SBR Utopia ~~~~ Permanently OPEN!! (Page 55)

Epic day today.  Conditions were fast, but really hot as the normal tradewinds weren't blowing.  Stuck with the lead group till about the point I expected but spent a lot of energy chasing down attacks or spending a little time at the front when I could have simply stayed back in the draft.  Staying up front did help me avoid a crash that split the lead group from about 50 to 30 though.  At mile 98 I was in a group with the top 15, but completely blew up when they attacked a short set of hills.  Mentally and physically I was done.  Did my best to just get home in 26th as those dropped on previous hills caught me up.

I had teammates finish 2nd and 5th, and a training buddy 7th.  So I was happy for them.  Guy who won in a sprint finish is a 18 year old junior national champ that races P/1.  He's been here all of 2 weeks as he's going to the University of Hawaii as a freshman.

Wait, why did this change from quoting Arend to Chris?? 

Dangit, Fred is a bad, bad influence!

Epic, indeed.  Nice race!  Top 15 and in the lead group after nearly a century is awesome.  Are you happy about how you raced (doing work), or do you look back and wish you'd sat in some?  Just curious - great day either way!

Sounds like the freshman will be long enough to cause some havoc.  

RR here

I'm happy with my race.  Placing as high as possible was not my goal for the race.  If it was, I surely would have raced differently.  But in the end, I wasn't going to win, and I wasn't going to be in that final selection.  And with bike racing, I've learned that if you don't win, or are not in the final group, nobody really cares where you finish.  What you do during the race is more impressive to other bike riders.  For example, a friend of mine who is very much top 10 caliber did a ton of work up front making the race hard between miles 40 and 90.  Then he blew up, but was one of those guys who passed me in the final 3 miles.  He ended up finishing something like 21st, but everyone knows what kind of ride he did today.  Nobody really cares about the guys who were sitting in the back most of the day that finished 15th-20th.  There's nothing wrong with that approach, but just saying nobody really cares.  Unlike triathlon where you reap what you sow, and your finishing place/time is a better reflection of your day.

Thanks for your thoughts Marc

Too bad I won't be allowed my bike on the new velodrome - took a look at this link and it's just tells me I would get it wrong trying to test outside.

Best Bike Split question tied to Rolling Resistance.  The default for my bike data was 0.002324, but considering the roads are a bit rough I upped it to 0.003.  That changed the estimate from a 2:46:xx to a 2:48:xx.  Here's what i'm trying to figure out - why the model is saying I'll go faster than I think I will.

I rode the course just over a week ago and finished with an Avg power and NP that matched up to what's in the model, but it took me 3:00:xx.  Now, I had no aero wheels or helmet and I started off the day weighed down like a Sherpa with 4 water bottles + gels.  Race day I expect to have the gels but only 2 bottles, and aero helmet + wheels, tires, etc.  But can I really go 12min faster?? 

When I raced the course in 2012 my moving time was 2:55 (stood on the side of the road for 12min with a mechanical), and my setup is not that much different from then, although I'm a bit lower, and I fell apart in the back half of that race when both quads seized on me so I had to back off in the last 25km. 

I'm not trying to chase a time, since my pace will be governed by target wattage for the race, btu the model is there to predict what maybe possible, so I'm trying to figure out where the 12min difference comes from.  Extra bottles + lack of aero gear adds up to that much time (plus it was a little windy on the test ride day)?

It's obviously taper week... 

Neil, do you have a reference race where you used all of your race gear?  Something that will let you tweak the options in BBS to see what gives you a very close power to time prediction?  What I did was load up the route from Miami and then tweak settings until it spit out a time and power that were very close to the actual time.  Then with those settings, I look at another course.  It has given me pretty close numbers that way.

Good catch Fred - made that change and it took me to 2:54:xx which is more in line with what I would expect.  That said, if you're entering yourself as MOP, maybe I need to consider entering recreational...

I put the rolling resistance back to the default numbers, and it spat out a 2:52:xx - we'll see how close it is (although I need to wait for the power plan from the coach).

Question - I normally run 100psi (I'm around 152lbs at the moment).  I found that outside of the main highway section a lot of the other portions of the course were kind of bumpy, and was thinking of dropping the pressure down to 90-95psi.  Pros/Cons?

Based on my test ride + 2012 race pace, this seems pretty close.

 Are you guys talking about Racing Position under Riding Style in the My Bike Section? That's entirely based on how you're situated on the bike, how aggressive the position is. Not your position in the field. My position early this season would have been Hoods or Drops seeing how I was on the road bike even though I had a 2nd and 3rd overall bike split on it. My tri-bike position should be up in the Advanced or maybe close to Elite. Conrad Stoltz is one of the most powerful riders out there, but would enter Midpack at best from what I've seen of is on-road position.

Cuz I am more quotable......

On the train from DC to NYC, wi fi is faster than the hotel was.   This morning's run included a break in the :30 intervals to walk up the steps of the US Supreme  Court.  Quite impressive, in many ways the seat of US power.   Read (or read some of) the original US Constitution and the Bill of Rights yesterday.   Now that was the highlight of my trip here, despite all the monuments and memorials.....

But hopefully now onto (slightly) cooler and less humid climes  Forecast for SOS race day is sunny and 77.   Better than the 95s and 80+% humidity in DC. Speaking of the race, had a good run month in August with 110 miles, but have not swam or biked since...   last week?   Hard to remember there's been so much travel.  

I am borrowing a local's road bike for SOS, that should be interesting.  Because I left the bike at home I wasn't even thinking and left the flat kit there as well.   Have to buy another in NYC in case.

6min difference based on the bike position between Advanced and MOP for my race/setup.  That's a pretty big difference, so I wonder what they figure you need to do to "earn" that 6min in terms of your position.

So, it' seems like it's a big race weekend for SBR Utopia.  Nicole and Marc in Mont Tremblant for the WC 70.3, Neil is doing Muskoka 70.3 and Chris is doing S.O.S.

Anyone else?  I'm doing a race simulation workout on Saturday for Barrelman in two weeks.

My season is done.  I plan to go for a couple of 2-3 hour rides this weekend, but my main focus will be watching football and drinking beer.  Best of luck to those who are racing!!!