You let your heart go too fast

Is this post going to be about doctoring your spin to obtain a nice smooth, fast pedal stroke? No. Is this going to be a confession about botching my taper, getting carried away, and riding too hard this week? I hope not. Will this all wrap around making excuses for riding Big Blue this morning 16 seconds slower than two weeks ago, even though I am supposed to be primed and ready for a peak right now? Maybe. Not wanting to let my confidence wane just days before the big dance, I'm going to need to put a positive spin on where I am right now, and where I might be going in the days ahead.

Why do I even make a big deal about the Workingman's Stage Race anyway? While certainly not the biggest race in the New England, this was important to me even before I joined the host club, the Misfit Toys of Team BOB, three years ago. This year's event marks the 20th annual edition of the weeknight stage race, thought to be the only night time stage race in the free world. The race format has always been the same, a TT on Tuesday night, a circuit race on Wednesday night, and a track style points race criterium on a local speedway Thursday night. Omnium scoring is used, rather than timed GC, as the splits are usually small or non-existent in the mass start races. This race was started by a bunch of blue collar guys who were just starting up their own bike shop, construction and landscaping businesses, and could not afford to shut things down for an extended weekend to race at Fitchburg, Killington, Altoona, or any of the other big stage races. Hence "The Workingman's" was born. The focus has remained on the Masters and lower categories, with no race for pro's or Cat 1s who don't hold "real" jobs.

The venues have changed over the years, but the circuit race is still cool, and usually ends up being a battle royal of the local teams. The points race is a story unto itself. In the master's we generally end up starting at around 9:30 pm, under the lights at Star Speedway. If you've never done 80 laps on an oily, bumpy, semi-banked quarter mile car track, under the lights, with shadows of the pack flashing by on all sides, making you dizzy as you sprint for points every five laps against a bloodthirsty herd of similarly insane racers who are just as sleep deprived as you by this point, you don't know what your are missing. There's nothing like it. Yet as exciting as all this can be, the reason I love this race is all about the TT.

Time trials are known as "the race of truth" because the normally overriding strategic factors of bike racing, drafting and teamwork, are absent. A TT means you and your bike around the course, against the clock, no excuses. The 40k district TT used to be a really big deal. Everyone just rode their regular race bike, and breaking the hour was considered a major accomplishment; a right of passage which only the better riders achieved. Unfortunately, these days, with so much expensive special equipment available, TT's tell as much truth about your disposable income as they do your riding ability. This fact has all but killed the district TT, as many of the better riders simply do not go anymore. To find the best competition, you have to go to a stage race.

There are only a few stage races around here with TT's. Fitchburg has one, but being a national-calibre event, talent is attracted from all over the country. The TT course at the FSR is pretty much a straight shot, a test for sure, but not too exciting. Enter the Workingmans... As a local/regional race, we don't get riders flying in from all over, but New England is pretty stacked with talent, and the competition is serious. Several of the masters who compete every year have medaled at Nationals. All the people we race with all year long are there for a TT showdown. You need to do well in the TT to have a chance on GC, so everyone has to bring their best.

The course is very special. Currently, the 11k parcours has all the elements of a prologue at the Tour: a long straight, fast start road, a hairpin turn onto several k's of twisting country lane, more tight corners that require braking and skill, a corkscrew descent, rollers, and another fast turn leading into a tough short climb. This takes you to a nasty false flat, and onward down a straight 65 kph descent into town, where another fast 90 degree corner awaits to take you onto the flat finishing stretch. Equipment helps here, but this is not an autobahn, and you have to be smooth and aggressive. There just are not too many races like this, and that is why I love it. It doesn't hurt that I tend to do pretty well here. Adorning my wall in the living room is a leader's jersey that I got for winning this 19 years ago. I lost it the next night though... In 1997 I got 9th in the TT, but then in a bizarre coup against much bigger teams, almost stole the race the following nights, ending up with my best ever GC place of 2nd. Three years ago when I returned to racing, I still managed 9th in the TT on the new course, even though at that time I was still sporting some major gut cleavage. Last year I did a great ride and got 5th behind the fastest riders in New England. So this one means a lot to me, and now you know why.

My work schedule only allows for a single peak season anyway. I need to make the most of available daylight, and that means the summertime. My form has been great the past two weeks, and I've aimed to bring it all to the max on Tuesday night in the TT. Of course, this is a balancing act. I'm struggling with just how much hard riding to do versus staying fresh and ready to attack the course at the appointed hour. Everything has been going great, and that's what scares me. Have I peaked too soon? Saturday morning I headed over to Big Blue to do a climbing test, finishing up the hill in 5:02, 16 seconds slower than two weeks ago. Don't despair though, as this time the gate was closed, so I needed to do a complete standing start. Last time I rolled the entrance and hit the "start" button on the timer at about 15 kph. This messed up my strategy, as hitting the first time check about five seconds off the pace, I panicked a little and really stepped on it. By the second time check, where the road flattens (to a mere 8%) just after the guardrail, I was back on pace, but on the edge of blowing up. I needed to slow down and take an easier gear to recover a bit, losing several seconds, and still didn't finish nearly as strong as last time. Discouraging, but reflecting on the effort, I've assured myself that this had more to do with execution than a reduction in form. As well, I had two full water bottles and a spare with me this time, meaning an extra two kg, thus requiring around 9-10 watts more average power. So this effort was nearly equal to the last time; my form still right on track. Convinced? Good, so am I, really...

One other thing, I went and made this gmap of the Big Blue climb. The good news is this shows the vertical as 133 meters over the 1405 meter distance, so maybe the average grade is actually a bit greater than 9%. My Polar generally shows around 120 meters gain, and this week only 115, but these things are not as accurate as the GPS data from gmap, so I'll believe them.

On the bright side, word has just come through that Jens "my problems are the smallest" Voigt has won stage 13 of the Tour. If you haven't seen Jens in the Overcoming DVD yet, try to watch it; you will be a Voigt fan afterwards if you're not already.

I'm finally finishing up this post now, on Sunday morning. I have to decide what to do. There's a crit down in Fall River, only 25 miles away, and the Master 45 race starts at 10. I'm unsure whether or not this will be too much for my peaking plan, but I'm leaning toward going right now, because I may as well not waste good form, and the promoters are the same group that puts on the Rehoboth TT, and I want to support them. Here's hoping you're having a great weekend too, stay out of the broiling sun, and stay on top of that gear. Thanks for reading.