Velochimp: Astrochimp on Cycling

(pic from http://www.buffalophotocd.com/)

The Ascension Crit in North Tonowanda, NY was my latest escapade. Two consecutive weekends of racing in criteriums brought about similar results, all not great. I have to figure out how to do this crit thing. The biggest problem I have is the constant accelerations which wear me down after a while. The .6 mile four coner rectangular circuit was a nice course. The corners were fun, some of the the road conditions weren’t ideal, but it was manageable. The Buffalo Bicycling club put on a great event overall. I was even able to bring the wife and baby to the race followed up by a trip to Niagara Falls.

I was able to sign up for two censecutive races since I arrived in plenty of time for the 3pm start of the Masters Men 35+. I figured I would ride, get blown away and be warmed up enough for the next race. At the start the commentator read off the names of some of the competitors. There were a few guys that would race in the Cat 1/2/3 race later on including Todd Scheske who has been racing with the pros in events allover the Northeast. My name was mentioned when the announcer rattled off the names of the Colavita team. I was thinking there was an issue with my registration, but it was just recongnition, for what I don’t know. Woody Woodford and Rob Walters (winner of the Concrete Crit a week before) were my teammates in this race.

The race started much easier than normal the pace was manageable for a few laps. Woody was telling me how much slower this race was compared to the Men’s 45+ which was averaging over 30 mph. With each lap I tried to get into a good position and stay in the pack keeping up with the accelerations. I would lose spots in some coners, but make it up on others. Eventually, I found myself off the back and time trialing to get back.

The next race was the Men’s 4/5 and it was a huge field of 52 riders. The most popular category looked to have more Cat 4s than 5s, but that did not matter. Some trouble before the start as I had to turn my number around. For each race they required that you have a different number. My wife put my number on in between races, but wasn’t paying attention to the positioning. Luckily another racer from Rochester’s CCY team had the same problem so we helped each other out. Whew, much better than having to take my jersey off and do it myself.

Eventually the race started, but it was a bit more spirited than the 35+. The pace was still manageable, but the accelarations out of the corners were causing me problems again. This time I could find a good gear coming out of the corners. I’d bring it down to the 12 or 11 on the straight and be in a good spot, but coming out of the corner, the gear was too high, so I had to shift down, but by that time I lost some momentum and a few places.

I stuck in the pack for a few laps before I was shot out the back. Ouch it hurt, but I was almost able to catch back on. I settled into a nice pace and was flying through the start finish. The result was frustrating but John Compton my teammate in the 4/5 race did place 4th and featured at the front throughout the race. Sorry I couldn’t be much help John.

Overall, I did get some more crit experience, so I know what to work on next. I am going to do more intervals and in the winter I will concentrate on building more snap in my legs. This will be done with more weight lifiting and spinning classes. For my build I should be a great sprinter. Trouble is I only have a few matches to burn. With my weight each sprint requires that many more watts. I know, too many excuses.

The Abs Diet
I’ve been trimming down well with the abs diet. My belly is shrinking and I have been getting more compliments. On today’s club ride I was able to power up many of the short hills and mix it up with the fast guys. The wieght has been coming off, but slowly. Conventional wisdom says that while you are in a full racing season that it is hard to lose weight. I can certainly attest to that since the scale has not gone down as quickly as I hoped, but my body is looking and feeling much trimmer. From starting at between 226/228 I am down to 219/220 at this point.

Watch for a video fo the Ascension Crit in the next day or two.