Sunday, March 30, 2014

Opening race and victory (!)

Today was the opening race. It was a lap of 3.5km. We had to do 50km in total. There were 40 racers who participated. At the start I did not have the chance to be in the first row because everybody was already standing there. So I just put myself against the fence a few meters behind the last of the bunch. From the start on there was quite some activity and there was a small group that tried to make a break. I raced to them but unfortunately the bunch came back. We also weren't working properly together so it did not have a good chance.
 
When the peleton got back I waited a km or so and then I tried myself from the front of the peleton. Here in Holland (and Belgium) they say it's a 'getelefoneerde demarrage'(which means that everybody could see it coming that I was going to attack; it was not an attack by suprise).
 
When I looked back there was 1 guy. When we came to the part in which there were small cobbles (I do not know the right word, but there were a lot of holes in that road anyway) there were 2 others who also joined us. Immediately we started to work together and going at a pace of 42-44 I knew that the peleton had to do their best to come back if they hesitated.
 
The gap became bigger and bigger and I knew quite soon we were going to hold it to the end. In the last round one guy tried several times to jump away but I countered him. Also when we came into the road to the finish one guy tried and again I countered him. I wasn't sure however if I could manage it in the sprint since I countered all attacks. As a 'track'cyclist I then rode 'slowly'to the finish looking my oponents in the eye. In front was not an an ideal place to be because the wind was blowing right in the face. When I felt I could start the sprint I started and went full gas. I got cramps in my calfs and upper legs but I had to push it until the finish line. I felt one guy coming but I held it and won. Below you can see the race (wattage) details of the last 3 minutes.



You can see the powerspikes in which I counter the attacks. Before the final sprint starts (around 890 watt) I did 2 800, 2 (on average) at 700 watt. As you can also see I am not a real sprinter given those 890 watts at the end ;)

Overall great feeling. Of course when making the break it costs quite some energy but at the end I felt that I got better and the others became less good. Maybe they were already starting to spare themselves in the last 15 kms or so, but anyway, it made me grow in the race.

Overall stats:

As for my training last week. I did some FTP work and VO2max (2 times Kurt and 2 times outside). TSS 460 weekly and 6 hours of total training (+ racing time). I am not going to publish it. Tomorrow the results of the left right analysis.


 
 
 

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