SBR Utopia Season II - OPEN (Page 90)

The strategies used in road racing are completely foreign to me, but have become somewhat intriguing in the recent past.  What do you do about making sure that specific person is not tagging along for a free ride? 

And for those of us who are small, how do you maximize your free ride and minimize the amount of time you are exposed?

One thing I do on group rides during a competitive portion (so, I don't do this unless we're getting after each other rather than working together - which is usually agreed to beforehand, but sometimes crops up out of natural competition) that bugs the heck out of some of the other riders (in a good way) is stay SUPER aero when I'm pulling.  Down in the drops or flat-forearmed over the hoods and as small a body profile (low back) to wind as possible.

I had one bigger guy grousing that it was hard to stay with me as I left no draft for him (and that he was giving too much benefit to the rest of us by being a "diesel").    Not sure the approach ports to a full on race, but it helped de-starch a few of the springier legs in the group before we got to the hills, and certainly gave us something to chat about after. 

Probably just good form for most roadies would get them there, so this is likely just the way they normally ride (I'm too tri focused these days) - but I know it made a difference for me compared to a more upright position during my pulls.  On the rides where we're working together, of course, I ride in the position that lets me best hammer and pull others along (as do they). 

I'd also like to know, other than trying to drop someone on a break, how you avoid having a particular person behind you if you're working in a pace line.  Seems it'd be hard?

Well, of the 4 of us yesterday there was one that I would certainly describe as a diesel.  He was about my size and could hammer out the watts when at the front.  I deliberately put myself behind him to get some sort of draft.  It would certainly be difficult to control who ends up behind you - especially in a small group.  If you were in a bigger group that was acting more like a peloton rather than a paceline I guess you could influence it to some degree?

If you were already behind the person the optimal person, then yes, it would be difficult to control who goes behind you.  But other than that, you really just have to fight for the position you want.

I made one huge mistake in a team time trial once.  I was the weakest link on the team (we needed to finish 3 out of 4) and after the turn around I was being put in the red zone.  I was in the optimal position behind the tallest rider (around 6 feet) but I felt I needed to stay off the front for one rotation to catch my breath.  So I stayed in the back, but for some reason (I wasn't thinking), I moved back into position behind our smallest rider (he's about 5'3" and 110 pounds), but also the strongest rider.  Because it was almost right after the turnaround he decided to put the hammer down to pick the pace back up and it was pretty much game over for me.  I had to basically gut myself just to stay in his draft (that didn't exist) and once he pulled off the front, I pulled off immediately after and within 20 seconds they were out of sight.

That was a huge lesson for me in how important it is to pay attention to your position.  And if you are aware of someone who might be in the wrong position...that may be the time to jack up the pace and see if you can drop him. 

Mark, way to tough it out.

Crossing this race off my list 

Can I get advice on two questions?

1.  The new bike has 105.  I was originally going to swap out the DA front and rear derailleurs and the rival compact crank I have, and then sell the Planet X.   But this is going to cost probably $150-200, and the more I think about it, the more I am inclined just to sell the planet x with the DA derailleurs

As for the crank, my next race is Miami, so I am leaving the std crank on it, and will swap over the ultegra compact I have on my roadie for wildflower next year etc. 

I was originally hesitatnt to sell the DA, since i had it, why not keep it, blah blah, but the cost of swapping everythnig over is the same as a rear derailleur on ebay.  thoughts on doing this?

2.  Pricing - Planet X stealth is $1700 with Rival new.  What is a good price range with a PX with a mix of Rival and DA, two seasons old, stock wheels?  $1200?   I always have a hard time setting prices

Chris...my thoughts.

1.  If the cost includes recabling your PX, along with new bar tape, then it may be worth it to pay for it...or maybe get a friend to help you do it for a little cheaper.  This way you get to keep your DA stuff and when you sell the PX you can advertise it as recabled, new tape, new derailleurs, and just tuned.  If the price only includes part swap, then that's a little steep and I would probably just do it myself.  It's really not that hard to remove and replace derailleurs.  The hardest part is lining up the FD properly to the chainrings...which isn't "that" hard.

2.  For pricing, I'd say $1200 is the high end.  Certainly not outrageous, but anticipate some low ball offers in the $800 range (I would guess $800 would sell quickly).  It just depends who is looking.  At that size, there may not be a lot available in the used market (or discounted brand new) so that may be to your advantage.  

That's some serious climbing.  Almost double what they were advertising?

Link?  (I don't know how to find you - sorry for the FNG request, but I would love to see that course!)

Matt

Yeah, they had said like 4,200 ft before. Noticed that they now have ~6,500 listed for next year. Chattannooga also went from 2,100 up to 3,400.

Same with Canada, advertised at 4200, reality was 6300-ish.  Although they have not changed the official elevation on the Canada page.

Rode the TM02 on the trainer this morning, getting things dialed in, think I am going to be happy.

Also A-B'd the powertap with the computrainer for the first time, although not sure I did it right.   The PT readings were consistently 10 to even 40 W below the CT readings, but I was using the CT in erg mode so maybe it's not a fiar comparison?   Effort certainly felt more in line with what the CT was telling me, based on my outside rides with the PT.  

Also put on the Adamo Attack, barely rideable on my old frame, but pretty nice on the new one.  Geometry allows it to be moved further forward, allowing me to ride on the sweet spot.  Will also try out the sitero I have, but BMC's saddle attachment is a little goofy and need to buy a certain wrench to access the bolt.

By the way, the power to speed ratio for that bike course is decidedly abnormal!

It drives me nuts that manufactures seem unable (or don't care enough to) design a simple way to make small adjustments to saddles.  My P3 is decent but our two Cervelo road bikes and Tab's Slice are a royal pain in the backside to do.

The spin up to 25 mph?   yes.   Also calibrated the PT before the ride

Yes.  They were on occasion close, i.e. within 5W, but I was doing intervals at 290 and 300 on the CT this morning, and the PM was bottoming out at 250 and going only as high as 280 or so

On a side note...I was able to tighten some of the bolts on my Quarq spider last week(some were much less than 10 nm).  First ride had a big swing in offset (about 120), but yesterday's ride only went from -393 to -410.