Tour of Washington County 2012 Kick-Off Criterium (Cat 3/4) Race Report

This whole 'plan' was decided on Tuesday, I drove to DC to stay with my buddy Rob Thursday, and raced Friday through Sunday. Jeff suggested I add in the Kick-Off Crit on Friday because I was making the trip anyway. I was worried that this would take too much out of my legs for the weekend, but he advised me to trust the race to stay together and, if it did, go for the sprint. My drive to DC was miserable. I got stuck in traffic in NYC on midday Thursday for 2 hours, nearly running out of gas so I shut off my AC and was pouring sweat as I got fried in my car. In traffic an 18 wheeler kept rolling backwards as we were on a slight uphill...it very very nearly rolled right into my hood. Thankfully another 18 wheeler saw this and laid on his horn. Just when I had used up all the area of reversing towards the car behind me the driver decided it'd be a good time to put on his brakes. I was freaking out as there was absolutely nothing at all I could do to get out of his way, except back into the vehicle behind me! The drive took a miserable 12 hours (with water/pee breaks and gas). Luckily I brought all my food with me or it would have added even more time.


Arriving to the outskirts of DC at 8:45PM, I picked up Rob at work. We hit the grocery store (Rob has seriously gained some cooking capacity/knowledge since he's been in DC - I was pleased) and got home before 10PM. I had talked to someone through a friend about selling my Trek in DC, so I headed out on the 2 mile drive to sell it quick before eating dinner. I met Sam at his house. As we walked to his apartment - Trek in hand - I realized I locked my keys in my car. I called AAA ASAP. They said 40 minutes, which is reasonable. It took 95 minutes, which is excessively unreasonable. I had to call 3 extra times to figure out what the heck went wrong. This was my first ever bad experience with AAA...excellent timing, now I was going to eat dinner at midnight the night before my biggest ever weekend of bike racing (I am very specific about food/timing around cycling). I sold the bike and had some delicious dinner at Rob's (thanks Rob!!).

Fuel for the fire.

Friday comes along, the race at 6:30PM. I left Rob's at 3P to pick him up at work. DC traffic is hideous even during the day. The race was about 1.5 hours away from his apartment, so with traffic we were expecting a 5PM arrival time. Traffic was far worse and out ETA dropped back to 5:30PM, which was still comfortable for me. Until my car "broke down". Being in traffic and with the heat, my driver's front brake locked up. I didn't notice at first as we were in traffic, but as the traffic subsided it was immediately apparent that something was wrong...I couldn't exceed 25mph. Luckily I pulled over, because when I did the wheel well was smoking - tasty, black smoke. It tasted like brakes (not really, but it was nasty). I looked at the clock - 5:05 - and our ETA - 5:35. Making the race was going to be extremely tight!! Even if the director permitted me checking in after 6PM (registration usually closes at 30min before the race). I called my Dad to see what I should do (get towed to the race, then deal with the car later...or get towed to DC and bag the race). He said that as I had come all this way to race my bike, I should at least see about getting to the race. Basically I needed his OK so if I got Rob and I stranded in Hagerstown, then I could say it wasn't just me blindly wanting to race and nothing else. I called AAA (second time in 24 hours!) - they would be able to reach me for towing at 5:45 at latest. Uh oh...that means getting to the race at 6:15 - enough time to make it to the start line without a warm up (I was planning on warming up in the race anyway to save for the weekend). While on the phone with AAA I was talking to Rob - I told him we were likely bagging the race and just going to DC as there were no shops near Hagerstown that were open even after 6PM. I considered getting a taxi from the highway to the race...but then my car, with $$$$ of bikes was sitting on the side of the road. While on the phone with AAA I told them to cancel the call to Hagerstown and just bring me back to DC, I had officially mentally bailed 100% on the race, which was pretty crappy...there was just no way I was going to make it. Now, if I'm going into this much stupid detail about a race I didn't race that'd be weird, right? Right after I edited the AAA call to go to DC I turned on the car and prayed to whatever gods of cycling may or may not exist. I shifted into Drive and released the brake. The brake was not rubbing!! It had cooled off enough! I told AAA to cancel the entire call and that they would hopefully not be hearing back from me in 5 minutes. Rob asked "How are you going to use your brakes?". I told him I wasn't. Haha! I was going to use the E-Brake foot pedal and hold the Brake release lever to slow the car. Our ETA to the race was now 5:50. It was going to be tight even without traffic anymore. I kept distance from other cars and drove with the most efficiency I have ever in my life!


We made it to Hagerstown at 5:48. I ran to registration, got my bib, and ran back to the car. I changed up while Rob mixed up my bike racing cocktails, and was on my bike a little after 6:00. I ditched the idea of throwing on the GoPRO that Jamie @ GBS lent me...I needed to focus on the task and get my head into the race. I usually am emotionally prepared to race many hours before a race. Today, I had bagged the race just over 1 hour before the start time...and now 20 minutes before the race I had finally gotten into my place of Zen - saddled up on Slice of Life.


The crit course was PACKED! It was an event that was more populated than the Clam Fest here in Maine. People were cheering, out on restaurant patios, etc - it was going to be a fun race. Too bad I wasn't ready and had the stage race on my mind. Two laps of noodling around the course and m head was in it. I was ecstatic to be here and the car troubles and midnight dinner last night were a thing of an entirely different existence. I was in Hagerstown to race; nothing more, nothing less. I had a quick chat with Rob during my warm up as I traded out a half-empty bottle and kept 2 full bottles on the rig (gotta keep in the fluid for the weekend). One sprint on the finishing straightaway and a 2 minute steady effort and I was primed! We waited 50m from the start/finish for some weird reason. Then someone called my name to see if I was present...not sure why though. Then they started announcing riders' names. I realized I was getting a call up, woohoo! The top 12 ranked riders were called up, I think I was 8th or so out of ~100...not bad, but I definitely didn't come here to get 8th place!

0.8mi/1.3K. Races clockwise.
4 Right turns and the left-hand chicane into a quick steep pitch. Finish is just slightly uphill even though it says flat.

The race went off, the tempo was much faster than I expected as I had heard that New England crit racing outdoes most of the country. My first experience was to the contrary...we were hauling and there were pretty regular attacks. My plan was to sit in and let it stay together. I did my very best to not cover any moves, but when 4 guys started to get distance my instincts took over. I jumped the gap. We held only a lap or two. It was almost definitely going to stay together. "Good" I thought "Save it for the sprint". All was well until some guy went hard off the front at 8 to go. I took a short pull in the process to not disrupt the pack's chase. He had a good gap and not much was happening. Finally some people got anxious and it shrunk. We were Gruppo Compacto at 3 to go...yesssss it was playing out just as Jeff had hoped for me in order to save my legs for the weekend. Although the base effort was much higher than expected. 2 to go. On the last 2 corners a couple guys jump. I'm now second wheel and they're gaining. No choice but to close. With less than a mile to go I was going to blow my saved energy. I reeled it in by the start line and it was clear it'd be a tight group finish. On the back stretch I was 4th wheel, one guy paced it for about the past half lap and started to lag - reasonably so. I stayed alert and kept access to respond to anything at all, knowing a move had to happen. My legs and lungs were close to red-lined from staying up front after pulling back the attack only a minute before. It was the classic way Jeff describes a crit finish: if your lungs should feel like they're going to bleed, then you're in the right position...stay calm, it's supposed to feel like that. At this point you have two choices: give in to the intensity, burn, and give in to the idea that you can't sprint off of fiery legs and burning lungs...or trust in your fitness, training, and capabilities.


I heard a click 10-15 feet off my back to the right (we were lined up on the left side for the upcoming right turn in 300m). Before looking I knew it was a serious acceleration, so before looking for it I jumped, accelerating for a few seconds. I looked right and sure enough one guy (Luis) was blazing up the right side. Another acceleration and I was nearly on his wheel. Now it was seriously burning. If he laid down much more wattage I would be using my final sprint just to hold his wheel. The turn came and we hit it crazy fast, but smooth. The guys stood out of the turn and sprinted. Only one thing was clear at this point: hold that damn wheel and it's your express ticket to a win...nobody was going to be making moves past us before the final 90 degree turn to the 150m finish. There's only one thing I like more than a 400m drag race, and this was it: I knew everyone was going insanely deep just to be in it for the finish. Which meant sprinting off burning legs and out of breath. As we came into the turn (which had brick through the corner) my wheel bounced around - as expected - but held okay. Luis had a good 5-10m on me due to a better corner. I hammered, when you get a perfect gear into a sprint it is a beautiful thing...in this case it was also known as invincibility. Sometimes you don't even know when you're 1 inch from the line, other times you are pretty damn sure over 100m away. This was of the latter type. I was already gaining on Luis fast and had no concern of those behind me - it was up to me and the white line to settle this battle. I finished strong, accelerating or maintaining all the way through the line. With closing the gap just before the final lap and the way Luis attacked it was the most I've ever been cooked at the end of a crit. It was completely worth it.


It was apparently a big deal winning this race. The townspeople and the crowed were both awesome - totally into the race, and surprisingly excited to have been there! A couple people came up to me a little later and congratulated me. One guy asked if I had a pen, I said 'sorry I do not I was just in the bike race' and asked him why. He said for an autograph. I laughed and said "you're kidding me, right?". He was dead serious. He never did get a pen, luckily for him as he would've had some useless scribbles on his hat!


The podium presentation was awesome. They gave me a bottle of champagne to pop on the podium. The guy who ended up in second asked if the director had just given alcohol to a minor; I assured him that I was in fact 23 (both real age and racing age :p haha).

Cat 3/4 Podium. Perfectly timed picture by Rob!

This race was great all around. I finally raced somewhat "smart" for a crit and didn't blow myself up during the race. It's amazing how good of a finish you can have if you don't waste energy foolishly or uselessly. The awareness and preparedness I had for the final attack on the last half lap while red-lined definitely shows that I am gaining skills mentally when racing. All-around I'm very pleased about the race. And, don't worry, I saved the Champagne bottle! It's now hanging out next to the Witches' Cup Criterium trophy from 2011 (my very similar big win last summer).

Game On

Be weary to take this as some of that New Year's resolution stuff. When I say "Game On", I mean it. The only asterisk here is that I will be almost 100% coaching myself for the time being...I am utilizing knowledge I've gained in training but also from some very intelligent people (read: Doug Welling) and friends who have decades of cycling under their belts. However, dictating my own workouts has fared extremely well in the past. I have been in a mostly constant state of improvement since I quit varsity Track/XC at Rochester in 2010. I had an excellent coach, Doug Welling as I have mentioned on many accounts, who prepped me unbelievably well for the PVC Double Loop - where I was planning on racking in a couple wins, some loot, and a great day with my teammate on Base-36 Cycling/Gorham Bike & Ski Race Team. I had to focus on just training alone once I broke my collarbone, and having a coach was not feasible at that time. But financially and situationally right now, dictating my own schedule is the best option at the moment. No telling what happens in the coming months though...

I know I will be able to continue to make big gains, because with simply training in an unstructured fashion with a broken collarbone I've gone from my FTP being in the mid-290W's when peaking for a race in November...to 301W on 12/15, and over 310W on Friday. The only "workouts" I have done cycling were those all out efforts and some technique work. Enough talking about the past.

My overall goals are to improve as quickly and effectively as I can in the next few months to be prepared to get a super early season upgrade to Category 3, and then come into The Tour of the Battenkill ("America's toughest 1-day race") in good form for such an early race. The big thing I'm awaiting is getting my SRM sent out and returned from Colorado so I have a fresh battery and wonderfully accurate data, until then I will likely do quality work on a CompuTrainer.

What I plan to build into over the next month (from pretty intent to rather strict) is as follows:

1. Exercise with a Purpose: Anyone who is not in a top tier of athletics will make noticeable gains from maintaining a good quantity of exercise. (Note: I gained about 6% on my FTP while doing almost all 'easy miles' with a broken collarbone...in about 1 month since the first 2 weeks of my fracture I was quite useless athletically).
   Bottom Line: So, here is the critical point in improving effectively. I'm working on building a structured repertoire of workouts that I will essentially be testing on myself "in the field". This isn't purely physically stimulating, it's exciting to make something and test it yourself, it's both sides of learning and benefiting from your own knowledge. Some of the stuff I am bouncing off and having friends try out as well.
2. Nutrition: I have a really good grasp on nutrition in general. The only things I can put good work into is reducing fat intake slightly to keep total of my calories from fat under 25% (during high volume base training, you can definitely put in over 30% calories from fat...but when working on weight loss - cut some, not a lot, of fat). Therefore I'm aiming for about 20% calories from fat. Once real workouts and strength training are back on (pending how the clavicle feels) I'm going to need to increase protein intake.
   From a 2 week period where I logged everything I ate and was pretty intent on training/eating for best results (not necessarily weight loss as it was mid-peak season), here's the data:
   Looking back - I'm pretty darn pleased: 57% Carbs, 18% Protein, 25% Fat. Quite well for that time of season.
   BL: Eliminate meats high in fat, increase micronutrients, and eat enough early in the day (night loading calories is a classic flaw of mine). And ditch the alcohol, aside from a drink or two per week - and only the good stuff!
3. Weight: to quote a Bible of Running (Once a Runner. If you haven't read it, go do it. Now. This post is of much less value of your time. Even if you don't like running.): "Gaunt is Beautiful". It is also a classic line by the Men of the URXC team, and seen on many t-shirts. But in realistic terms, weight is one of the ultimate maximization problems known to athletes...especially those who utilize numbers such as "watts per kilogram". All athletes who are serious (and almost any athlete at all) wants to lose weight. And almost all of these people will benefit from at least some weight loss (the rarities are those who naturally have excessively low body fat %age, are already at their optimum - ususally a professional, or people who need gains in muscle mass). I am none of these, and if anything - the opposite. I am naturally built strong, stocky, and the professional thing is clear haha. I could benefit from trimming down fat and losing some (but not a lot) upper body mass.
   BL: Lose weight steadily, and not too much. Maintain enough caloric intake to not sacrifice recovery from exercise.
   I'm not afraid to talk numbers: today I weighed in at 164.0lb at home. I plan to be under 150lb fairly (reasonably though!) soon. My current FTP is around 310W and gave me an estimated power to weight ratio @ FTP of 4.29 W/kg, which (according to cycling charts) matches up to the lower end of Category 2 cyclists. Now I just have to prove it where it counts, which is the only place it truly matters.
4. Core/Lifting: I need to kick these into gear once my shoulder feels the situation is viable.
   BL: Get after it. I know what to do, just doing it is the issue. The only category in which my motivation doesn't get me all jacked up to do it. Once I get in the groove it will move along better.

Other things I want to work on are more life related and also quite important:

1. Reading: I've never been much of a person who is into reading, but I've gone through phases. It's something I enjoy but don't put all that much time into because I'm bad at remaining still.
2. Learn Organic Chemistry: It's something I never took in college and always wanted to. Had I overloaded at the right time(s) I could have taken it without sacrificing too much. But being on a varsity team and overloading wasn't a pleasing thought. Could I have done it? Sure, but not at the sacrifice at enjoying myself. And I like the challenge of learning something thought to be so "difficult" on my own. It's exciting, kind of like building cycling workouts from scratch and seeing how they pan out. (Note: If anyone has a spare Organic Chem textbook...let me know! It'd be a massive help :p)
3. Sleep/Schedule: I will be working (hopefully full-time) in the near future...so I plan to get on a normal sleep schedule. With the training volume I plan to sustain, 5AM may become a relatively normal wake-up time. And with 14+ hours per week training alone, I like 8 hours...add work on top of that, and I'll have to be very efficient with my time scheduling. Bring on the challenge.
4. Pick Up a Hobby: Not sure where to go with this. But it will be a nice, pleasant time-filler.

Today it all begins: Nothing changes, but the focus is different...and thus everything is different, because mentality is everything (almost, haha). Go ahead and read the intro to Jack Daniel's Running Formula, it sums up athletic capacity quite well...and it applies to every aspect of life that has limiting factors and situational benefits.

I leave you with a quote from a phenomenal athlete: Mirinda Carfrae, 2010 Ironman World Champion, 2009 & 2011 Runner-up, 2005 ITU Long Course World Champion. And she's the fastest female Ironman runner out there. She's smart, strong, and whose bite rivals the level of Ali's bark. This quote is from an interview around the time of Ironman Kona 2011.

"You have to be willing to hurt to that next level. Yeah, there are people that go out there and say, you know, 'I'm just gonna go and do my best'. I think that those athletes are not ready to put everything on the line because they're scared; those athletes never win."