Danville Road Race

On Saturday, July 26, I ventured up to the sleepy little village of Danville to contest the road race which was being promoted by Team Columbus as the ABR State Championship road race. Compared to last year’s race, there was a lot to be happy about this year. Last year’s race started at 3 PM on a day when temperature were around 95 F and the Cat. 3 riders did four laps on the 18.5-mile circuit with NO neutral water support available. In contrast, this year the race started at 11 AM, the temps were manageable in the mid-80’s, the race was shortened to three laps, and COLD neutral water was made available. Despite all those improvements, the overall turnout was quite low, especially when you consider that there were no competing events in the region.

Lining up for the Cat 3/4 race were only ten riders, four of which were from Team Echelon. I didn’t like those odds, especially since no other squad had more than one rider present. I just hoped to be able to withstand the onslaught.

The course is a real toughie with one solid climb heading north, one monster climb heading back south on SR 514, and series of relentless power climbs between the big climb and the finish line on SR 514.



After the first time up the 514 monster, the group was down to 6 riders, four of which were Echelon riders, me and a Savage Hill rider. I liked these odds even less than those at the start line. Going into the 2nd lap, the Echelon boys applied textbook pressure, attacking until Steve Caminati got a gap and I was unable to respond. Going over the 514 monster for the 2nd time, we lost the Savage Hill rider, so it was down to me, Joe Bonnell, Pete Czerwinski, and Will Koehler. Things looked bleak.

On the third lap, I set a steady, but not all-out pace, up the first, smaller climb. I’m not sure if it dropped Joe B., or if he had a mechanical, but he was off the back and I got a good 50 meter gap on Will and Pete. I made them work a fair bit to catch me, but they did eventually track me down. Then on the 514 monster, I was able to get enough of a gap over the top that I could hold the duo off for the 4 or so miles back into the finish.

It was good for me mentally to have a good result after struggling at the Troy crit last weekend, so I can now take a little positive attitude into the Zoar Road Race next weekend. Not too much, though… I don’t want to get an inflated head.

My Brush with TdF Greatness

It’s been a while since I have blogged. Getting sick stacked on top of all the other responsibilities will leave you with no free time every now and then. Oh well, c’est la vie.

So, do you want to hear (er, read) about my brush with Tour de France fame???!!! If you’re a tech/training wiener like me, then you know who Dr. Allen Lim is. If not, he is an expert cycling physiologist/power guru and works for the Garmin-Chipotle team. He is currently traveling with the team at the Tour de France and among other duties with the team, he is maintaining a Q&A forum on the Saris (PowerTap) website. Well, just for grins, I sent in a question to the good doctor last week. I guess I kind of stumped him as he was not able to provide a definitive answer. Furthermore, he consulted with Danny Pate of Team Garmin to get his response to the question – that’s right, Danny Pate who was 3rd on stage 15 Sunday after a monster breakaway effort. So in a way, it’s sort of like I was able to ask my question to a TdF rider. I know it’s a stretch, but that’s probably as close as I’ll get to any association with the Tour.

Here's my question and Dr. Lim’s response.

Dear Dr. Lim-
I am a loyal PT owner and user. When I do interval sessions, I find it “easier” to maintain target wattage when going uphill as opposed to trying to maintain the same target when on the flats (“easier” really just means “less painful” in this context; believe me, it ain't easy). Why is this true, and is this just my perception, or is this generally true for the majority of riders (i.e. do some believe the opposite to be true)? Is it because going uphill, a rider is fighting all of the different components of resistance – wind, rolling resistance, and gravity – while when on the flats, only two components come into play? Thanks for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
Dan
Columbus, OH

Dan,
I would agree that your experience on the hills versus the flats are exactly what other cyclists experience. The difference may be due to a number of factors, though I don’t have any definitive answers.

Anyway, one thought is that the on a grade your angle of attack on the cranks is different than on level ground, creating distinct torque profiles on the level versus a climb. On a climb, the impulse or area that peak torque is applied can range from 1 o’clock to about 5 o’clock. In contrast, the area of peak torque on the level is much smaller, ranging from about 2 to 4 o’clock.
Another issue may simply be the cadence or the combination of cadence and torque profile.

Resistance may also be a factor as the external resistance to motion is much more consistent than it is on the flats. At high speeds, small pauses in power production don’t result in noticeable changes in speed as the momentum is so high. But at low speeds, especially on a climb, small pauses in power production result in very significant changes in speed. That is, if you stop pedaling on a steep hill you’re screwed, but if you pause for a few seconds here and there on the flats, you’re not. As a result, the average power on the flats, is always much lower just because of those micro seconds of “float” time.

Finally, one issue may simply be specificity. What I’ve seen is that my guys like climbing. They like doing intervals on hills. But if we make them train a lot on the flats, the power differential between the flats and hills begins to drop, though they tend to always still do better in the hills.

Anyway, I don’t have any good answers, and I just asked Danny Pate if he had any ideas, and we just spent the last 20 minutes talking about it, and now we’re both confused. So just make sure you don’t neglect doing intervals on both the flats and the hills, and if you figure it out let us know.

Last thought....if you are holding on the bars and using your arms like a cable that help to hold your hips down during the pedal stroke, the issue may simply be that you are able to put down more torque due to the body position while climbing and the support from your upper body. The Italians once did the Worlds TTT with a hip strap that had a wire on the end of it that they tied down to the top tube. As they went hard, they would tighten the strap down and could push against it during the down stroke. They devastated the competition on a relatively flat course. The UCI later banned the hip/wire strap device.
Allen