The Plan
[I wrote this post on July 30, 2010, but seeing the Tour of
the Catskills is out in the middle of nowhere, I have no internet connectivity
to post it until today.]
I was pretty excited for today’s Prologue for the Cat 4A (so
many Cat 4s registered that they had to break them up into two fields, 4A and
4B, each with just under 80 starters). I
am sub-par at best when it comes to time trials, but this one seemed suited to
my strengths. It was just 2.16 miles and
climbed with an average of 4% upwards. I
saw only a handful of time trial bikes and helmets as this time trial was more
of a hill climb, right up my alley.
I did last year’s race in 8 minutes and 36 seconds and I
averaged 305 Watts, so I figured in preparation for today’s race I needed to
find this year’s best 8 minute power record.
My plan was to hold that power number, which happened to be 331 Watts,
kill the ride, and then hang around until they asked me to step up onto the
podium! Well, I didn’t exactly think I
was podium bound, but given that last year only a couple of Cat 4s broke 8
minutes, the odds were in my favor in me scoring my first ever top 10 finish.
Great Expectations
Things started out well today. The heat and humidity from the past few weeks
had been replaced with near perfect biking weather. I also had the Desmarais clan along with me,
and there’s no better way to start a race than to hear “Go Daddy Go!” being
shouted to you from across the street.
The cheering squad giving me my last second rah-rah session.
And I'm off!
Things seemed to get even better for me even as the
suffering increased. Within two minutes
I had passed my 30 second man, and about 5 minutes into the grind up Rt 23C I
zipped on by my one minute man. My power
slowed a tad as I neared the end (which oddly coincided with the moderation of
the incline), but as I passed the finishing line I noticed my average Watts at
335, a full 4 Watts above my goal, and nearly 10% stronger than last year’s
average. I didn’t know what my time was
right then as I had my PT displaying distance, not time, and I never bothered
to hit the interval button to stop the clock.
But as I descended on down back to the start, my spirits were high as I
surely was headed for a top ten finish.
The girls having fun while waiting for Daddy to return
So you can probably imagine how I felt when after waiting
around with the family for the results to be posted and I learned that I only
took 14 seconds off of last year’s time.
Even worse, I was 49 seconds off of first, sitting in 26th
place! I pulled out my iPhone to snap a
picture of the results (as I knew I wouldn’t be able to look at them online
without access to the internet), and then glumly rounded up the family to head
back to the car.
Five Pounds
On the way home we took a big detour so that I could get a
glimpse at the infamous Devil’s Kitchen.
I think I’ve just barely finished recovering from last week’s ascent to
the top of East Hawely Rd, and unfortunately I think after Sunday’s ride I’m
going to need a heck of a lot longer to recover. The Devil’s Kitchen (which sometimes hits 22%)
seems to be East Hawely’s older and meaner brother. Sunday is going to hurt…bad….
As I was heading back from the shocking preview of the
craziness I’ll be inflicting upon my legs and lungs, I pretty much figured out
what went wrong with today’s prologue.
My power numbers were great, and while I was 49 seconds off of first, I
was just 15 seconds off of 10th. I initially thought that perhaps
the modest headwind might have had an affect, and the guy in first must have
just been a fluke about to upgrade to Cat 2 by the end of the season.
But as I thought harder, I forced
myself to admit something I probably should have known going into the
ride. I’ve lately had a diet and
drinking habits of Crit rider, not a hill climber. Indulged at a few too many BBQs, a few too
many trips to the restaurants, and more ice cream stops than I care to
admit. As a result, I tip the scales now
at 5 pounds more than I weighed when I last did the ToC. I knew I had abandoned my good eating habits,
and I even stopped measuring my weight for the last six weeks (longest I’ve
stopped measuring in years).
I enjoyed the lax diet focus, but
I realized I had let things go too far last week. I’ve been eating much better since then, and
I’m back hitting the scale each morning.
I’m glad I didn’t let things go too far to the point where I’d need to
start making use of the next belt buckle, but I didn’t stop soon enough
unfortunately.
Man, those 5 lbs are going to
really make the Devil’s Kitchen hurt!
Final Results
2.16 miles
168 kJ
341 Norm Power
335 Avg Watts
15.5 mph
26th place out of 70 starters, 49 seconds off of
first
