Posts Tagged ‘Wind’

Be brave and take a rest day

Wednesday, April 25th, 2012

Today I’m off the bike. The schedule I have set for the Time-Crunched Cyclist Plan has me typically doing a workout Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The original plan is different with workouts scheduled for Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. This is something I’ve had to do to fit into my lifestyle.

I imagine there are some disadvantages to not placing the rest days in the spots designated by Chris Carmichael. The two days he typically has set back-to-back are now split in my schedule. That cuts into any buildup he is trying to make. However, I don’t believe it has really hurt me.

Looking back and evaluating my performance with the plan, I’m pretty satisfied. I’ve met or exceeded every workout condition up to this point. The schedule has had to be adjusted from time-to-time, but all the workouts have been completed — until last night.

Sometimes you just have to let the wind win

I remember Jim Cunningham telling me that you have to listen to your body. Sure, there are plenty of times when you think to yourself, “I really don’t want to go ride today.” Even as you say it you know it is just because you are feeling lazy. If you just go start the workout, you find that you are just fine and end up enjoying the ride.

There are other times when you know your body is just tired and if you push it, you could end up with a setback. That is how I felt yesterday as I rolled the bike out for the workout. There was a little warning light blinking in the back of my mind.

I had already decided not to go to Donaldson Center. The wind was atrocious and I was still hacking a bit from the ride Monday evening. That tickling sensation in my bronchial tubes had bugged me all day.

Now I was supposed to go out and complete six 2-minute power intervals. Mounting the bike, I headed out to do the work. However, even the as I was warming up I could feel the air coming into my lungs and exposing the irritated tubes. I decided to forgo anything that would bring about heavy breathing.

It turns out it is what I needed. I felt pretty much like crud for the first 45 minutes or so (that could have partly been due to the fact that I was riding into the wind), but my body finally seemed to come around. By the time I neared home, I was starting to question whether I should go ahead and extend my ride and get in the intervals.

No. I closed things down after an hour and a half. My lungs thanked me. My hope is that tomorrow night my legs will thank me when I race in my first event of the year.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Training | No Comments »

All hail the echelon

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

My weather app was telling me it was going to be a rough night on the bike. The temperature was perfect, but the severe weather warning for lake wind advisories filled me with a mix of dread and anticipation. It was time for the Tuesday Night World Championships.

As I neared the course I could see the huge oak trees dance waving their limbs back and forth. My little Honda Fit almost felt like it was going to turn over as the crosswinds caught the bike on top. Almost I decided to call it off.

It wasn’t the work that I wanted to avoid. It was the danger. When riding in high winds amongst dozens of other riders at speed, a strong gust of wind can take a  front wheel and send a bike out of control. You don’t want to be around when that happens!

I did start. I rolled off very near the front figuring that I was safest there. By the time we reached the golf course hill, a Globalbike rider went off the front. As he did so his teammates consolidated their positions on the front. There was also a lone Hincapie rider with them followed by the rest of us.

No way was I going now! Maybe last time I would have tried it, but not today. I waited. Only, I didn’t have to wait very long. The Hincapie rider made a move and the Globalbike riders reacted to cover. Things were starting to pick up now. I followed along with them.

I’m not sure exactly what was happening behind me on that first lap. I was just trying to maintain a position near the front and be in striking distance for any move that started to take shape. Soon I was joined by my teammate Paul Mills.

This continued the whole first lap. We were crossing the railroad track and I was starting to feel it. I decided to ease up and recover in the field. It was at that point I looked back and realized there was no field! The peloton had pretty much split in two with a group of about 16 to 20 riders in a break and the remaining riders in a second larger group.

Well, there was nothing to do but dig back in and close the gap back up to the break. I managed it, but once I got there I realized that a number of riders had attacked and now there were three main groups. The break, the chase, and the peloton. I was hanging on to the rear of the chase group.

For the whole of the second lap we chased. For a good bit of that time we could look ahead and see the racers we were trying to overtake. Then I wasn’t even looking for the break ahead. I was just trying to hang on with the chase group.

All during this time the wind was brutal. Since the course basically has four corners, you were in a crosswind or headwind most of the time. There were times when I was almost stood up by a huge gust.

Which ever group I was in would form an echelon to counter the wind. This is where one rider will take the point and the following riders would fan out slightly overlapping his bike to stay out of the wind – picture geese flying in a V, but with only one leg of the V. That first rider would then fall back to the rear tail of the fan while the second rider in line would take his place to push through the wind.

The problem comes when the road isn’t wide enough to handle that large of a fan. Often you will see an echelon followed by a line of racers pinned up against the edge of the road furthest from the wind. However, that defeats the purpose of the formation for those following riders.

What has to be done is a new echelon needs to form behind the first one. This was one of the lessons I tried to learn. When and how do you effectively start a new formation? Also, how do you gracefully move off the front to let people know your time on the point is done.

It didn’t matter as we started through the third lap. I found myself chasing the tail of the echelon. I knew if I lost contact it was going to be disaster! I would be stuck in the wind alone. It was a big motivator to get back on.

Finally though, a small gap formed and as I worked to catch back on, it just didn’t happen. The combined work of the group ahead to counter the wind was too much. At first I tried to push all the harder and it was wearing me down without progress.

I then decided to find a pace I could handle and still keep the group in sight. Perhaps they would slow or I could gain when we reached a downhill or tailwind. There was still hope until we turned onto the part of the course leading to 3M hill. It was at that point that I lost sight of them.

It was also at that time I got overtaken by some racers who had gotten dropped from the chase group earlier. There were now five of us to fight the wind. We formed our echelon and kept driving. I was even starting to feel better – not good, but better.

Then as we neared the end of the third lap the pace quickened. “What are they doing?” I asked myself. We weren’t anywhere near the guys in front of us and we were rolling like this was the fourth lap! Then it hit me. The rider pushing the pace probably wasn’t planning on doing the last lap of the night.

Sure enough, two of our group called it a night. The other three of us kept going, but now a little winded due to the pace of the last kilometer or so. However, we kept going.

We started taking pulls. My time came as we climbed the golf course hill. I could tell there was a rider on my wheel and when I was done I let him move up for his turn and I planned to slot in behind the third rider in our group. Problem is, he wasn’t there.

Now there were only two of us fighting the wind. Our pulls grew shorter as we shared the load. Ahead I recognized the kit of a rider from the chase group. He became my carrot. We caught him and once again there were three of us.

The new member of our group was willing to work and we started a quick rotating pace line. This had a positive effect on my stamina. I started feeling stronger as we made the turn headed toward the train track. It was at this point we lost our third rider. However, the more recently overtaken mate was still with me.

The wind on this portion of the course was horrible. At one point I was coming around my partner to take my turn on the front. As I got beside him we both were slowed by a sudden gust of wind. We weren’t racing each other now. We were racing together against the wind!

We started picking up riders who were dropped from the chase group. That spurred me on to continue to push. As we climbed toward the fire station, we could see a larger gathering of chasers ahead. I put my head down and we caught and passed them before the finish line.

We didn’t race to the line. We clasped hands for a moment in solidarity and rolled across the line.  Ahead of us it turns out the chase had caught the break and then two riders counter attacked and took the win. The group we had passed was made up of those who couldn’t take the pace of the final push to the finish.

I came home safe and sound and learned a few things in the process. The wind didn’t win. All hail the echelon!

Tags: , ,
Posted in Racing, Training | No Comments »

Look what the wind blew in!

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

Funny how the weather can completely change a course you have ridden many times before.  That was the case for me on Monday. It wasn’t rain, sleet, or snow… it was the wind that made life miserable.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Jim, my coach, was trying to make me miserable – wind or no wind. The workout for the day called for a 20 minute warm-up that included a five minute effort at 280 watts. Once I finished that I was to do six sprint repeats up the Bi-Lo side of Piney Mountain.

These repeats were to be 90 second attempts. For the first 60 seconds I was to remain seated and hold an average between 295 – 320 watts. At the 60 second mark it was time to stand and attack with an average of 335 – 380 watts for the final 30 seconds. I took 3 minutes between each attempt to recover and go at it again.

I wasn’t given much time to recover before spinning into a 20 minute ride between 245 – 265 watt ride. It wasn’t until I finished that effort on the rolling terrain that I would be allowed to slow a bit and just enjoy the ride home. That is if the wind would allow me!

Piney Mountain (which really isn’t a mountain, but a hill) has a winding slope that is between a 7 and 10% grade. I started my first attempt feeling pretty good. As I started the lap on my Garmin and increased the wattage I was suddenly slapped by a wind coming at an angle from my left.

The wind would swirl and gust. I would lean into the wind to keep from being blown over and then suddenly there would be no wind and I would have to gather the bike to keep from swerving into traffic. It made the effort hard and it was hard to maintain a momentum.

On the way back down was worse! I descended with much more speed. As I would approach a certain section where there was a break between the houses and trees, the wind would slap my front wheel and attempt to jerk me to the left.

I was glad to finish the tedious job of finishing the repeats. I think I would have actually enjoyed the efforts and the pain they caused had it a nice day in early June. As it was, it was a cool day in January and I still had a ways to go to fight the wind.

The rolling course I followed for the 20 minute effort was one I have ridden many times before. I have knocked it out without a thought. It was the wind that made it tough. I started to think that this might be how the weather would be when we race the Spring Series. If we have wind like this…. I’m not so sure I won’t to stick my neck out. As Zac at Sunshine Cycle Shop said of such an event, “There will be blood.”

I rolled into the driveway quite happy to be finished. The wind certainly added to my work. I’m looking forward to that nice day in early June.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Training | No Comments »

Busted by the invisible mountain

Friday, July 18th, 2008

What a rough day.

I’ve really been enjoying my vacation here on Hilton Head.  Outside of a little sunburn and a slight cold, it has been a great time with the family and a good opportunity to refocus.  However, my bike ride yesterday was not so good.

The swimming, fighting the waves, and riding my fixed gear on the beach has done something with my hamstrings.  They are so sore I’m walking around like an old man.  I don’t feel it that much when I am on the bike until I really pick up speed and I’m pulling up more on the pedals.  Mostly I just felt fatigued.

So, that set the stage for my second ride with The Bike Doctor riders.  I got a late start because the beautiful red head had gone our riding with Thing Three.  They got turned around a little on the bike paths and were gone for a little longer than planned.

I started off riding backward on their route in hopes I would catch them.  After riding for about 10 minutes I figured I had missed them and started to head back the way I had come.  While doing so, I came across two other riders.  Turns out they were doing the same thing I was.  I connected with them and we kept looking for the group.  Within two minutes we met them and the ride started.

In some ways the ride was similar to Tuesday’s.  This time, however, I decided to sit in the group a little more and hopefully give that sprint a go.  Then as soon as we turned onto the Cross Island Parkway I knew it was going to be trouble.  The wind was incredible!  It was like a completely different ride from Tuesday’s!

I tried to stay out of the wind as much as possible.  Looking around I tried to assess my chances based on the riders around me.  I determined that I probably wouldn’t be able to take it in a bunch.  I moved up to the front and then started increasing the tempo and tried to sustain it.  My plan was to make a gap and then make the faster guys work more to bridge over to me.  Then as they neared, I would catch a wheel and then nip them at the line.

My plan was working and as we neared the line I felt a rider coming up to my left.  As soon as I felt him, I turned up my effort.  Then I was on his wheel.  The line got closer and I was going to have to do something.  I picked it up one more notch and that is when I felt the hamstrings.  I ended up third with my front wheel overlapping the rear of the sprint winner.

Unfortunately, that is when my stamina disappeared.  I recalled from Tuesday that the group slowed after turning back to the other side of the Parkway.  I slowed to let the group come around and I jumped on the back to catch my breath.  Not this time!

Some of the riders just picked it up and kept going.  We had a tailwind at that point and we were hitting speeds of around 30 mph.  Unfortunately, my late reaction put me nearly 50 yards behind the leaders.  I stayed with the chasers as long as I could.  We worked hard to bring them back.  By the time we got there, I was even more spent.

I lost some of my chasing buddies off the back and I was fighting to stay on the tail of the train.  I noticed that a lot of these guys had their bikes set up with aero bars.  I guess now I know why — besides the fact that most of these riders were tri athletes, it is also helpful in fighting through this wind.

Then I dropped off the back.  I hoped they would slow some going up the “mountain.”  I planned to try to catch on at that point.  As we started up the bridge over the causeway, I did start to gain.  I chopped off about 30 yards.  Then I crested the top.  There went my gains.  They had taken back all I worked for as they started down the 80 foot high incline.

From there I stayed about 50 yards back.  We turned off the Parkway once again to then loop back onto it.  As we came back on, I knew my day was done.  Now I would be going back into the headwind and there was no chance I would catch the riders ahead.

I just settled in and worked as hard as I could to maintain a 19 mph speed.  When I crossed back over the bridge, I was topping off at 9 mph!  I remembered Tuesday going over at 28 mph.  Once over the bridge, the headwind started in earnest.  I pushed on.  Riding at 19 mph into this wind was like riding up Paris Mountain at about 11 to 12 mph.

Finally, after about 20 miles, I gave up.  I turned off the Parkway and used my Garmin to help me find my way home.  In unfamiliar territory like this, the Garmin really shines.  I was able to bring up a road map of the Island and chart a path home that kept me off the major road.

I have a whole new respect for these riders down here who take on that wind.  It really is what they call an “invisible mountain.”  I pity the man or woman who goes out there on a regular basis and faces that force of nature alone.  Granted, I believe yesterday’s wind was a little more than normal, but even just a little less would be tough!

Tomorrow we go home.  I’m hoping I can get over the soreness, sunburn, and cold before Thursday night’s race.  I have to say, it has been fun, but I’m looking forward to getting back home.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Rides | No Comments »