sábado, 25 de enero de 2014

My second race at Preston Park

Well that was interesting.

After last week bad feelings. I changed my strategy for this week. The plan was forget, about having the racing in mind, just focus on preparing the Quebrantahuesos. I was still racing in Preston Park because that gave me the opportunity to race for 45 minutes and then 3 hours ride back from Brighton to home, which is a good training.

So, this week went with trainer on Monday, rest on Tuesday, trainer again on Wednesday, two hours and a half of recovery ride (my commute, so 2 rides  x 1h15m) on Thursday, rest on Friday and race on Saturday. Far more workload than the previous week (260.9 and 105.7 TSS).

Another thing that I changed this week was that I made sure I had a good amount of sleep hours on Thursday and Friday. Last week was a bit of a disaster on that regard.

Finally my warm-up today was harder than last week's, 31 TSS compared to 17.1; but also for longer, around 12 minutes in two blocks (8+4 with 9 minutes stopped in between) last week compared to 30 uninterrupted minutes this week. So it was, that when the race started the first thought that crossed my mind was "man, I'm tired already".

What do you do when you are tired? Just get among the ten riders on the front and make sure a you follow the wheel of the biggest one. Forget about following TY's advice (attack the peloton at some point) and focus on hanging on.

And so I did for the whole race. Whenever I found myself loosing some positions I made sure I recovered my place near the front straight away. That worked very well because I saw all attacks coming and that allowed me to adapt my gears and pedal stroke to make sure I kept my position with as less energy as possible.

The whole race followed the same pattern. Two or three riders taking turns on the front keeping a pace that was not too hard but still hard enough to make a single line in the first ten riders. There was the odd attack, but very quickly all of them were brought back.

Before I realized we were 5 laps to go. The pace went up a bit, but nothing mental, I was still comfortably on my position.

With 2 laps to go a rider on a green jersey (number 21) attacked the peloton. But I think he was terrible doing it. The pace had slowed down for a bit so the first line was like five abreast. I was in the second line and this rider started his attack from the third line. But from the middle of the peloton!!!! There was not really any hole there, yet he pushed on. He touched my handle bar and someone's on the first line creating a mess.

Luckily everyone manage to stay on their bikes. But I remember clearly that I thought "I wish you get caught, you don't deserve to win". Anyway his attack was strong and he made quite a gap and managed to stay away for a whole lap and a half.

So now we are with half a lap to go. Everyone has been accelerating and we are getting on the rider in the green jersey very, very quickly.

We passed him in the last turn. I made sure I gave him plenty of room, he was really struggling and not riding straight. I don't know what he did but as soon as I pass him full speed I heard a nasty noise behind. I knew that meant a crash and I was sure he was involved (he was and by the look of it he was the most damaged rider, I hope he is fine anyway and he has learned the lesson). Anyway I pushed to the line and so the race finished.

The interesting thing is all this week's race figures were lower than the race in previous week (NP, TTS, HR, etc). Last week I was lapped by the peloton and this week I think I did 5th. I guess last weeks race was a lot harder...

That might also explain why this week it took me 19 minutes less to ride from Preston Park to home and it even felt easy.

Anyway, happy for my first points, a bit disappointed with my sprint (I honestly think I could have done better) and same plan for next week; meaning training week, race on Saturday and ride back home; not sure where I'm going to race though.

Strava link

[update]
Jim made a great point in his comment in Strava: "Your power numbers show how much you save in terms of effort just by maintaining your position for the whole race - that's why it was easy! Well done with the points!"

Take care
Javier Arias González

sábado, 18 de enero de 2014

My first race in Preston Park


Very, very disappointed with today's performance. I had a plan agreed with TY; we were going together 30 mins. into the race. We executed perfectly and jumped together, but I blew out after the first 30 seconds of effort. I blew out so spectacularly that the peloton caught me, dropped me and, with 5 to go, lapped me.

As said, very disappointed; specially considering how well I felt last Sunday and that on Tuesday I rode the second lap to the mini winter loop taking turns with Sam who ended up wining today's race (very well done, Sam).

I think this is it for me on racing for now. Spending the morning I have in the weekend reserved to cycling in just a 45 minutes race is not efficient from the training or the time management point of view, specially if I don't ride Thursdays and Fridays to be fresh on Saturdays. I think it is time to start focussing on preparing the Quebrantahuesos 2014. I enjoy racing so I'll be back on September and, of course, I'll be in better form.

I'll give it a second thought tomorrow when the disappointment is gone, just in case this is me falling back to the training that suits me better out of a bad day, but this is how I feel right now.

Strava link

Take care
Javier Arias González

miércoles, 15 de enero de 2014

Desmond Tutu sobre el ciclismo


"Dale a un hombre un pez y le alimentarás por un día. Enséñale a pescar y le alimentarás para toda la vida. Enséñale a montar en bici y se dará cuenta de que pescar es estúpido y aburrido."
Desmond Tutu

A cuidarse
Javier Arias González

sábado, 4 de enero de 2014

Mi resumen ciclista del año 2013

¿Qué pasa "biciosos"?

En Enero de 2013 publicaba mi plan ciclista para ese año, este es un rápido resumen de lo acontecido.
  • 24 de Febrero. Estrené el año con mi primera participación en el The hell of the Ashdown. Un evento modesto en el que recorreremos 9 colinas en 110 kilómetros. La crónica aquí.
  • 17 de Marzo. Quería haber participado en la que sería mi segunda The Surrey Rumble. Pero se me olvidó apuntarme. Si, así de triste.  Me di cuenta el viernes, dos días antes de la prueba y, claro, ya no había plazas.
  • 24 de Marzo. Mi segundo Man of Kent 200. Empezaba la preparación para la Quebrantahuesos. La crónica completa aquí.
  • 27 de Abril. El Oasts and Coasts 300. Era la primera edición de este evento y me gustó. Conocia a Stuart and fue la primera vez que experimenté con la combinación brevet/quebrantahuesos (200km a todo lo que daba y el resto sobreviviendo) La crónica completa aquí
  • 11 de Mayo. El Severn Across 400. Una verdadera prueba física y mental. Hacer los primeros 200 kilómetros a tope me dejó vacío para el resto de la ruta y el mal tiempo hizo que la segunda parte fuese realmente un reto. La crónica completa aquí.
  • 18 de Mayo. El Bryan Chapman Memorial 600. Una de las mejores experiencias ciclistas del año. No sólo tuve la oportunidad de rodar con Alberto y conocer a Lucy  (los autores detrás del blog Machacas on Wheels) sino que, además, se trató de una ruta preciosa y tuvimos buen tiempo. La crónica completa aquí.
  • 9 de Junio. Mi primera participación en la Wiggle Dragon Ride. Resultó ser una gran idea el participar en este evento. Dos semanas antes de la Quebrantahuesos y con una distancia y un desnivel parecido fue el perfecto ensayo general. La ruta es preciosa y el clima fue genial. A repeteir. Los datos en Strava.
  • 22 de Junio. La Quebrantahuesos. Mi primer gran objetivo del año. El día antes bajar de 7:02 me parecía complicado y resulta que acabé en 6:44 (18 minutos menos). No podía estar más contento. La crónica completa aquí
  • 14 de Julio. La Kingston-Worthing, mi tercera participación en esta contrareloj. Este año cambiaron el recorrido y acabé en 2:07 lo cual deja muy claro el objetivo para el año que viene. Los datos en Strava.
  • Del 28 Julio al 2 Agosto 2013 la London-Edinburgh-London. Mi segundo objetivo del año. Al final fue un casa-Edinburgh-casa traducido en 1.500 kilómetros. Una gran experiencia ciclista en compañía de David, Jose y Roberto. Impresionante organización, magnífica ruta y admirables los voluntarios; me declaro enamorado de este evento y tengo pocas dudas de que intentaré participar en la edición de 2017. Lamentablemente todavía no tengo la crónica de esta ruta. 
  • 26 de Agosto. Por quinto año consecutivo cumplí con mi tradición de subir el Angliru. Objetivo. Mi objetivo era hacer la subida en menos del tiempo que había invertido el año pasado (1:23:33) pero no fue posible. En el 2013 subí en la bici de montaña y en el 2012 lo había hecho en la bici de carretera. Aun así sólo tardé 2 minutos más (1:25:23), pero en la parte dura (de Viapará pa'riba) la hice en 1:17 menos.
  • Octubre, Noviembre y Diciembre. Tenía la idea de probar a participar en carreras ciclistas. Empecé con el campeonato de los Kingston Wheelers donde quedé quinto. Y luego con 5 carreras en circuitos (Carrera 1Carrera 2Carrera 3Carrera 4 y Carrera 5) donde probé distintas estrategias. Me gustó esto de correr con la bicicleta ;-)
Por último algunos números del año:

  • 14.098 km en 691 horas. 17.3% más kilómetros que en el año 2011 (año PBP) cuando había hecho 12.018.
  • Los kilómetros se desglosan en 10.500 con la de carretera, 2.000 en el rodillo, 1.200 con la de montaña y 340 con la híbrida.


A cuidarse
Javier Arias González