UTRider convinced me to join him and Kris at the inaugural Full Throttle midweek race last night. It was an easy decision to skip DMV, as my road bike is at Racer’s being checked for a cause of the speed wobble problem. Good thing I skipped DMV, too, as a couple guys got tangled on the last lap and suffered badly.
At DMV, Steve managed to get 2nd place, behind Chad from Bicycle Center. Sam avoided the carnage for a 3rd place finish in his first attempt on that course. Trying to hang with those guys provides good motivation to train hard and eat right.
As for my race, I figured since it was mostly singletrack that it was important to go out fast and get the hole shot. I did and managed to hold the lead for about half of the first lap. I kept it in the big ring too long, burned up my legs and got passed about halfway up the climb. I never saw the guy again until I crossed the finish line.
The descent was challenging but fun. I saw Bob as I came around one corner. He claimed he was “just resting” but the scrapes and bumps obvious after the race suggested otherwise.
On lap two, I continued to suffer from my overly aggressive start—and from Monday for that matter—and got passed by two more racers. I never lost sight of them but never had the legs to catch back on and had to settle for fourth.
Afterwards, UTRider asked me whether I prefer racing on the road or the MTB. It’s hard to say. On the mountain bike, the guy who pushes the hardest wins. On the road bike, the guy who pushes the least during the race and has the freshest legs at the end usually wins. I guess when the hard effort is rewarded, I prefer the MTB. But last night, I really wanted someplace to hide.
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Good recap and commentary.
ReplyDeleteFrom me you're a quantum leap stronger cyclist. I'm impressed with your endurance and power output. But we're always looking ahead at that next level so I get your drift.
After you got the hole shot I thought you had won for sure so I didn't bother to ask how you did. It's cool seeing the fast people that come out of nowhere for these weekday races. Last year it was some pro snowboarder dude who had never raced a MTB that cleaned our clocks.
ReplyDeleteAndy - Your nemesis Jon Rose did a nice job cleaning our clocks after that other dude moved up to Expert. Seems like he follows you everywhere! :)
ReplyDeleteMark A. has had a steady diet of RMR, DMV and most of the UCA road races to prepare him to kick major arse on the dirt. Basically doing what Dr. X recommended I do in 2007 when I asked him how to get fast. I'm just too chicken to follow his advice effective though it may be.
I would definatly agree with Dr X's training ideas in most cases and especially yours. You already have a better top end than me and you have no problem redlining it from the start. Doing more races would allow you to maintain that better and not blow up. Ken was about as fast as me last year and is tearing it up this year after a full CX season to refine his speed. Crits scare the crap out of me to but I bet if you did a good amount of the cross races this year and got in some cardio over the winter instead of riding the lifts you'd tear me up next year.
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