Milliron's Race Journal

2012 Cantua Creek Road Race, 2nd place!

2013-03-01T15:20:00.004-08:00

Cantua Creek Road Race

http://app.strava.com/activities/41166701

Second year doing this race. Flatted out last year. It's a good early season course. 70 miles, mostly flat. Finish is about 9 to 11 minutes of rollers. Strings out the field real good, makes the finish safer.

Plan for this race was to stay in zone 2 as much possible. Avoid burning any matches until the finish. Focus on pack position, riding smooth, breathing, eating and drinking.

Race started out really slow. Took a lot of self control to just sit in. Was feeling good and really wanted to stretch my legs out. Saved it though.

Wasn't until about half way into the race that a serious break started to form. Eventually got to be 6 riders off the front, all the other major teams represented. Looking strong. I didn't like it. Sprinted off the front of the pack to join them. Closed down about half the gap, glanced back, saw I had the field strung out behind me. Screw that. Pulled off and fortunately, the two guys behind me finished the job.

Last 10 miles of the race, two guys were off the front (new Leopard team and Bolthouse Farms). Was looking like they were going to make it stick. However, teammate Eric Chi and a guy from Squadra SF (they had two others in the field) sacrificed themselves on the front to close it down.

I was second wheel going into the rollers (last 3 miles) and still feeling 100% fresh. At that point, it was just a matter of following the attacks and avoiding people that had detonated, were heading backwards. Then turning myself inside out in the last 200m.

Crossed the line in second place. Inches from winning!

Huge result for me. In about 30 races I'd never gotten better then 9th place before. Finally got a damn VeloPromo t-shirt!

Big thanks to Eric Chi, Clark's training plan, the Carmel Valley Camp and The Palo Alto Morning Ride.

2013 San Bruno Hill Climb

2013-01-13T10:29:00.000-08:00

http://app.strava.com/activities/35203601

January 1st, New Years and the first race of the year. San Bruno Hill Climb. Good fitness benchmark if nothing else.

Didn't drink too much the night before and got a decent night's sleep. Got there an hour and a half early. Plenty of time to sign in, skip the trainer and pre-ride the climb for the first time. Beutifal day, super clear. Could see the city, bay and ocean from the top.

Climb details: 3.7mi - 1,159ft - 6.0%
I did it in 17:54 at 177bpm avg.

Good bit of wind so drafting played a part.

2012 BASP #5, Coyote Point & Surf City #3

2013-01-02T14:11:00.002-08:00

Was second to last going into the single track. Ran into a guy that dropped his chain on the first climb.

Legs felt good though. Didn't worry about placing well. Just focused on my technique and maintaining a high pace. Passed a ton of people and ended up finishing in the top half.

Muddy and slippery but fun course! Three muddy run ups. Took me a few laps to get comfortable. Finished mid field as usual.

However, since I did all 3 Surf City races, ended up 7/56 for Elite B. Consistency!

2012 Thanksgiving LKHC, Mt Hamilton

2013-01-02T14:03:00.002-08:00

Way behind on my race reports!

Did the finial LKHC of the season back on Thanksgiving. The traditional climb up the front side of Mt Hamilton. Good 83 minutes of low threshold. Earn that turkey!

Photo credit; Pat/peparseghian

2012 Surf City CX #2, there will be mud

2012-11-20T09:24:00.000-08:00

Had a good bit of mud on Sunday's race down in Santa Cruz. Nice and sunny out though. Change of pace from the normal dust and sand. Ended up 15/30 in Open B (cat 2/3?). Decent start, no crashing, good steady pace the entire race. Can't complain!

Photo of a teammate during the 35+ A race:

Wilier Cento1 SR - quick review

2012-11-12T12:12:00.001-08:00

Introducing my new ride, a Wilier Cento1 SR in Fluo Green w/ (mostly) old SRAM Red. Big thanks to my LBS (Véloro Bicycles) for jumping through hoops and getting this imported for me. The green isn't a color the US distributor is normally doing.

Weight, 6.74kg/14.8lbs with race wheels. Frame is about 1250g and the fork is 420g. Little on the beefy side.

Build list:

Large 2013 Wilier Cento1 SR
SRAM Red shifters and cranks with Force FD, rings and Rival RD and brakes
Selle Italia Flite Kit Carbonio saddle
Look Ti Blade pedals
Ritchey Carbon Matrix 4-Axis stem (120mm)
Williams Maxim ACS aluminum bars

Wheels include:
2010 Reynolds Assault tubulars w/ Vittoria Evo Corsa, ti skewers and SRAM Red cassette
2011 Hed Jet 4 clinchers
2012 Williams S19 clinchers w/ Mich Pro4 25mm tires, normal skewers and lower end SRAM cassette

Could get this build's weight down a good bit with lighter brakes, carbon bars and FSA Evo386 cranks. I'm happy for the moment though and my bank account is looking a little lean.

Super impressed with the ride. Very, very, very stiff. It feels fast but is a bit punishing over rough road. This is not an old man's charity ride bike! Stiffer and more solid feeling then my Scott Addict or my Ridley Damocles. Reminds me of the CAAD10 I used to have. Would like to ride the two back to back.

Love the way it handles. Very active and quick but still stable. Am finding the bike very confidence inspiring on the mountain roads.

2012 BASP, Sierra Point Night Race

2012-11-12T12:05:00.000-08:00

Open B. Big field, just under 80 racers. A little late lining up and was in the last 10 onto the dirt. Rode a good steady race though and passed a lot of people. Ended up 43rd. Technical ability has increased dramatically over the last two months.

Very fun course.

Now allow me to show you the dance of my people:

(Photo: Peter Taylor)

2012 - Surf City Cyclocross, Aptos Highschool

2012-10-28T16:12:00.001-07:00

Surf City CX race in Santa Cruz this morning was awesome. Lot of single track. Very fun course. Was apparently designed by local badass Ben Jacques-Maynes.

Did a very poor job positioning at the start. But, did a great job pacing myself and keeping the rubber side down. Passed a lot of people as they crashed or sucked at remounting. Was fun to ride (relativity) smoothly, even if I probably didn't place well.

Bummed I had to run home and missed watching the costume race. Good number of hot racer chicks were dressed up for it.

Credit; Jeff Namba.

2012 - El Dorado Hills CX

2012-10-15T08:13:00.002-07:00

Very dusty and sandy. Bit technical. Some healthy climbing. Looks like the main climb was about 8% avg grade and took ~30 seconds.

First race this season I've managed to keep it rubber side down the entire time. Saw lots of riders lay it down in the turns and sand pits but I managed to avoid that. Was very pleased. Skills are coming back.

Photo by: Alex Chiu

2012 - Bay Area Super Prestige #1, Candlestick

2012-09-30T20:58:00.001-07:00

Very hot! Raced with a water bottle in my jersey and drank it all.

Did shitty on the first lap fighting for position, ended up near the back of like a 70 rider field. Settled in on the second lap though and started passing people. I was much smoother then the last race. No crashes and stayed on course. Skills are slowly coming back.

Few photos my wife took:

Like this photo of Isaac:

2012 CCCX #2 Cylocross

2012-09-21T21:38:00.000-07:00

Killer Bs!

Had legs but no skills. Downhills and barriers felt fine, but those sharp and sandy corners killed me. Kept trying to take them like a crit racer. Fail. Crashed once, over cooked a number of other corners and went off the course. Broke through the tape twice. Ended up 13th out of 22. Ouch.

Need to work on slowing down for the corners, taking them sharper and accelerating out earlier. Explosive.

Lots of fun though! Looking forward to brushing up on my skills and doing some serious CX racing this season.

2012 Dunnigan Hills Road Race

2012-08-13T19:23:00.000-07:00

Dunnigan.

Last ~90 mile road race I do with a forecasted high over 100 F.

Spent the first 50 miles patrolling the front for the team. Jumped on a few breaks. Helped bring a few back that we weren't represented in.

About 60 miles in my body started to revolted and I said #### this and sat up. Worked with 3 other guys to set a reasonable tempo for the remainder of the race. Well, except for mile ~76 when we stopped at a gas station and bought ice cold cans of Coke. Live saving.

Teammates took 2nd and 3rd in the race. Hopefully I helped with that in some small way.

http://app.strava.com/rides/17958785

temp data from my Garmin:

2012 Patterson Pass Road Race

2012-08-13T09:02:00.001-07:00

Did Patterson Pass Road Race on the 5th. Here is the recap.

Hard course. 3 laps. 66 miles, 6,800 ft of climbing total. Lap is:
1) ~22 minute climb with strong head wind and a very steep pitch at the top.
2) a quick decent. not very technical by Santa Cruz mountains
standards. Easy to get dropped here if you loose any contact at the top of the climb though!
3) a ~9 minute climb. No wind or tail wind.
4) Then it's about 9 miles of rolling, false flat decent with a gnarly cross wind at times.

No rest for the weary.

http://app.strava.com/rides/16779175

Strategy for the race was to be very near the front going into each climb to avoid getting caught behind a split and to have some room to slide back, if needed. I did this and it paid off big time.

After the first two laps, a total of five people were off the front. In two or three different groups.

Starting on the first climb of the last lap, a Dolce Vita guy I'd been marking put in a big dig and rolled away from what was left of the field. I went with him and was able to hang for a minute or so. Started to go too deep into the red though and dropped off right before blowing up. Recovered and drifted back to the pack. Then worked with a few guys to try and catch him. Didn't catch him, but we shed most of what was left of the pack in the process.

Was bummed because with him up the road, first six places were no longer up for grabs and I really wanted a damn Velo Promo t-shirt!

Anyway, worked with the remaining guys and by the top of the second climb on the last lap, there were just three of us. We finished together. They both beat me in the sprint and I ended up with 9th out of ~40.

Crits With Climbing! Foothill College CR & San Rafael Twilight

2012-07-10T22:06:00.001-07:00

Check out the profile. 1.1 mile loop with a good, 50 second, v02 max, climb in it.

2nd to last lap, yelled at a teammate to get on my wheel then pulled him up to the front, from the middle of the 50 person pack. I stayed on the front for the rest of the lap and pushed the pace. Sat up at the start of the last lap. Totally spent. Rolled in near last.

Unfortunately, my teammate wasn't able to make good use of the awesome job I did positioning him. Fortunately, didn't matter, because another teammate won.

A friend and I at San Rafael. He grabbed a prime. I sat in and got jack shit (19th out of 62). Legs were great, waited too long to make a move. Really thought I could podium.

A teammate went up on the second to last lap to help bring back a guy that was dangling off the front. Was able to stay out for the win! Nice! (No thanks to me)

2012 Leesville Gap Road Race

2012-07-10T21:58:00.002-07:00

Damn that was a hard race. Got dropped from the leaders at about mile 20 of 64. Got a chase group going and rode a solid tempo for the rest of the race. So, at least got a killer training ride out of it.

People kept telling me about how this race had by far the worst roads out of any NorCal RR. Thought they were exaggerating. They were not. Half the race, I felt like I should have been riding a CX bike with CX tires. Blasting over roads at race pace that were more pot hole and patch then original asphalt. My fingers and back were killing me at times.

Epic race. I'm glad to have done it once. Probably never going to do it again.

14/26. E4.

2012 Crit Season Recap

2012-06-26T16:19:00.001-07:00

Knocked out four crits in the last month.

General recap: Raced for teammates. Patrolled the front, tried to get into breaks or bring them back. Occasionally pushed the pace if it got too slow in the last few laps. Never finished in the top 10.

Memorial Day Criterium - 5/28/2012
http://app.strava.com/rides/9552209
14.6 miles, 26mph, 33 min. 212w avg, 247 NP.
Notes; nothing.

IC3 Dash for Cash - 6/02/2012
http://app.strava.com/rides/9956469
16.5 miles, 26mph, 38 min. 211w avg, 250 NP.
Notes; won a prime. $10!

Pacific Service Credit Union Criterium p/b PG&E - 6/16/2012
http://app.strava.com/rides/10970851
14.75 miles, 26.6mph, 33 min. 238w avg, 270 NP.
Notes; nothing

The Parnassus Investments Burlingame Criterium - 6/24/2012
http://app.strava.com/rides/11617911
14.3 miles, 25.6mph, 33.5 min. 263w avg, 280 NP.
Notes; kind of a 6 corner crit. Thus, the lowest avg speed and highest power output.

Here is the data for the other three crits I did this season:

Early Bird Practice Crit - 1/22/2012
http://app.strava.com/rides/3529828
18 miles, 24mph, 44 min. 000w avg, 000 NP.
Notes; look how slow this was! No PM.

Madera County Stage Race, Criterium - 3/10/2012
http://app.strava.com/rides/madera-stage-race-stage-1-crit-e4-5090364
15 miles, 23mph, 38 min. 200w avg, 220 NP.
Notes; got crashed out. Chased for a bit then was pulled and given same time.

Chico Stage Race, Criterium - 4/15/2012
http://app.strava.com/rides/6821096
15 miles, 26mph, 34 min. 240w avg, 260 NP.
Notes; six corner crit.

So, seven crits total, so far this year. All have been flat.

Tour of California + Sierra Rd Hill Climb

2012-05-22T10:39:00.001-07:00

Awesome time spectating stage 2 (San Fran to Santa Cruz) and stage 3 (San Jose to Livermore) of the Tour of California.

Stage 2:

Took the long way out to KOM 2, got over 100 miles of riding in. Good times in the mountains.

Stage 3:

Did a hill climb time trial up Sierra Rd that my club was sponsoring. 3.5mi - 1,812ft - 175bpm - 00:28:53. Accidentally knocked the magnet for my Quarq off while I was cleaning the bike that morning. So, no power or cadence. Since I was going by HR and I was fatigued, I started off super easy and ramped it up. Most everyone in my wave rode away from me at the start, but I ended up passing a number of them before the finish.

Then went on to have an early lunch, watch the race go over KOM 1 then do a bit more riding before heading home.

2012 Wente Road Race

2012-05-03T20:47:00.001-07:00

Climbing race. Was hot out there. Exposed to the sun.

Three and a half laps. Didn't make the selection half way through the last lap. Came in 25th out of 69, Elite 4.

47.7 mi - 3,643 ft - 02:15:55 - 164 BPM - 188 W - 188 TSS - IF 0.9

All that said, I'm happy with how I did. Especially considering I've done very little climbing in my training. Gave it everything I had.

Got a good warmup in and was well hydrated. Went with two big bottles, one scoop of orange Heed each. Felt good the entire race.

2012 Chico Stage Race

2012-04-23T13:57:00.003-07:00

Report from 2012 Chico Stage Race, April 14th and 15th.

Stage 1, Road Race

http://app.strava.com/rides/6746797

2 hr 00 min, 44 miles, 1116 ft gain, 167 tss, 0.92 IF

Windy. Small rolling hills. Two went off the front at the break. Surging chase in strong head and cross winds for 73 minutes before I got popped on a larger roller. Bunch was pretty well decimated at this point. Sat up and spun for 8 minutes, until I got caught by a group of 3 chasers. Worked with them to set a strong tempo and minimize time loss. Ended up 13th out of ~26, 5 minutes down.

Stage 2, Crit

http://app.strava.com/rides/6821096

34 min, 15 miles, 0 ft gain, 52 tss, 0.96 IF

"L" shaped, six corner, downtown crit. Three went from the start. I had trouble clipping in and was at the back of the bunch. Chase was on for several laps and I was unable to move up. Eventually got a chance to move up and surf the front. Took a few strong pulls when I felt a could. Didn't have a teammate in the break, had one teammate behind me that's usually a good sprinter. Fast crit, pack was strung out the entire time. Ended up 8th, out of ~24, 37 seconds down.

Stage 3, Time Trial

http://app.strava.com/rides/6821110

25 min 21 sec, 10 miles, 17 ft gain, 29 tss, 0.84 IF

Flat "C" shaped course. First time riding with my clip-on aero bars and helmet. Took half an hour to get the bars dialed in but they almost immediately felt awesome. Had a teammate there that's big into TTs help me. Started the trial with a conservative avg power in mind. Legs were pretty fried from the two previous efforts but I felt good and slowly eased the avg power up. 2k to go sign, really opened it up and used up what was left in the tank.

2012 Madera County Stage Race

2012-03-16T07:52:00.002-07:00

Last weekend did the Madera County Stage Race for the first time. It was a huge two days a racing for me. Lots of teammates and friends there too. Had good times.

Three stages. Saturday; crit, TT. Sunday; road race.

Crit

Big wide four corner crit. Lots of bunching up before the turns, not a lot of people holding their lines. Not very fast.

Got caught in a pileup. Bike was fine though and no broken bones. Was a few laps from the finish and got Same Time as the pack.

TT

No TT bike, aero bars or aero helmet. Even in the fours, most people had all that junk. Was way out gunned.

Hit my target power though. 30th out of 43.

Road Race

One of the hardest races I've done. Finished 30 sec off what was left of the pack. 9th out of 43. Only 22 finished. Did a good job making the selections. Winds, rough roads, rollers and mechanicals decimated the field.

Ended up 14th out of 43 in the GC.

2012 Merco Hilltop Ranch Road Race

2012-03-08T19:58:00.002-08:00

Last weekend was a good weekend of riding, no two ways around it. Saturday did a five hour ride out to the coast and back. Sunday, I raced Merco Hilltop Ranch Road Race, E4, with the team.

Merco was totally different then Snelling on the previous weekend, even though it shared some of the same roads. Sunny, warm and NO WIND. Race was also an hour shorter.

Race was basically just two hours of good tempo riding. Not too many attacks. I covered three or four of them. Pack as a whole seemed to want a sprint finish.

Ended up 20th out of about 50.

There I am on the far left, black helmet, working on my cycling tan.

2012 Snelling

2012-02-27T18:04:00.003-08:00

Snelling Road Race, E4. 11 mile loop, closed to traffic, no center line. Full field of 100. Windy, rolling, sections of really bad pavement.

Brutal.

First two laps, I stayed up near the front and avoided whatever splits occurred in those nasty head and cross winds.

Going through the finishing climb at the end of the second lap, start of the third lap, pushed me over the edge though. Went right out the back. Couldn't catch back on. Looked back, saw a small chase group behind me. Sat up, rested and let them catch me.

The eight of us then worked together to produce the most beautifully executed rotating echelon ever to occur in a Elite 4 race. It was way pro.

Probably thought about quitting the race 100 times in the 11 minutes and 20 seconds it took us to latch back on. Glad I persevered though. Catching back up was extremely satisfying.

Managed to stay with the pack for another 18 miles, until the start of the last lap. Got dropped again on that damn little finishing climb.

Anyway, overall happy with the race. Thought I played it fairly smart and it was a hell of a training effort. I'm only a month into doing mostly FTP, little or no VO2 max, so I'm not too worried about my fitness being a little sub par for the race. I started my season too early last year and got burnt out early. Trying to avoid that again.

Here is a random photo of the race that I snagged off FB:

That's coming down from the finishing climb.

2012 Cantua Creek and Pine Flat road races

2012-02-22T11:39:00.005-08:00

This was the highlight of my first weekend of real racing in 2012:

Yeah, dinner the night before Cantua Creek RR.

Fun course and I thought the rolling climb finish suited me. Was feeling great. Awesome weather. Like eight teammates plus a couple other friends out there.

Felt good and was racing smart but hit a rock, hard, half way through the race. Pinch flatted my front tubular. Vittoria Pitstop fail. Had to wait for a ride back.

Issac, who I know from racing last season, absolutely killed it. Timed a perfect breakaway and took first in E4. Awesome. Unfortunately, that gives him his upgrade to E3 so I won't have his wheel to follow anymore. Bummer.

Pine Flat road race is not flat. Race started with a rolling out and back climb. Pack was surging hard on the climbs. I was hurting a little, being 8lbs over weight right now and with my FTP a bit lower then it should be, but I was hanging in.

Unfortunately, I got stuck behind a crash on the way down. Was boxed in and locked up my rear wheel trying to stop in time. I avoided joining the pileup, but put a huge hole in my tire. Couldn't even boot it and ride back to the parking lot.

Fail.

Overall, had a fun weekend but am a bit bummed I spent over 10 hours driving for less then 3 hours of actual racing! Hopefully I've gotten all my bad luck for the season out of the way.

Oh and here is a photo of my Scott Addict R1 w/ race wheels a Quarq. It's a sweet setup. Now I just need to make some better luck with it.

Loving having a power meter again. Now I just need to work on getting it to output good numbers.

SportVelo 2012 Winter Training Camp

2012-02-13T10:01:00.001-08:00

Finished a four day training camp yesterday. SportVelo Winter Training Camp, lead by coach Dan Smith.

Had 45 minute lectures every morning. Dietitian talking about nutrition. Physical therapist going over a few stretches and strength training exercises. Doctor talking about some cycling specific stuff. Etc.

Then a ~four hour sagged ride.

Followed by hot food and a 30 minute massages.

Totals:
15:50 moving time
230 miles
22,000 ft elevation gain.

Day 1

Dan talked a bit about how to pace yourself for a time trail. We then went out and did two time trials on Canada Rd, Beat the Clock course. First was individual threshold effort. Second was four person team time trial. No drop. So, you had to work together to keep the weakest person on.

And then massages outside because the weather was awesome.

Day 2

Goal here was five laps up Old La Honda and down 84. Start at low tempo on your first climb up OLH then try and improve your time on the subsequent ones. I only did four laps because I didn't dress appropriately. Roughly, 29 min, 30 min, 28 min, 27 min. Could have climbed a fifth time but not descend again. Was soaked and shivering!

Day 3

Another cold and wet day of climbing, but this time I dressed appropriately!

Climbed Kings, descended W 84, climbed W Alpine, descended Page Mill, climbed OLH, descended E 84. Lots of good miles in the bank at tempo!

Day 4

More tempo miles in the bank! OLH, out to Pesky then Stage road over to Tunitas. We really hammered it at the top 1/3 of Tunitas, were it flattens out a bit. Had a bit of a race going. Burnt the few matches I had left!

Total ride time for the week was almost 20 hours. Hopefully this will give me the endurance I need for the next four weekend of racing. Have two long road races followed by two weekend stage races.

Early Bird Crit

2012-01-26T08:20:00.001-08:00

Did one of the Early Bird Training Crits on Sunday.

Focused on being smooth and moving around in the pack. Got some good tips on that from a team training camp the previous day and it paid off. Matching speed and "backing" into line rather then trying to find a big gap. Wasting a lot less energy.

Followed the crit with a sprint clinic and drills.

In my general training, have moved from only working on endurance to both endurance and FTP. Want to be in good form in April.

Also have given up on the Garmin Vector. Doesn't look like team Garmin is running them at their training camp or Tour Down Under. Ordered a Quarq power meter.