near the back and passed rider after rider after other riders got gapped. Less than a mile into the climb an ultra skinny climber guy finally attacked into a sharp hairpin turn where the percentage suddenly kicked up. I got out of the saddle and followed him along with about five other riders. The attacking rider backed off and I could sense everyone was about to go into attack surveillance recovery mode so I just threw down an attack of my own so as not to give the others a chance to breathe. I was surprised out how quickly I gapped the field.

Dreams of an easy victory however quickly faded away. A trio of riders essentially kept me in sight for the next 7 miles. It was the most torturous cycling victory of my life.Every time I looked back it I hadnt gained any time. At the end of the steep section I had twenty seconds. And at the finish I had three seconds on second. So I spent three and a half miles slowly building a twenty second lead and three and a half miles slowly losing that lead. Thank god the last km was largely downhill or I would have been done for.

I didnt use a power meter (hey ric would the power tap have cost me those three seconds as compared to my ksyrium sl?) and dont think the results would be very telling anyway. I had to dig so deep, It's not the fastest I have ever gone but It was a very rewarding victory and a nice end to a very very tough season.

Thanks to all those who gave me advice especially ric and rap daddy o.

RapDaddyo

Wow! What a great race. Congrats! Good luck going forward. I'll be coming to SoCal regularly. Maybe we can get together for a ride. We might be able to get OCRoadie and/or Roadie_Scum to join us. I'll enjoy chasing the three of you on the climbs.

Woofer

Congrats. Thanks for sharing. Imagine what you could do if you were not sick...

haribodie

I am actually in norcal but would be happy to go riding with you.

Thanks. Your pacing plan was actually a pretty good idea and almost worked for the guy who nearly caught me. When I attacked at one mile instinct just took over. That little climber guy set em up and I couldnt resist knocking then down, I almost knocked myself down in the process though. The adrenalyne got to my head but I made it.

RapDaddyo

Actually, it's to your credit that you were able to keep a gap, because there appeared to be several places for them to close the gap until that last part where I suggested you attack. You must have been putting the hammer down even on the flat and downhill sections (albeit there aren't many).

Roadie_scum

Nice work on your race!

As for the year before, Justin had the entire Webcor team form a cocoon around him and TTT to the base of the climb so he could break the record. They were motivated and it was a unique situation. Without that dynamic it's basically impossible to get the course record. Not to take anything away from the man's ride - it's still very impressive.

Who showed up? Did you notice who your competition was? I know a lot of us norcal kids (and others) have stopped racing at this stage of the year, but I know it's a pretty cool race and I'd expect a decent field.

Woofer

Weird thing is, the winner of the cat4, cat 5, 35+ 4/5, and the public race may have given you a run for the money, were they in the same race. At least we have a rough estimate of the power it takes for 45 minutes to win in pretty much any category out here for a hill climb.

http://www.californiaroadclub.org/T...5TamResults.htm

Results for Men 1/2/Pro, winning time 45:12
Results for Elite 3, winning time 46:50
Results for Elite 4, winning time 44:44
Results for 35+ 1/2/3, winning time 43:52
Results for 35+ 4/5, winning time 44:48
Results for Master 45+, winning time 43:35
Results for Elite 5, winning time 45:46
Results for Tandem, winning time 47:04
Results for Public Men, winning time 46:39