R
Raptor
Guest
I finally made my way into a CatV race, the Sugarhouse Park Crit. 45 minutes with three finishing
laps. The course was freshly paved, about
1.3 mile laps. The park has a pond in a basin, so each lap has two 50-foot climbs. I've been working
out hard and gained 5 pounds to 185 in the last six months.
Since I can do 23-24mph solo on a good day, I thought I might be okay. Then, "Oh yeah, I remember
this..." from 15 years ago, the last time I raced. All these speed freaks take turns burning
themselves up, resulting in a very hot pace from start to finish.
I did fine dangling off the back for about six laps, casually letting the draft pull me along the
downhills and flats, and rather easily sprinting up the climbs to catch up. There was one time where
the course tightens up and a couple guys in the middle got squirly, but no crashes.
Then the announcer runs two prime laps close together and suddenly the peloton is 30 yards ahead and
I realize I'm done. I dangled for one more lap before I was pulled.
Looks like I need more speed work. I'm trying to decide whether to do structured interval training
on my own, or participate in more weekly training races to get that high-pace recovery capacity
going. Or should I join a local team and ride with 'em?
--
--
Lynn Wallace http://www.xmission.com/~lawall "I'm not proud. We really haven't done everything we
could to protect our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security." --Microsoft VP in
charge of Windows OS Development, Brian Valentine.
laps. The course was freshly paved, about
1.3 mile laps. The park has a pond in a basin, so each lap has two 50-foot climbs. I've been working
out hard and gained 5 pounds to 185 in the last six months.
Since I can do 23-24mph solo on a good day, I thought I might be okay. Then, "Oh yeah, I remember
this..." from 15 years ago, the last time I raced. All these speed freaks take turns burning
themselves up, resulting in a very hot pace from start to finish.
I did fine dangling off the back for about six laps, casually letting the draft pull me along the
downhills and flats, and rather easily sprinting up the climbs to catch up. There was one time where
the course tightens up and a couple guys in the middle got squirly, but no crashes.
Then the announcer runs two prime laps close together and suddenly the peloton is 30 yards ahead and
I realize I'm done. I dangled for one more lap before I was pulled.
Looks like I need more speed work. I'm trying to decide whether to do structured interval training
on my own, or participate in more weekly training races to get that high-pace recovery capacity
going. Or should I join a local team and ride with 'em?
--
--
Lynn Wallace http://www.xmission.com/~lawall "I'm not proud. We really haven't done everything we
could to protect our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security." --Microsoft VP in
charge of Windows OS Development, Brian Valentine.