Tacoma Twilight Criterium

Took of to the State of Washington for another pro Critt.  Tacoma Twilight Criterium was the Final race in the Cascade Criterium Series, aka Seattle Speed Week.  Although I was the only Westwood/Cannondale racer in the pro1/2 field, I did have the travel and racing company of none other than  Saskatchewan homeboy Chris McGarity.  Chris has been racing for Garneau Evolution. Chris was stoked on the Criterium, and is coming on some excellent form.

We arrived early enough to do a proper euro pre-warm up.  This consisted of puttering around downtown in team gear.  Having coffee and pastries on a patio, and getting a lecture from some Vietnam veteran about the flaws of American politics.  As race time drew near we warmed up and dialed in the focus.

The Criterium course was 1 mile square.  The back stretch was about 500m at 5% up, the Finnish stretch about 500m at 5% down. The race was 75minutes, and  was either >55km/hr down hill or >40km/hr uphill.   My form is on an upswing.  Midway through the race I could sense that this race would be a breakaway.  So, I started throwing down some spice.

Over the next 30minutes gaps were forming, the pack was coming undone.  I was all over the frontal action, mixing it up in the bicycle roulette.  Nothing stuck, but it was only a matter of time.  Then a group of 9 was pulling away, I was not in it.  What do you do in the wild west when you loose at roulette?  You throw the Table across the room.

In one lap I bridged out to the breakaway.  There was 10min left, we had 30 seconds on the bunch.  Mostly guys worked together.  We held 25 seconds.  Then 5laps to go, this was it.  This break is going to the line.  In the last 5 laps there was a prime every lap.  This meant sprinting for the finish line every lap for 5 laps.  I held back at first, thinking only of the finale.  The finishing sprint was downhill with a tail wind, and I knew It would take everything.  Then with 2 laps to go they announced a 200$ prime.  I could really use $200 so I went for it.  I needed a gap before the sprint, so I attacked from the bottom of the hill to the top. It didn't workout.

Going into the finale I could not escape my breakaway company.  Nor could I match the speed in the down hill sprint.  So I cam across in 9th place.  I am pleased with how I raced.  The form is coming up.  I just need a little finishing school.  I collected my prize money then we hit the road.  Got home at 230am, long day.

Next up for me, I will go to Banff for International Stage Race.  Then on to Edmonton for Canadian National Championships.

 Training shall be based solely on feel,
while racing shall be guided by sensations and instinct.



Cuylar Conly

Love, Hate, and Calculated Risk

I have a fantastic love and hate relationship with Criterium racing.  Critt racing is an incredibly exciting form of bicycle race. Critt`s are short and intense from start to finish.  This is in sharp contrast to a 4 hr road race, or the steady effort of a time trial.  Contested on a short course (0.8-3.0km in length) around city streets.  A criterium will have >50 racers swarming and sprinting around corners for more than 60min, averaging 45-50 km/hr.

Criteriums are full of energy and full of action.  They are a blast to race.  Diving into corners, fighting for position, sprinting off the front and it all depends on you as the engine.  I love Critts they are exciting and fun.

The Engine for a Crit is different than for a road race or Time Trial.  A Criterium Requires rapid-fire High intensity bursts.  Criteriums are also Risky.  In the tight swarming bunch, every one is cross-eyed with the effort and crashes are common place.

 This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill

Fifteen percent concentrated power of will

Five percent pleasure, Fifty percent pain

And a hundred percent reason to remember the name

By far the hardest part of a criterium is the first 10-15min.  The first 10min are much like plunging yourself into an ice cold lake.   Every part of your body screams with the effort as you literally go from 0-60km/hr in about 10seconds.  After about ten minutes the shock state subsides, and you are simply uncomfortable as the pace of the race slowly wears on you.  Much like plunging into that cold Lake.

For the rest of the race the pace is set by the attacks from the front 10 racers.   There is a region in the bunch just behind the front 10 where you can ride at reasonable effort, behind this is a nervous area where guys are constantly fighting to move up to the front of the race.  Then at the back is the danger zone,  the tail of the race where every acceleration is magnified like cracking a whip.  Spending ten minutes or more at the back will likely result in getting dropped. 

So for anyone who is interested these are my criterium rules.

1. WARM Up!  start the energy systems before the race starts.
2. It always slows down.  The first 10 min are fast but it hurts everyone so the pace will slow slightly.
3. Move up.  No matter where you are in the bunch, if you are not moving up you are moving back.
4. When you get to the front, Attack!  The front of the race can be referred to as bicycle roulette.  A constant cycle of attacks almost anyone of which could be the big deal.
5. No fear, ask forgiveness not permission.  Aggression does not always mean riding off the front.  Relax, your 20 and invincible.
6. Go for glory!  Make them remember your name.



 Training shall be based solely on feel,
while racing shall be guided by sensations and instinct.



Cuylar Conly

Cosmic Thunder

Yesterday, I raced the Ballard Twilight Criterium.  The pro/1 race started at 730 pm.  We raced for 70min, at an average speed of 46km/hr.  The race was going well, until some doad caught his front skewer into my rear wheel.  At 50km/hr this resulted in nearly half the spokes exploding.

I am now one carbone short of a cosmos.

When my wheel exploded I was able to stay upright.  I got to the wheel pit just before the cut off time, got a wheel change and jumped in for the last 8 laps.  I couldn`t quite get in there for the finale, but today is another day of racing.


Training shall be based solely on feel,
while racing shall be guided by sensations and instinct.



Cuylar Conly

I am an albatros

I am in Seattle, Washington.  I am getting my Critt on for the next few days.  It is going well. 





Training shall be based solely on feel,
while racing shall be guided by sensations and instinct.



Cuylar Conly

BOB!

Due to living in Vancouver, I missed out on racing Bikes on Broadway this year.  This is the premier Stage race in the prairie provinces.

But check out this unreal video of the 2010 BoB Criterium.


http://3minuteshorts.ca/prestonkanak/?p=1501

 Training shall be based solely on feel,
while racing shall be guided by sensations and instinct.



Cuylar Conly

"It's a Good Day for Racing!"

So I had a bit of a down week.  Mostly circumstantial, rather than by choice.  So I am still feeling rather soft.  This weekend we are in Victoria, for some bicycle racing.
Friday night I was the only member of Team Westwood to race the Bear mountain Hill climb.  This race was a 3km individual hill Climb effort.  We got lost, on the way but got there with just enough time for a warm up.  The race was won by none other than Ryder Hesjedal!  A top Canadian Pro who has raced the Tour de France and placed 2nd at Amstel Gold this year.  Second place went to Rob Bitton, the top Canadian Neo-Pro (first year pro) who just finnished the Tour of California.  I placed 6th (3rd placed Cat2), considering the caliber of those ahead of me this is a pleasing result.
Today we raced the 140km BC Provincial Road Race.  This race is highly coveted by all the top BC Teams.  The field was Deep with Talent.  The course was challenging always up or down.  Also 5 degrees and raining.  "A Good Day For Racing."  The legs were soft but the race blood is returning to me.  However I regret to inform that I once again did not finnish.
The race was aggressive, many riders were keen to blow things apart.  As the race was coming undone  I was in the front group, going up a decisive climb.  My chain fell off.  I put it back on and jumped in with a chase group.  We continued on into the frigid rain.  When we were as far away from civilization as possible my chain Broke.  Game over.  Stuck out in the middle of nowhere and a bike with no chain.
I hitch-hiked back to town.  I was picked up by a man from buffalo narrows Saskatchewan.  His Truck was your typical overused farm truck complete with musky, dusty, greasy, overused smell.  This was wonderfully comforting.

But wait... it gets better.

After getting dropped off in town I found the Team Van.  Freezing and shivering I started the Van cranked the heat, shut the front door, and tried to open the slider door.  It was locked, they were all locked.  The van is running and I am locked out and freezing and the rest of the team is still racing.  Oh yea that was awesome!  Freezing and trapped outdoors,  the only other ppl around were two volunteers.
One of them had coffee.  I do not like coffee.  I have tried it before but never more than a taste.  I don't like the taste, but I was so cold and desperate for a warm drink coffee would suffice.  And so that is the story of  my very first cup of coffee.



Training shall be based solely on feel,
while racing shall be governed by sensations and instincts.




Cuylar Conly

Something is wrong.

Sometimes, nothing works out.  This weekend I was hoping to ride well...  It didn't happen.  After a mediocre Time trial performance, I was dropped early in the Critt and early in the road race.  I cannot explain it, this does not reflect how I have been training and racing so far this season.  I just had no game.
perhaps a combination of many elements that I have control over.  I suspect that there is also something I did not have control over.  Despite having not raced much this weekend I slept 11hours last night.  To put this into perspective.  I am normally incapable of sleeping more than 8 hours and I never, never sleep past 8am.  So for me to be out for 11 hours until 1030am is quite out of the ordinary.  
Mentally it is rattling to have such a disappointing weekend.  I know I am stronger than that, I just can't explain it. and I need to just leave it at that.  Move on, look ahead and continue to train.



 Training shall be based solely on feel,
while racing shall be guided by sensations and instinct.



Cuylar Conly