Beat The Clock TT – 4/7/2012

Something has gone insane with California’s weather. The last thing I expected to be doing this morning at 6am was scraping ice of my windscreen.  I don’t do cold anymore, I moved from Britain hoping for warm California sunshine and although I quickly figured things could get a bit chilly at times, this was the first frost in April I have encountered. The temperature gauge on the car was reading only 31f so rather than a skinsuit for this mornings time trial I opted for Thermal Jacket, Tights and gloves and boy was I glad I did.

When we arrived at Canada road near woodside the temperature had rocketed up to 35f

I was trying to beat my trike record for the 10 mile TT course today which  stood at  27:48  set back on 7/19/2008 but the weather was not going to make things easy.  Normally when I try to ride time trials in cold air I end up with a crap time and bronchitis so I made sure I was wrapped up like the last turkey in the shop.

This week has been a hard week for me as I have been putting in some really strenous efforts to boost my fitness for the DMD at the end of the month. Tuesday I went out on the noon crit hammerfest on my Trek 5500 and put in a few really hard attacks just to make things hurt even more. Wednesday was the chilly Putah Creek TT on the trike which left me with very sore legs the next morning. Thursday I did my Altamont Loop on the trike  with nasty headwinds and despite sore legs managed to break the hour and do a new Trike p.b. That was three very hard days in a row with just a steady ride on Friday to recover.

It wasn’t surprising that my legs felt a bit fatigued on the warm up and it was an ache that wouldn’t go away in the race itself.  The wind was light today and if it wasn’t for the cold temps I would have said it was definitely a day you could get a personal best on. Despite setting off at a controlled pace and not really driving that hard I ended up with tired feeling legs for the whole thing. I ignored my legs and just concentrated on keeping a good cadence and not panicking on the hills.  On this course it can be quite demoralizing to see your speed drop so much on the hills but if you attack them too hard I reckon it hurts your overall time.

My minute man was Phil Plath on a loaned Nocom carbon fiber low racer so I had no chance of getting close to him,  especially as he seemed to be absolutely flying. This meant I didn’t really have any carrots to chase and I was only caught by a two man team on the way back so it was a lonely TT.

I was a bit disappointed with my speed on the mainly uphill return leg but I still managed to pull off a personal best for the course in a time of 27m11s.  Doing that time really hurt but I reckon I can crack 27 minutes this year once things warm up.  It was a new Recumbent trike for record for the course but it is a bit of a hollow achievement as no other trikes seem to want to challenge it. Phil Plath managed to set a fantastic time of 23mo4s on the Nocom which puts him ahead of me in the Unfaired recumbent records. No idea how I can get that one back.

Link to Results

Putah Creek Time Trial : PCSD#2

I fitted an upgraded seat on my Catrike 700 today that is considerably more comfortable and practical proposition for the DMD at the end of the month. I also fitted a rear wheel disk cover to get ready for Saturday’s beat the clock TT where I hope to beat my event record set in 2008 (27m48s). It seemed a shame not to do a test run on the trike before Saturday so I took it out for the Putah Creek Smack Down (PCSD#2) 10 mile TT.

The weather was unseasonably cool and there was a strong head/ cross wind on the outward leg that made it hard to even keep up 20MPH on the trike. It was definitely quicker on the return leg but not super fast on the trike and 30MPH was not really on the cards as a sustained effort.

For the event itself I opted for a skinsuit and regretted it as I never really warmed up. It was particularly cold waiting for my start and lots of riders were complaining about it.  This week I continued my 2012 Putah theme of following world/National champions and started off 30 seconds behind Lesley Jensen (current US Masters XC MTB champion). My wife started off 1 minute in front as a carrot but I knew she was on form after her 2nd place in the Top Sport Stage Race at the weekend.

The wind on the way out was really hard and I ended up pushing a little harder than normal over the first mile. As I hit the 1 mile marker I was in the pain cave and a little short of breath which was not a good situation as this was the worst part of the wind.  Mile 1 to 2 was really hard and possibly the hardest I have ever encountered on Putah. I managed to keep over 20MPH but it was a major struggle and I was making little progress on catching the  two ladies in front.

The 90 degree corner at 3.5 miles was a bit gravely and  I under-steered quite a bit but this was no problem on the trike. Normally the next 0.5 miles are quite fast and I always up one gear, but tonight I simply couldn’t push a bigger gear and my speed still hovered around 22MPH.  The last mile to the turn was also a struggle into the wind and I was was very relieved to hit the return leg. I was hoping I hadn’t cooked my goose on the way out.

The tail wind was definitely apparent on the way back but it never felt as spectacular as I was expecting. I don’t think recumbents have as much of an advantage in a tail wind as there isnt as much sail to be blown. The first mile back felt really fast but I only managed to keep up around 26MPH and after a spectacular drift on the 90 degree gravelly turn It got hard again and I was unable to keep over 25MPH. I dug deep in the hope that as the course direction changed at mile 8 I would have the super tailwind. The tailwind I was hoping for came at mile 8 and I upped the gears and pushed as hard as I could for the finish.  I couldn’t manage 30MPH but did keep around 29MPH and finished in a time of 25m17s (14 seconds slower than my personal best). I didn’t manage to catch either of the riders in front of me but you can see from my photograph (taken with about 1.5 miles to go) I was trying really hard.

Comparison of Heartrate vs my personal best (8/24/2011):

I felt that  I could not have gone any harder tonight but my pulse trace shows that from 2.5 miles my pulse was significantly lower than my personal best ride.  This difference is most noticeable over the last 3 miles where even though I was pushing as hard as I could my pulse rate was quite subdued.  I don’t know if it was the cold which definitely had an impact on my breathing or I was just fatigued. I did a really hard ride on the noon crit yesterday including some breakaways and this is likely to be the culprit.

Comparison of Speed vs my personal best (8/24/2011):

Perhaps the more generously padded seat hurt my power output today but I don’t really think it did.  There are some significant areas on the above speed traces where I was slow tonight. Of Particular note was the section from 2.5miles to the turn and 6.5 miles to  8 miles where I really struggled.  The only area where I was significantly faster was over the last two miles where I really felt the tail wind. I was a bit disappointed with my time  but  I reckon I can crack 25 minutes on the Trike on a better night. I am definitely not on the same form as I was when I did my P.B but it is early season yet and the important thing is I have really got my enthusiasm for the trike back (I am so glad I never sold it).

Lesley Jensen managed 25m35s and my wife 25m44s. Fellow recumbent rider peter did 25m36s in his mango.

Previous Trike Times on Putah Creek:

8/24/2011 – 0:25:03 (23.95) – 164bpm (175Max)
6/23/2010 – 0:25:52 (23.2) – 174bpm (185 Max)
5/12/2010 – 0:25:55 (23.15) – 166bpm (183 Max)

Link To Official Results.

• Result: 29th
• Winner: Paul Mach (20m48s)

Top Sport Stage Race 2012

I didn’t ride the Top Sport stage race but instead went along as a photographer and support for my wife who was racing the women’s  Cat 3/4.

My Photographs Can be found on my Smugmug page.

http://onemaddog.smugmug.com/

Day one was a road race and the weather was absolutely atrocious. My wife managed to get 3rd place in the Cat 4′s.

Road Race Stage:

For Day 2 the weather was much better but it was a little cool

Sandra managed to get 3rd overall in the TT

Time Trial Stage

Sandra managed to get 4th on the circuit race cementing her 2nd Place overall. Well done !

Circuit Race Stage:

Copperopolis:

March 2012 Summary

Here is my mix of steeds in the merry month of March:

March has been quite a good mix of transport with only my Specialized Tarmac, Trek 5500 and the Bacchetta getting no attention. March also saw the dust getting blown off my Trek TTX time trial bike and Catrike 700 and I really enjoyed getting reacquainted with them.  I was shocked to actually get a recumbent personal best on one of my training loops with my Trike.

Caroll-Flynn Climb (2.7 miles, 600ft):

1. 3/17/2012 : 0:14:05 (11.5 mph), Av bpm = 153 Catrike 700
2. 12/20/2011: 0:14:33 (11.1 mph), Av bpm = 151 Catbike Musashi
3. 2/4/2010: 0:14:38 (11.1 mph), Av bpm = 162 Bacchetta Corsa

Not the same story on Patterson Pass though where I still need a bit of work:

Patterson Pass (4,4 Miles, 1190ft) 

1. 2/17/2011 : 0:30:08 (8.7 mph) 143 bpm, Catbike Musashi
2. 9/11/2008 : 0:31:27 (8.3 mph) 140 bpm, Bacchetta Corsa
3. 3/29/2012 : 0:32:33 (8 mph) 145 bpm, Catrike 700

As

Luminous Bar Tape – Epic fail

I thought it would be pretty cool to have “Glow In the Dark” bar tape on my winter commute bike. I had happy visions of me riding home in the dark with bars glowing like some kind of Alien.  Cinelli luminous bar tape is outrageously expensive and I would not have even considered purchasing it if it wasn’t for a super sale at Crank 2 in Pleasanton.  My first impressions were really good as the tape had pleasant pale minty green hue to it even in full sunlight and it was nicely padded too.

It only took one ride for me to discover some problems with the tape. Firstly the texture is quite rough and as such it attracts dirt like there is no tomorrow. It only took a few more rides before it looked like it was a 20 years old and no amount of scrubbing could return it’s new sheen.   Things got even worse when I took it off road out on the levies and the local mud got etched into the grain.

The final nail in the coffin for me was it’s lack of alien glow. I have an hour train ride in a brightly lit carriage with which to charge the tape up, so I was expecting big things of my 4+ mile ride home in the dark. The trouble is that the first mile is in fairly bright street lights and by the time I get to the really dark stuff the glow is almost non existent.

You can get the tape to work. Leave the stuff under a light in the garage for an hour then switch off the lights and stand back to bask in it’s eerie alien glow for a few minutes.

All in all a complete waste of money and well deserving of the title – “Epic Fail”

Lodi TT – Masters 35+ 4/5

Lodi Individual Time Trial :

• Position: 2^nd
• Field : 28 (I think 40 were registered)
• Time:  26m08s
• Weather: 48f but it felt much colder. Moderate winds and overcast but the forecast rain stayed away.
• Course : The TT course was an out and back flat 11 mile route on rural farm roads with virtually no traffic.  The race headquarters itself was in a manure farm (I am not kidding, see picture below).  Notice how cold everyone looks.
• Official Results: Here

Official course Description:

Out and back a total of 11.5 miles on Woodbridge Road, just west of I-5. Almost completely flat and straight levee road, fairly good surface with a few potholes, passes wildlife refuge and hunting club.

The Race:

The outward leg was really windy and this coupled with bumpy (but not rough) roads made it hard work.  I suffered on the way out in the hope that it would be easy on the way back but the return leg was still hard and the huge tail wind I was hoping for never seemed to be there.  I caught a couple of people during the race and getting past involved having to go on the wrong side of the center line as everyone was hogging the middle of the road to try to find smooth pavement.  Fortunately the roads had almost zero traffic so this wasn’t a problem. It was definitely faster on the way home but I had to dig deep. I don’t normally go very well at all in the cold (I have become a California softy) but managed to keep the hammer down and meter out my effort today so that I was on empty as I crossed the line.  I was very pleased to get 2^nd place just 8 seconds down on the winner.  The prize purse for this event was a percentage of the number of registered riders so as my field was the biggest (about 40 riders registered) I got $55 for second place which is the most I have ever got in a bike race (Starbucks were on me on the way home!).

To round off an excellent day, my wife Sandra won the Womens 4 event just to do one better than me.

Despite the cold I really enjoyed this event and would definitely ride it again. The volunteers were all friendly and the event ran very smoothly. My only criticism was the lack of someone to hold you up at the start which I think is a must for time trials (I am never very good at getting clipped in quickly). The fine aromas of silage worked as a powerful expectorant to clear the lungs and nasal passages.

Putah Creek Time Trial : PCSD#1

Spring is here and with it we have daylight Saving time and that means the return of Davis Wheelwork’s excellent Putah Creek TT series. Putah Creek is a long drive for me and my wife (around a 140 mile round trip) but I think it is worth every penny of the gas it takes to get there.  It is a very friendly run event and absolutely 100% quality time trial training.  It is extra inconvenient for me as I have to get up  early to get my work done so we can get an early start on the commute traffic.

Tonight was PCSD#1 and my nerves were working overtime for the first event of the season. Unlike last year where I had already competed in a couple of time trials on my Trek TTX TT bike, this year I was coming in with very few practice miles. The only changes I made to the Trek since last season was swapping out the 21c Specialized Turbo Works Tires in favor of some 23c Michelin Pro race 3’s and changing my pedals to Shimano Ultegra. I don’t think the Michelins are much faster but I absolutely hated the feel of the S-Works tires and the lack of confidence they gave me on the turns. My new pedals mark my first departure from Smart Bros pedal products in 15 years and I have to say they feel much better for road use (I am still fiddling around a bit with shoe plate position but I have things pretty close).

The weather at Putah Creek was overcast, warm and windy but I got there super early and this allowed me to do a long warm up of 18 miles. The wind on the outward leg felt very strong on the warm up and my HED3 front wheel was getting blown about quite a bit (especially through the Olive Orchard).  My legs felt good but my nose was running constantly due to the wind and resultant pollen. According to my Garmin, the temperature was approx 70 degrees which is perfect for me.

My start position was two places behind my wife with World Masters TT champion Molly VanHouweling (resplendent in her world champion skinsuit) between us. I have a huge amount of respect for Molly as she is an incredibly consistent time trialist and I was hoping that following her would give me some valuable experience in pacing.

This season I am working very hard on pacing. I have read some really good articles on how going slower at the start can help you to go faster overall and I think that if I can nail this my times will improve. The first two miles were a nasty headwind but I concentrated on not pushing too hard (not sure I pushed hard enough). I upped the effort at mile two and I was hurting by the time I caught my wife around mile 3 but it looked like I was closing in a bit on Molly.   When I hit mile 4 it dawned on me that the wind direction had changed a bit since the warmup and this section was much harder. I think I was still slightly up on Molly and was catching another rider by the time we hit the glacially slow 180 turn.

The tailwind certainly was noticeable on the way back but I don’t think I had the speed in my legs to capitalize on it. I caught a rider at mile 5.5 but noticed that Molly was pulling away. She had obviously paced herself better as she steadily put time into me all the way to the finish. My speed actually seemed to be cardio limited on the return leg as I was breathing very heavy but my legs still felt strong.  The last two miles were a mental battle with myself trying desperately to get the speed up to above 30MPH. It is incredible how slowly that last mile passes.

My time was 22m47s which I was very pleased with. Last year I did a 23m34 seconds and I turned myself inside out to get it.  My wife managed 26m00s and Molly did 22m49s. I think this is certainly a good start for my crusade to beat 22 minutes in 2012. My few weeks of concentrated TT training seemed to have paid off and I hope I can improve more in April.

Link To Official Results.

• Result: 17th
• Winner: Chris Phipps (20m32s)

Mad As A Box of Spiders

Time Trial Season is here…..

After the grueling Death Valley double I have been feeling a little under the weather and finding it hard to focus on my goal for March which is the Woodbridge TT (March 24^th). I have dusted off the Trek TTX TT bike and I have started trying to get some speed back into my legs for the start of the Time Trial season but it isn’t coming easy. I feel like I am way down on where I was this time last year and blame riding recumbent and doing the endurance stuff. This time last year I had already had a couple of open TT’s under my belt and was ramping up to some good form but this year I seem to be tiring very quickly and not have any top end. I have been getting some encouraging times on Strava this week on the TT bike so I hope I am coming onto form.

My season goal is the same as last year and that is to crack 27MPH on Putah Creek (didn’t manage it last year by about 0.1MPH).

3 Wheels on the Devil Mountain Double…….

I have decided to do endurance races on my recumbent and short distance time trials on my TT bikes this year which must raise questions about the state of my mental health. It is pretty crazy trying to train for 200 mile plus monster hilly events and ten mile time trials but it does add some much needed variety into my life.  My next endurance event is the Devil Mountain Double (DMD) on the 28^th April.  In a moment of madness I have decided to dust off my Catrike 700 and use this for DMD. To the best of my knowledge no-one has completed DMD on such a mode of transport (for good reason) and I think it will be an enormous challenge.

I think it should be possible to meet the time limits on the trike but it is likely to be one of the hardest things I have ever attempted. My only other double century on the Catrike was in Death Valley back in 2009 and I barely completed that (see my report here) but I am far more experienced at nursing my body on doubles nowadays.

I do need to work on a few things before April 28^th in terms of comfort and water bottle placement but other than that I am riding the trike entirely stock.  On one of my shakedown rides I was quite surprised that my time up my Del Valle benchmark climb was not that far off my other recumbents. Training wise I am just going to concentrate on climbing over the roads used by DMD but I don’t plan on doing any huge rides as this will interfere with my other goals. If I can break 9 minutes up Del Valle I know I will be ready

Personal bests by platform:

Mountain Biking too…..

This year I also wanted to ride the Tahoe 100 mountain bike race (California’s Leadville equivalent) but all of the qualifying events clash with business travel so I can’t. I have decided to come out of mountain bike retirement anyways and have entered the Napa Valley Dirt Classic on the 15^th April. Apart from one attempt at the Sea Otter XC back in the late nineties (see pictures below) I have been retired from Mountain Biking for over 15 years but I still have a certain fondness for it.  I don’t really have the technical skills to be competitive but I believe I have better endurance now.  I also do a significant portion of my training off road so it seems mad not to race there too.

Some Sea Otter Pictures:

            

Very Old days When I was Racing in the Expert Mountain Bike Category:

Spring Death Valley Double Results Published : 12th Place

ReResults posted here:

Distance	Elapsed	First	Last	Sex	City	State	Club
200	11:07:11	Brook	Henderson	M	Woodland Hills	CA
200	11:12:33	DOUG	PATTERSON	M	ORANGE	CA	Veloce Santiago
200	11:13:58	Graham	Pollock	M	Folsom	CA
200	11:14:47	John	Clare	M	Long Beach	CA	All Deal Order
200	11:20:48	Greg	Colvin	M	Houston	TX	Shama Cycles
200	11:21:58	Mike	Long	M	Newport Beach	CA	Back Bay Bicycle Club
200	11:22:38	Joshua	Talley	M	Santa Monica	CA
200	11:26:16	Pat	Rehorn	M	Atascadero	CA
200	11:38:24	Robert	Morris III	M	San Francisco	CA	Santa Rosa
200	11:41:36	Kevin	Walsh	M	Lancaster	CA	AV High Desert Cyclists
200	11:42:03	Keith	Jensen	M	Ramona	CA	San Diego Cyclo-Vets
200	11:48:03	mark	king	M	livermore	CA	International Christian Cycling Club

Moose vs Barry

Musashi (Moose) vs Bacchetta (Barry):

I wasn’t really expecting the Moose to be as quick as the Bacchetta on the Death valley Double but I was surprised at where the differences occurred:

The above kind of confusing plot is the elevation offset by a few hundred feet (for clarity) between the Musashi (Blue) and the Bacchetta (Pink) shown with respect to time. What it shows is that for the first two hours the speed difference between the two platforms was negligible but by the top of the first climb the Bacchetta is already starting to pull away. The most dramatic time loss is after Badwater where I really seemed to lose my mojo.

• Ashford Mills: 2H5m M – 2H5m B (Difference 0)
• Jubilee Pass: 2H52m M – 2H47m B (Difference +5 mins)
• Salsberry Pass: 3H53m M – 3H48m B (Difference +5 mins)
• Shoshone RS: 4H27m M – 4H17m B (Difference +10 mins)
• Salsberry Pass: 5H33m M – 5h21m B (Difference +13 mins) *Bathroom Break for Musashi.
• Jubilee Pass: 5H57m M – 5H43m B (Difference +14 minutes)
• Ashford Mills: 6H17m M – 6H02m B (Difference +15 minutes)
• Badwater RS: 7H41 M – 7H29m B (Difference +12 minutes) *Bathroom Break Bacchetta
• Stovepipe Wells RS: 10H17m M – 9H55m B (Difference +22 minutes)
• Finish: 11H48m M – 11H19m B (Difference +29 minutes)

M = Musashi
B = Bacchetta
RS = Rest Stop where I Stopped

There are two many variables involved to really highlight the differences between the two steeds.  How was the engine on the two days and how was the weather different between 2010 and 2012? I personally think the wind was worse this year (especially from Badwater to Stovepipe Wells) and I honestly don’t know about the engine. My Mega Monster Enduro result would indicate I am quicker in 2012.

Nothing too serious in any of the above but its the kind of fun thing that an engineer like me gets a kick out of. I must say that I really didn’t ride the Moose enough in February to give it a fair chance (see a few posts below)