MTB Flyer at Albion Hills

From Jeff re 24hr race at Albion Hills:

It was a good event. I rode well and so did our 4 man team. Winter spinning and road riding put me in decent shape, just a little stiffness this morning.
The race is a relay that starts at 12noon Saturday and the last lap must be started before 12noon Sunday. The idea is to get as many laps in the 24hr period as possible.
The course had a good mix of fast double track, and twisty, rolly, single track, approximately 17km long. No massive climbs but lots of medium ones. I got in 2 good laps on Saturday afternoon (57min and 58min), and was looking forward to the night laps. My turn came up at 11pm, my lights are working great, I feel good, but about 2 minutes into the lap the heavens opened up. The first half of the course was sheltered by the forest camopy, and the ground was absorbing the drops, so that traction was okay, visibility was okay, the real challenge was the last 5km. The soil in the forest is beautiful rich black loam, which, by now, the rain and riders had converted into mush and grease. My bike had the wrong tires for mud, so traction was terrible and going was slow. I got thru, no chrashes and time 1:18 hr. I went straight to a wash station after my lap and hosed about 2 inches of muck off the bike and me!
My teammates decided to sleep thru instead of ride in the muck so we lost a few night laps. I think this was a good choice, we all work for a living, so no sense risking a crash.
The rain stopped shortly after my lap was done, the track firmed up and was in good shape by dawn.
I got one lap Sunday morning (1:04hr), and was ready for another, but it was after 12noon Sunday before the guy before me got back in.
We accomplished our goals, rode as fast as we can, have a good time with some friends and not be last!

Cheers, Jeff

Big Trouble in Little Kitchener - OCUP Report

The clouds cleared by the start of the race and our small group of 101 racers started off. As with many races in this category it started off at a break-neck speed and soon riders were hitting the deck. The S4 and M3 group is definitely a mixed bag of nuts when it comes to group riding in a race.

My goal for today (after Saturday’s 105 km) was to support the Flyers who were out on the road, have a little fun with the first few laps (of the 13) and then hold on for dear life and try not to get lapped. I was training through this one (next goal race is later in the season) and would be back on the hills on Tuesday so I knew I had to stay safe and that I would not have the legs to keep me with the group.

On the second lap I was ferrying Emile up to the front, and Vince (Darkhorse Flyer in disguise), yelled out, “Quentin’s off the front alone!” So I squeezed up the side of the bringing Emile with me to get Quentin a break and to see what we could do. We three crossed the lap/finish line together at that point and I hope someone got a picture of that.

As we started the next lap I decided to go back and see who else I could bring up to the front. Mark looked great and in a good position, so I continued to coast back through the group looking for Vince. By the time I found him, we were both very far off the back and I decided to just go and try and get myself back with the group. This was a tactical error on my part as I had to bury myself for the next 5 laps just to keep the lead pack in sight. I would never get back on.

Another rider and I decided to do some steady work together (screaming fast downhills, taking corners at just about their max and then nearly bursting our legs on the short but tough rollers on the back half of the lap), picking up riders and lapping the women’s race. The women’s leaders decided to hop on our wheels and use our momentum to pick up their pace. NOTE TO OTHER RACERS: IT DOES NOT MATTER IF YOU ARE LAPPING THE WOMEN’S RACE AND THEY ARE DRAFTING OFF YOU. IF YOU COME DOWN THE LINE ANYWHERE NEAR THEM, THE COMMISSARS WILL ASSUME THAT YOU ARE DRAFTING OFF THEM AND WILL CALL YOU BACK. We were left with no choice but to hold back for a couple minutes to let the ladies go do their thing and get out of their way. We had 2 laps to go at that point.

Mark’s group soon came and got us, and were lapped shortly thereafter by the main group. Emile and Quentin were still in the running. Even after the pack when by, it wasn’t a Sunday ride to the coffee shop, and I decided give it a little go up the last roller and start picking up speed for the sprint with no purpose. We crested and soon saw the road strewn with cyclists and bikes and I saw Quentin in the and told him I would be back in a second to get him. We went through the chicane before the straight away, I put all I could into the pedals and 2 riders from another team clung to my wheel and then passed me in the final 100 metres. Lots of fun but Quentin was down. And I guess you know the rest.

Congratulations Emile! You held it together and had a great first race.

Congrats to Jordan K for a great race and getting 3rd. Truly an outstanding racer (he lapped me)! He is in 7th place in the Cadet Men Ocup standings. After KW, I slipped 1 place down to 6th in the Elite 4 category.

Quentin's Report

Hello All,

Well the sister team - Darkhorse Flyers - were up in Kitchener taking on all comers as the 6th ocup was being run. Emile, Paul, Mark and yours truly were outfitted in the distinguished darkhorse colours. Vince also joined us as did Graham Jones who is known to those of us who ride tuesday nights but competes with Sweet Petes.

An interesting course. The start line was about 150m back from the first turn which was a hard left, at which point there was a yellow line rule (if you cross the centre line you are supposedly disqualified, I say supposedly as I saw nobody tossed). This road was a nice screamer that that went for about 700m almost downhill before a small climb and a right turn that took you into a subsidivsion. Top speed here was in the high forties, which made the right turn, a bit tricky but I saw no accidents here. Then it was all down hill will a big sweeper of 700m to the left hitting speeds in the mid to high 50s before a right turn and a tight 250m climb that plateaued then steepened for 100m. Then it was all down hill again moving to a sweeping left, through a "back stretch" that was a "false flat" of about 1km where we averaged speeds in the mid 30s, this then was followed by a gradual but short climb of 250m veering to the left, before we flattened out for the 400-500 meters before we came to an ess turn and then hit the home stretch of 600m to the finishing line. The total loop was about 4.6km and we had to do 14 laps.

The race was done in good weather, overcast and while cool early, was perfect for racing. The group had no material breakaways. On loop four I tried to see what would happen if i broke away and built a 10 second lead on the group, only to be swallowed back up in under a lap. At that point Paul gathered me back in and kept me in the thick of things. Paul and Emile took to the front for a few laps and kept things going steady. For a road race with limited real challenging areas there were a lot of crashes. The ess turn saw a particularly bad one where one female competitor lay prone for about 15 minutes. The etiquette of racing seemed to be thrown out the window by some as riders were blasting away coming off the accident rather than allowing for a steady progression, not using someone's very serious injury as an opportunity to break away.

With the counter bringing down the laps, emile and myself were well positioned in the top 20 riders. It had been a reasonable pace - looking like last year's avg speed of 38km/hr. The final bell rung and the peleton was surging hard down the home stretch, the first turn was dicey as was turn two as the riders started to heat it up. i tried to break into the front five or so as we head into the subdivision and the big sweeper left. I got there and now was able to cruise hitting my max speed of 63. Emile was just behind at this point, we were still in the thick of things.

The last major two step climb out of the subdivision saw a couple of sweet petes guys surge ahead (inlcuding graham) and a waterloo university racer who seemingly still had tons in the tank. This was the positioning through the back stretch through the small climb. Once on the flat again, the group surged and my day ended. The third rider miscalculated the surge, took his wheel into the rider in front of him, went sideways and took out graham, another rider fell, causing a fourth to be ejected into my path. I tried to avoid left and wound up hitting the guys legs, going butt over teakettle, landing on my head again (another new helmet in four weeks) and landing squarely on my left shoulder again!!. The rest of the group finished safely with Emile putting in his first successful race with a solid finish in 18th, just 13 secs behind the leaders with a 38.7km/h avg speed. A fantastic finished considering he had to slow for the bodies strewn across the tarmac! Great job. Mark and I had Not Placed's in the master3 group. Paul showed np in the senior 4 grp.

After xrays of the shoulder back in toronto, there is a hairline fracture, we just dont know if it is today's crash or the last one that is the culprit.

I will nurse this one now for a couple of weeks. I look forward to seeing you all again in the middle of july all decked out in the new BCC gear.

Anyways, a great day save for the bad finish. Thanks to the darkhorse riders for putting on a good show.

Road Bike = Triathlon Bike

In this article, I am focusing on 2 things related to triathlon bike fitting. 1) How "steep" you can get a standard road bike and 2) Front-end positioning.

1) STEEP SEAT TUBE ANGLE

Before

This client came to me with a road bike that was optimized in a triathlon position using a Thomson forward set seat post and a set of Syntace aerobars. The initial angle of the rider's virtual seat tube was 77 degrees (I say virtual because the forward bend of the seatpost significantly changes the position of the seat in relation to the bottom brakcet), about 4 degrees steeper than the traditional road geometry that this bike has. After optimization this rider was at 80 degrees, with a nearly ideal body angles and a better position for creating power in the aerobars. All this on a standard road bike. A steeper angle also meant a higher saddle height (1.5 cm higher than initial), less saddle setback from the bottom bracket (1 cm post vs. 2.5 cm pre-optimization) and more drop in the front-end (1 cm lower).

After

2) FRONT-END

Before

This client was also concerned about discomfort in the shoulders when down in the aerobars. We moved the pads further apart to bring them roughly in line with his knees eliminating shoulder discomfort and at the same time promoting good airflow. Take a look at this picture from John Cobb: http://www.johncobbresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/forearm-smoke-on-trek.jpg. In this side shot you can see the air flowing between the aerobars and exiting along the sides of the rider. Cramping the cockpit by bringing the extension pads very close together may actually restrict airflow and increase turbulance, thus increasing the power required to move through the air. One of the things that I remember John teaching me is that you want to let the wind move by the rider with the least amount of disturbance possible (paraphrasing at best, sorry John). While I don't have access to a wind tunnel up here (and lighting a pile of leaves in front of a fan in a client's living room is probably out of the question), I hope that we have improved the aerodynamics a little bit, on top of addressing the comfort issues.

After

Update June 12, 2008: Due to the smooth clamping surface of the Thomson seatpost the saddle slipped up^, causing some discomfort as the nose was now in the way of this client's "bits". We switched the seatpost out for a better functioning Bontrager Race Lite with 20mm of set back, turned it forward and achieved this client's desired positioning with a level saddle.

XC MTB Flyers in the HEAT

Hey there Flyers,

The 4th O-Cup took place at Kelso this past Sunday on the hottest day so far in 2008 with temperatures floating above +30C.

The course would have been challenging under any weather conditions as the start of the race included a nasty climb up to the top of the ski hill on a very loose gravel fire road. On this particular day it was the hottest section of the course.

My start time was at 11:45 am, so just in time for the mid-day heat to really settle in. I had a nice clean start and had a great Dark Horse cheering squad that helped me move up the pack before that first brutal climb. My first two laps were quite strong and i was very happy, but on my 3rd climb on the ski hill, the heat really began to take it's toll. I had a pretty decent over-the-bars wipeout on a lovely rock garden. Dusted myself off and managed to get back on the bike and finish my lap. Was exhausting, but in the end I am pleased with my results and I am improving every race.

Once again, I was racing in the Master Sport 35-39 men category where I came in 18th with a time for my 3 laps of 1:44:27.01 on the 30km course.

Edgars was also competing, but i don't know what happened to him. I saw him off on his first lap, but lost contact and i don't know what took place on the course for him. I did see he had a DNF, but i can't shed any light on his race story.

Next up for me will be the Epic 8 hour in July as i cannot make it to the O-Cup #5 in London in early July.

-pary

Paul: Edgars made it out okay, after snapping his chain at the start and giving the course a go.

Lone Flyer Gives It A Go At Milford

This weekend's Milford 200 (for the 200th anniversary of the founding of Milford in Prince Edward County) was amazing, with 2 events over 2 days.

Day 1
The first event was a time trial on the rural roads of Prince Edward County. The race was running about 45 minutes behind, making a well-timed warmup quite difficult. Of course, every rider needed to have their bike cheacked for UCI compliance (more on that in another Hello Velo Fit article). Honorary Flyer Jordan Kremblewski was first up with a 10km sprint, coming in 10th in his category. I followed an hour later, set up for the 21 km edition. I watched the person in front of me drop her chain in the starting tent and eat of 10 seconds off her run while she put it back on. No forgiveness in this event. I was up, the count down and I was off! Just about into the tent pole beside me, but I was off.

The roads in the country are rough and the winds were slightly in favour on the way out for the first 3 kilometers. After that the roads got choppier and at 5km, we turn directly into the wind. The minute man behind me passed me shortly after the turn. Push, push, push into the wind and about 2 kilometers later the person who started 2 minutes behind me passed. Strong riders, but I was not dismayed, I have to ride my own race.

At the turn around another rider crashed in front of me, I rounded the pylon and took advantage of the tail wind. This was the only tail wind that I would get, and 5 km of hammering later I was at the turn and back on to some of the roughest road I had ever seen. Think chip seal that was no longer sealed.

With teeth clenched I charged towards the finish line, topping out a 53 km/hr and came in at 34:55 (36.1 kmh average). 4th place (out of 5)

Day 2
The road race started at 8:30 AM the next day and I was grouped together with the Senior 4 and Master 3. The course was a quick 3 laps of 15.8 km, with a few short hills, one big downhill and a gentle uphill at the finish. My goal was to stay at the front, but not off the front and to give the final sprint a go.

First lap was clean and I came across the line in 3rd. Midway through the second lap one of the other leaders rode on to the soft shoulder and wiped out. A few challengers jumped off the front shortly thereafter, but were brought back. The next minute I found myself off the front of the peleton and I thought, "What the heck am I doing?". I decided to coast and allowed the pack to swallow me up and I caught a draft.

Coming into the third and final lap I was in the top five and I decided that I would hang on and give it a go over the final 1.5 km (a quick downhill, a jaunt through downtown Milford and then a right turn towards the final 100 meters and the uphill finish). Having seen the group peform I felt like I could leave them behind if I was well positioned at the end.

At the 3 km point a group of 5 riders sat at the front of the peleton, clogging the course and preventing any rider from getting by unless they crossed the yellow line, a sure fire DQ. With my planned sprint for the finish folied I edged my way through the pack as it split up on the final downhill, pushed through town and sprinted past 4 other riders to take 5th spot in the S4 category at 1h 18' 27. Jordan followed shortly thereafter to capture 3rd in his race. (Final times yet to be published).

p.

The XC Flyers ride again!

Hi Flyers,
this past weekend Edgars and i were out racing in the Canada Cup at Hardwood Hills (which was also O-Cup#3). The course was in decent shape despite the weather, but the roots were definitely very slick in some places. There were some nasty spills (one on Bone Shaker right in front of me...) but both Edgars and i came out unscathed.

Edgars had yet another top twenty finish in his category of Master 30-39 Expert Men. His 4 loops added up to 34.00 Km and he completed them in a total time of 1:49:07.6 for an 18th place finish.

I am happy to say that i also had a top twenty finish in my category of Master 35-39 Sport Men. We had 3 laps and a distance of 25.50 Km which i covered off in a time of 1:36:14.2 for a 17th place finish.

Next up is the O-Cup #4 at Kelso next Sunday.

-pary