Training Log Archive: arg

Great means by which to start the day. Spun my legs out on the hills, got out of the saddle in heavier gears. Lots of traffic northbound on the TCH on the way back into Victoria: was backed up from Goldstream to Millstream. Saturday morning commute for holiday seekers.

Mt Work

Home to Switchbridge to meet with tonights racers, then to Caleb Pike

Caleb Pike Crit. A race marred with unpleasant incidents, including a deer that just about took out the lead pack and a junior going down hard on the last lap giving himself a fx'd clavicle and leaving a lot of skin on the pavement, donated by right elbow; his helmet was a mess and it worked like it should have.

Warm and sunny - went through a bottle of water on the ride out to the race site, even at a leisurely pace and the only other bottle was done during the race, which led to a thirsty ride home.

This was the last crit of the year and there was possibility of some place movement for 2nd and 3rd so some attacks would be laid down. I was't in any contention for placing in the overall standings, but I entertained the notion I might be able to pick up a few points in the top ten, if and only if I positioned myself properly in the last lap.

We had a casual first lap, then the race began. I stayed mid pack mostly, but would drift between the mid and front with the occasional pull.

I wasn't comfortable in the corners for about 60% of the time as lines were not being held and lots of braking into corners - not smooth but almost panicky braking which really disrupts the flow of the pack and creates a whiplash effect for the back end. I was forced outside 4 or 5 times by riders not holding their lines and I was thankful I didn't have to avoid curbs, but only traffic cones. Lots of vocalizing during the race to 'encourage' riders to either hold their line, or get to the back of the pack.

Deer came on course a couple of times (or maybe it was just one deer intent on creating race disruption) in a downhill section where we were gaining spped of 75+ and this caused anxiety in the pack for the first instance where the deer looked to be pondering at the side of the road whether he/she should cross as we were riding past, and then a few laps later, it did make the decision to mosey to the other side just after the lead rider went by who was on an attack for a preem and had a gap ahead of the pack. I was maybe 8 back from the front tucked in single file when the chaos started. Bikes scattered and wheels locked, burnt rubber, riders skidding everywhere not wanting to hit the deer, other riders or go down or off the road. Everyone managed to stay upright but the momentum was lost and we called a neutral lap.

All was fine until the last lap. We had built up a lot of speed as the second to last lap was a preem and as no one wanted to be left out, we all sprinted to keep our place in the pack as we entered the bell lap. I positioned myself well in the last 90 degree turn and started to accelerate ahead of a few riders. There is a slight downhill on this fairly straight portion and the pack was starting to punch foward as riders wanted to be in postion into the swooping right hand turn down the pitch to hit the uphill finish sprint - usually the plan is to sit back behind the lead out who is max'd out in cadence and taking the brunt of the pull, and then sling shot past to the finish. We were about 200 m from the right hand turn and I was sprinting into position, looking to be about 5 back at the sprint, when one of the juniors ahead of me went down hard to the right and literally disappeared off the shoulder and into the brush/trees. I had riders to my right and behind me and there was no way I could relax my pace or else I'd cause a collision with those behind me, so put in a full out sprint to get ahead and swing left to stop and head back to the downed rider. It didn't seem like anyone else stopped and I was sure there was going to be some ugly injury.

As it turned out, the front wheel of the rider had hit a rock kicked out from the right shoulder of the road by a rider ahead that tried to gain position on the inside by going off the pavement and onto the dirt. The half baseball sized rock was struck by the front wheel and this threw the rider down and to his right. He slid on his right shoulder/head and right elbow off the shoulder of the road and into the brush where he miraculously missed trees, rocks and other large stationary objects. He was sitting up, some what alert and pumped full of adrenaline. A modifed rapid body survey later and some GCS review indicated he was ok. By this time we had some other folks come by, and a van with a medical kit was enroute. His right elbow had quite the road rash and there was a very ugly wound on the lateral epicondyle where elbow and road met. He had originally said he right arm/shoulder felt ok and gave me a half hearted attempt at lifting his arm as he wanted to ride to the finish line (his bike was suprisingly unscathed but for handle bar and tape). So upon further exam, there was evidence of a fx/dislocation at the AC joint. We got him packaged up, and off to emerg.

So, no points for me but I did eventually cross the finish line.

C • Your Primary Survey is showing. 3

Caleb Pike to Home

Warm up - ride from home to Windsor Park, then 30 minutes of warm up.

OB Crit for Cops for Cancer.

Great day to be out on a bike and an even better day to race a local crit.

Raced the A group, noting a few of my friends in the A group dropped down into the B's --- slackers!

Fast pace from the start. I hung out in the back 1/3 for the first few laps, then jumped into the top half to get out of the caboose shenanigans. I led a couple of laps and then slid back a few spots to catch my breath. All was well until a rider two up from me went down in a corner when his pedal hit the pavement...he slid out and the rider behind the falling racer and I braked hard cuz we were going to hit him. I managed to swerve but had to jump a curb then a garden perimeter rock. The front wheel hit the top bit of the curb and I thought it was going to explode but it stayed intact.

I didn't go down, the bike seemed to be ok after a quick spin of the front wheel to check for cracks etc and I could rejoin the race. I managed to extricate myself from the award winning Oak Bay garden without trampling any flowers, under the watchful and truly evil eye of the home owner.

By this time the pack was long gone and I was about 25 secs back and losing more time as I tried to bridge. The other rider that missed the downed rider was ahead of me by about 15 secs as he didn't go into the garden and kept his momentum up. He was hauling derriere as well to try to catch the pack. It was worthwhile to do so, as the pack had not fractured at this point. I managed to pull up to him after a couple of laps and let him know he could grab my wheel and we could work together to catch the pack, however, he was baked by this point, so I was on my own.

I did another bunch of laps head down, pushing a big gear and trying to catch, but there were a bunch of attacks and there were preems as well, which kept the pack pace up there and out of my reach. There were a few riders pulling off because of the pace, but there was no way I was going to quit. So....as I watched my HR red line and my speed drop, I decided to get lapped and then rejoin knowing that I could not be in contention (which is unusual for this type of race as there was no neutral lap due to the crash and there was no opportunity, i.e. freebie lap (due to flats/mechanicals and/or crashes) to get back into it and be back in contention).

I got back on and kept at the rear, not wanting to interfere with the race leaders (as per instructions at the start) so I pulled a few of the stragglers when they were being dropped on corners so they could bridge the gap etc.

And that's my race.

Props to the organizers as the C, B and kids races went off without a hitch, as well as the fixies category.

Addendum: just in case my loyal readership felt I was callous and without regard for my fallen comrade, I did indeed check on his okay-ness prior to launching back on course: he survived with road rash and torn shorts.

C • Actually 2

Cool down and ride home

Home to BC Ferries via Pat Bay Hwy, then return via Sidney and the usual.

My goal today was to keep my HR at about 140 and not get any higher as I'm racing tomorrow.

Waterfront = relaxed pace. Sprinted the hills and coasted on the flats





Towards the end of my ride I was stung by a wasp on my neck, just by my adams apple - didn't feel like much and I didn't relate it to a wasp sting at the time, more like a whisker being snagged in a zipper. Now, ten minutes after ending my ride, I'm starting to get a reaction. Buh!

Nice ride with some tempo: Ross-Durrance

Lazy ride to the PIH work out and watched the runners do 8x800 repeats for a short while, then I carried on.

Quick road ride: home and back via waterfront

Lazy day with no run/bike/paddle and the drive home from HornBy Island via two ferries and a wee bit of a hint o' traffic jam on the Malahat.

Bike to trail head.

Running the trails - essentially the ridge trail up the escarpment, then down some single track trails. Ran through the edge of a guys private property and he was not impressed - he directed me to a parallel trail that was perhaps 2 meters from the 'private' trail that avoided 20m of his land. I begged his pardon and continued my run with a raised eyebrow (which, by the way, increased drag and slowed me down immensely) and wonderment of some peoples children.

Back to the cabin, noticed the girls were not at home however they had plans on heading to the co-op for chai lattes so I rode out that way and met them by Seawright. Enjoyed a java with the crew, then back to the cabin.

Paddling about. Steady pace. Had the wind at my back for the first hour, then abeam then it shifted to mostly head on for the return trip.

Mtn biking local trails.

C • Hornby Animal 5

Bike to trailhead

A variation of the last run. Left Achilles sore, right low back stiff.

Back to cabin via a quick detour.

Whaling Station Bay to Flora Island then drifting about here and there....

Lounging on the beach flicking the rare fly away from my mojito.

I did manage to enter the water on occasion to cool down which firstly involved building up the psychological energy to engage the physiological response to move my basking hulk away from a well defined body divot in the sand.

I paid a local kid a pittance to mist me every hour on the hour as I broiled unabated under the Hornby Island sun....he balked at my suggestion to turn me over every half hour tho'....something about me being doused in baby oil and being very hairy (or maybe it was the worn yellow speedo I was wearing....I don't know).

From cabin to end of Evaston Road

C • holiday running 2

Hornby Island: Ridge trail to Cliff Trail, then down 4 Dead Aliens to Test Tube, then Chris & Brads, No Horses, then along Strachan Road for a bit, then up Beaver Slide and to the Bench Connecter then back to starting point.

Back to cabin

Surfski: Northerly wind straight onto Whaling Station Bay: short stacked rollers.

Mt Doug

I'm guessing on the time.

Not a good race and it wasn't due to the heat. I haven't been racing the VCL for a month (or any other racing) and it showed tonight. My legs/endurance were not there especially on this hilly criterium.

The fastees made their point at the third lap of 17 and pulled away from me on the uphill climb. Unable to bridge the gap we stuck it out in a group of 5+ which whittled down to 3. It looked like it was going to be a battle at the bell lap between us, but on lap two entering the climb, my chain slipped off when going into the small ring and I lost about 15 seconds. I put head down and increased my cadence, but was unable to catch them, and my legs just couldn't spin up a higher gear. I was bridged by one of the few remaining groups - I hung onto their wheel, but on the uphill sprint, I was done and couldn't muster a challenge.

Good to be back out on the bike though.

Interesting to note that from a HR perspective, I haven't been able to push past 162 over the last 3/4 of a year, but since being off the bike and doing this race I was surprised to see my HR average at 160 and peaking at 174. Hmmm. Hopefully this bodes well.

C • Head for the hills 2

Easy waterfront ride - gorgeous night to be outside.

C • No wonder 4