My sixth race at Preston Park

Saturday 9:00 pm. Everything ready for my second audax of the year, The Dean 300km. Last look at my twitter before going to bed and I see this twit

My first thought was "What is that crazy guy doing riding The Dean the day before is meant to be?". My second thought was "Because The Dean is happening tomorrow, right?". And I went and checked, and it turned out The Dean was actually on Saturday!!!

Cool! I had blew up all my cycling plans for the following months (it is not that easy to re-schedule a 300km ride in my already tight calendar). What can I do? Lets go racing. A quick look at the races for today gave the a straight answer, if you want to race today Preston Park again will have to be. Instead 300km I'll ride 30km. Not quite the same, but, hey, I didn't have to wake up at 3:30!!!

Number 1 should be reserved to those that have won at least one race. I haven't

I didn't have to wake up at 3:30 but still I had to wake up one hour earlier to change the bike setup (remove lights, e-werk, mudguards, rack, tyre in the rear wheel, change front wheel and remove handle bag), I can't afford to give the other riders that much of an advantage carrying all that stuff.

Nice day today in Brighton which means lots of riders, some of them faces that I could recognize but to be honest I couldn't tell if they were strong riders or not. Anyway I didn't care, my plan was simple. The wind was not that strong so look out for promising breakaways and try to jump on them, otherwise wait for the likely bunch sprint and try to get it better this time.

And so I did. Well positioned and alert but hidden in the fifth to tenth position in the bunch, a few riders tried to when solo, but I thought they had no chance so I waited for others to bring them back. Apart for some spikes in the pace it felt easy to keep up with it. 

There was one effort that brought me well into the red zone when I jumped into a group that were trying to get away with 20 minutes to go. A solo effort wouldn't make it, a two riders effort, being me one of the riders, would have little chance, but a four or five riders breakaway was another history so I didn't want to miss it. 

Sadly it didn't stick; I guess everyone had the same thought I had. So a bunch sprint was going to be; again.

Fifth, again, as you can see in the picture above; but this time very happy with how I sprinted. My wife had sent me a message reminding me not to stop sprinting until I have crossed the line and I took that as an order. 

The graph below is rather surprising. I thought my maximum heart rate was 184, or at least that is the highest I have seen in the last two years, but today I hit 199. Can I go back to being 21 years old?

BTW is there any price for placing 5th most of the times? Four out of five times I have placed (if I include the Kingston Wheelers 4th cat championship) I came 5th.

Now I have an additional objective for the year. To win a race! 

It will have to wait at least until July now that I had to readjust my Audax calendar and my training for the Quebrantahuesos, but there is plenty of time from July to the end of the year.

Take care
Javier Arias González

Man of Kent 200

[I'll try to keep it short because I'm tired ;-)]

Third year in a raw that I ride Man of Kent 200 as my first Audax of the year. This ride is mostly flat so it is perfect for getting the body used to long distance after six months of not riding anything "long".

8:00 and we are sent off. Very quickly I found myself in the front group. A guy passed me and disappeared up the road, I looked back and there were like six riders on my wheel. No trace of Gavin and Dominic, the other two Wheelers that were riding the event. I kept pedalling at my own pace.

Around Km 28 (I think) we were about to catch the guy in the front. A red traffic light made the task easier. I looked back and recognized Stuart among the riders (we rode together part of the Oats and Coats 300 last year; on that ride he talk me into racing; he is the non-Wheeler more responsible for me trying racing) When the traffic light turned green, he was in the front, Stuart and myself on his wheel chatting and the rest of the riders on our wheel. A hill appeared and the rider that was in the front dropped that quickly that I had to manoeuvre to don't run over him. Not sure why riders push themselves that hard at the beginning of a 200 if they are not that fit.

We arrived to the first control (50k) and there where nobody there. Stuart and myself decided to keep it going. Three other riders came with use.

Second control (79km) was in a café. The three riders decided to stop for a coffee. Stuart and I decided to keep it going.

Not much happened. We were riding fairly hard, sometimes taking turns; which is probably a sacrilege in an Audax event but, hey, we had head wind!!

We kept it going and only stopped at the control that was at km 176. A quick coffee and a banana and back to the road.

We arrived to the head quarters at 16:05, 5 minutes more than 8 hours in total. Not bad, the second pair of riders arrived 30 minutes later and the next riders an hour later, including Gavin that did great in his second 200k

Rice pudding as recovery meal

Great ride, lucky with the weather (we only had a four showers, two of them with hail), nice riding with Stuart and happy with the power 218, which is 6.8% more than last year (204). Good start of the Audax season.

The ride in Strava

Take care
Javier Arias González

My fifth race at Preston Park

The plan was simple, wait for the last lap and sprint with half a lap to go. Win!

Somehow I was convinced that I was going to win this race. Just had to wait patiently all the race for the final sprint.

I was well positioned, but not riding that well. Twice I was called out for not holding my line and twice they were probably right (I had the chance to apologize to the TCC rider during the race, I'm not sure who was the other one).

With two to go a rider in my left got our handlebars tangled. He complained loudly but I think it was his fault. Anyway, luckily we both managed to solve the situation and keep pedalling.

In the final sprint I found myself out of the top positions, sprinting for the seventh. I actually found the time to count them.

And counting them I saw some more riders passing me in the last meters

I had a whole lap to blame myself for such terrible sprint.

When I met my wife at the HQ she was clear "everyone passed you because you stop sprinting too early"; and I know she was right.

My daughter told me I did tenth but I know I was eleventh. Instead of sprinting I was counting and I also counted the four that passed me!!

Still, looking at the numbers it was my hardest, fastest, race and sprint in Preston Park, but I was told there is no price for good numbers.

Will have to do a bit better next time chopper.

The race in Strava

[edit 19/3/2014]
The results are out and it seems my daughter was right and I can't count :-)

Take care
Javier Arias González

Desde San Francisco a Google en bicicleta

Trabajadores de Google hace años que organizan el sf2g (San Francisco to Google). O lo que es lo mismo, 67km de bicicleta para ir desde San Francisco hasta las oficinas centrales de Google.

La iniciativa se ha hecho tan popular que existe una web pública http://sf2g.com/ y ahora se forman pelotones ciclistas de trabajadores de un montón de empresas de Sillicon Valley haciendo distintos recorridos y a distintas velocidades.

Incluso del CFO (el director financiero) de Google, Patrick Pichette, se une a estas rutas.

Foto de Seth Sternberg

Lo de los googlers y el ciclismo es para hacérnoslo mirar...

A cuidarse
Javier Arias González

My second race at CycloPark

The dirtiest bike in the race today (and yes, I forgot to remove the light)

Not sure when or why I decided to ride from home to CycloPark but it was not the best of my ideas. I didn't know the route and Strava gave me one with lots of turns, traffic lights and some off road tracks. I wanted to be as fresh as possible for the race so I rode very slowly. It took me 2h 31m to ride 57km. 

Still arrived with enough time to say hello to my fellow Wheelers, eat a banana, a piece of chocolate and an energy bar, and to sit in the ground to rest a bit while watching the end of the 3rd cat race. It looked a hard race from the outside.

3rd cat race ended late so we only had five minutes to warmup. It was nice to see Nathan, it was him the one that said hello, I couldn't recognized him in his new kit.

Waiting Tranquilo as per rule #80

I don't care about rule #80, this position is more comfortable

This was a 4th cat only race. 70 riders lined up and behind our race a women race, not sure how long after.

I had ridden here in early December and in that race I was dropped in the 8th/15 laps and I knew this is a technical circuit so my plan was to be near the front all race, try to hold on the pace and try to take advantage of a straight home that I think suits me.

I have to say it. That was a great plan. Being near the front means you have more space in the hairpin bends, it also means you have to break less and, therefore, you have to put less power to get out of the bend. Once I experienced that I knew it for a fact, they would have to kill me to get out of that position.

And it was not easy to keep it. Everyone was sprinting out of every corner and everyone was attacking the bunch. As always I was trying to be alert to everything that was happening but I have to admit that around the 3th or 4th lap I had no idea how many riders were ahead. I was lost; but, hey, I had a plan and stuck to it.

Another characteristic of this circuit is there is not such thing as constant pace. The pace is constantly changing. Whether or not we will get out of a corner accelerating like if it were the final sprint looked kind of random to me. This is excellent training for me, because I'm not used to ride that way. I have to confess it killed me but I also loved it. On Monday I'm booking my appointment with the doctors.

At some point it looked like we were all together. I wasn't sure if that was the case but it didn't bother me too much, I was not going to change how I was racing.

Half way through the race we lapped the women race. Another good reason to be at the front in a circuit as many bends as this one. Only a few riders will be able to pass a peloton between two bends, if you are not in the front you will have to break to accommodate your speed to the peloton speed, and that means you'll have to sprint after the bend to catch up with the riders at the front.

In one of the hairpin bends the rider in front of me touched the ground with his right pedal and he fell making a terrible noise. Luckily I manage to go around him and sprint to cover the push the riders on the front took when they heard the crash. That was a close one.

We were passing lots of riders, some of them riding alone, some in pelotons. At some point I looked back for the first time and I was surprised to find out we were 15 or 20 riders. It looked like we had lapped pretty much the whole field.

When the 5 to go sign was up the group accelerated as we were crossing the line and for the next two laps I was at my limit. With 3 to go the group took a rest for two laps. But when we approaching to the bell everyone was sprinting like if we hadn't another lap to ride. I was dying. My wife and my daughter swear they hear me scream "I can't", but I don't recall it.

Last lap was my personal record according to Strava but when we approached the final straight I knew I was not going to win. I pushed but when we were passing under the bridge I was already out of gas. I think I did around 15th, definitively out of the top 10.

Crossed the line and I realized how hard I was riding. It took me ages to get my breath back.

Overall I'm reasonably happy with the race. I'm happy with how I raced and how comfortable felt cornering from the front of the group. 

I was not even close to win but I was there until the last meters. I missed a fresher legs in the final push, but that is fine when looking at the numbers I find the race was hard work for me (96 TSS 0.955 IF in 1h03m) and I remind myself the work I've done during the week and that I had ridden to the course. It'll pay off in the future.

The race in Strava

Take care

Javier Arias González

My fourth race at Preston Park

The only moment I leaded the race

Amazingly sunny day in Brighton. So many riders showed up the organizers had to split the field in two races. Three Wheelers (Tom, Barry and myself) all taking part in the first race. Because there were going to be two races they reduced the time; 35 minutes in total, including the 3 last laps.

Tom was the first opening the fire, very early in the race. He went away and very quickly he got a decent gap. Barry was fast moving to the front of the bunch and trying to slow the pace. I followed suit and very quickly we found ourselves riding two abreast and keeping a moderate pace. It wasn't long until we heard loud complains that we were slowing the peloton. A couple of riders took the lead and we sat on their wheels and as soon as they slowed down we moved up again. This lasted a good while. Tom's lead was not increasing but was not decreasing either.

A UK Army (or was it UK Navy, not sure now [Alex Snow confirmed it was a UK Navy rider ;-)]) rider took the lead and pushed very hard reducing Tom's gap. We were on his wheel and behind us the rest of the peloton. I told Barry, let him go, if they are two they'll have more chances;  and we eased a bit letting him go. Not sure if that was the right decision but my point was, if we were to continue sitting on his wheel he would probably lead the whole peloton to catch Tom. I figured that if we let him go he would catch Tom and both would have the chance to work together while we were trying to control the bunch.

Anyway, away he went and ended up catching Tom. They managed to work together and keep away for a few more laps, but around 15 mins into the race they both were brought back.

I knew that was a good moment for an attack so I got myself in a good position. It was a good call, very soon I felt a rider passing us on my right. He was going really fast so had I to push hard to jump after him. I had time to hear a rider exhaling like meaning "oh no, another attack". I was working hard trying to close the gap with the rider that was away. The shame is I couldn't. After what seemed like an eternity, and the numbers revealed to be a mere 45 seconds, it was clear the bunch was closing the gap quickly so I soft-pedalled. When they caught us I hid in the middle of the peloton ashamed with my futile attack and hoping the attacks stop for a little while so I could get my breath back.

I was lucky because nothing really happened from there. A few pushes, Tom tried again, but the peloton kept together until the last laps.

I am convinced the trick on this track is to be well positioned in the last two laps. Fourth or fifth wheel, towards the centre/right side of the track.

And there I was. And the final push after the bell felt manageable. I was fourth in the final straight and I was happy with it.

Unfortunately I saw a TCC rider passing me on the line on my right. He was Rob, the TCC rider that got our sprint for the twenty-something position last week in Longcross.

Bitter sweet feeling. Happy because I placed again in a race and circuit that I honestly think does not suit me but, again, with the feeling that I could have done better both sprinting and defending the 4th position.

Next thing I have to try when I race is to imagine the line 20 meters further than where it really is. That should help me first to avoid jumping to early and second to easing too early.

To add to this feeling Strava Whore 4.0 congratulated me and said "you are a good wheel to follow". I took it as a compliment but couldn't help but thinking "if I'm a good wheel to follow that means I'm probably too predictable. I have to change that as well"

Good learning day.

The race in Strava (btw Strava says today I did my PR in the last 200m but that is not relevant because today was not as windy as the other occasions I raced in Preston Park)

Jasmijn's comment on her today's great win gave me a clue of what I might have been doing wrong. "I went early for the 'sprint' but forgot to get out of the saddle...[still she took the win]". I just realized that this feeling of "I could have done more" is because I'm not getting out of the saddle which, I think, leads me to feel it was not really a sprint. Sprint practice this week to test this theory :-)

Take care
Javier Arias González

My second race at Longcross

The alarm went off at 6:30 am. I jumped out of bed as shouting "Gooooood mooorning Vietnam!!!!"

As crazy as it sounds I was happy to be up. I was looking forward for today's race. Looking at my reflection in the mirror and acting as a rock start I said "The name of this song is wait and win, wait and win". After last week's race I had it clear. I wanted to win and being as windy as last Saturday I knew the key was waiting.

7:30 and no one shows up at Bushy park's gate. I know Phil is driving, but where are Harry and Tom?

Waited 5 minutes and decided to go. I didn't know the route but I'm a sighted man I had the route in my gps. Problem was Strava didn't know about the floods and very soon I found myself in a closed road.

What could I have done? I didn't know any other route to Longcross so decided to go ahead. When it was not safe to ride, I dismounted and just walked. Since walking on water is not in my magic tricks pocket I ended up with water up to my knees. Luckily no one was there to see that crazy cyclist (not in Kingston Wheeler jersey).

Riding to Longcross I was imagining myself sprinting for the win. Or as part of a break away of three riders (I don't know why three) working all together. Or sprinting up the "hills" in the last lap and opening a gap with the bunch. I don't know how I found myself quoting "I love the smell of Napalm in the morning... Smells like victory". It is amazing what imagination can do because I looked at my heart rate and saw it in 150 which was pretty high for the pace I has riding on. I even got scared of getting tired just using my imagination so forced myself to think about something non-cycling/racing. Something more boring obviously.

How can I be so crazy? I don't know but luckily I'm not dangerous.

It was a (very) windy morning. So by the time I arrived Loncross my clothes were dry. My feet not completely dry but still ok.

Sign in, get ready, say hello to fellow wheelers, some minutes warming up and there I went first line waiting for the go.

What a silly thing to do!! The gave us some advices, and then they did the same with the women that were starting their race just behind us; and all the time I was there in first line with the wind blowing all for me. Freezing!! Lesson learned for next time. You can start the race from the second or third line.

The race started and all went as planned. I hidden in the bunch with an eye on the front to make sure I don't miss any break.

Short after we crossed the line for second time, just after the first left turn, when the wind eased a bit, I saw the rider two places ahead of me moving right and left too unexpectedly and I knew he was going to fall and that we were all going to fall with him. Not that being aware helped me to prepare for it because everything happened just too fast. The guy fell, the guy behind him rolled over him and fell and I rolled over them both and also fell.

It was a pretty hard fall. I flew over my handle bar. It would have been cool if I shouted "To the infinity and beyond..." but I'm afraid I said nothing. I guess in this cases the normal is to land on your face or collarbone but I don't know how I landed on the top of my head. I'm in the market for a new helmet...

Woke up. Quick check on myself and I felt ok; a pain in the back but nothing serious. There were at least three more guys down and one of them was moaning. Very calmly I look for my bike, unhooked it from two other bikes, checked it, and since it looked ok, I jumped on it and pedalled away. Not a single thought for the guys that were down. I know it doesn't speak very well of me but that was the fact. No excuses.

First thought was how far is the bunch. Well it was very far away because I couldn't see it. Anyway I pushed it as hard as I could.

I was stopped about 35 seconds. Interesting to see how my heart rate raised after the fall

I realized the two bottle cages were broken. The one on the saddle tube was not a problem because it was empty but the one in the front tube was rubbing against my left leg so I had to force it back to its position. The bottle didn't look very safe there but that was as good as it could be. I'm in the market for two bottle cages...

Very soon I saw a wheeler ahead of me. I'm not sure about his name (Will?) but when I was passing him we joined forces. Very quickly we started to pass riders and they were joining us. RichardD was the third wheeler in this small peloton.

We kind of worked well all together. It was very clear that we were riders at different levels and not everyone knew how to ride in a paceline but I think everyone tried their best. I was super excited and that translated on me cheering my companions and taking turns as soon as I felt I was recovery and trying to keep them as long as possible. RichardD did great telling me when I was pushing too hard or asking me to move out when I was too tired and still in the front. We were talking to each other and I was having fun. I knew we were not going to catch the main bunch but I was happy trying as hard as I could. We passed a lot of riders and we even lapped the women's race.

With three or four laps to go we caught a TCC rider. A big guy that as soon as he got some air joined in the work. His turns were not very long but he was strong and he also talked to the rest helping to keep some organization in the peloton.

With one to go he took a big push in the home straight and when we crossed the line everyone was clapping as if were had finished. By the club house there were a few riders in the parking. We were not lapped so we stopped thinking we had finished. But the rest of the rider came and told us we still had another lap to go.

There we went. Three more kilometres. When we were back in the finish straight he was pushing hard. I was on his wheel, looked back and we had a big gap with the rest. Moved to position myself parallel to him and we both knew that was going to be a disputed a sprint.

It was a close one but I think he took it. We smiled and congratulated each other.

And the same happened when I saw the rest of the group, specially when I saw RichardD. There is a great camaraderie feeling when you have worked hard with someone.

We joined Tom, Harris and Phil and learnt that Tom was 6th. Great work!!!

I was still euphoric when I arrived to the club house so I took a few minutes to myself and calm down. Ate something and had a relaxed conversation with the rest of the wheelers before we decided it was time to ride back home.

Oh, oh, oh. The moment I started to pedal muscles I didn't know I had were aching. Nothing from the fall though, and that was a good signal.

Looking now at the numbers I found I did today my best power ever for the durations from 1:13:31 to 1:29:22

It was not what I was expecting when I woke up, still very, very happy with today's race.

The race in strava.

Take care
Javier Arias González