Rock Hill RR

Carolina Masters put on a clinic today plain and simple. The way they're riding right now there's no doubt that they could do some damage in the regular P,1,2 field. All 6 or 7 or 8 of them lined up on the start line and from the gun they were launching bombs. The first 25' we were close to 28 mph and my IF was pegged at 1.0. Let's just say it was pretty dynamic but our OSB team was always in the mix. I was actually feeling good and had pretty good legs today...for a while.

Ryan Jenkins and another guy ended up in a break (Karl came sooo close to bridging...Arrrgh) then CM sat on the front and aggressively covered any and all attacks. At this point as a rider you can choose to just sit in the field and follow CM around riding easy tempo on the front or you can do what you came to do and actually race your bike. 98% of racers will amazingly choose the first option.

Very quickly the break got to about 2' and I knew that without some form of chase that they'd be long gone. And this was only in the first 20 miles of a 90+ mile race. So after Karl did a monster pull (he then disappeared to recover) I found Robert and we went to the front and basically did a 2 man TT and began to *very* slowly bring the break back. I tried to go pretty hard on the climbs to limit the attacking which was fucking up the chase. Also kudo's to CM for letting us do our thing without interference. I didn't think we'd actually make the catch but just wanted to keep it close so LL had a chance to get across later in the race.

Now I know that a lot of guys just do these races for fun/exercise and to just sit in...but in a field of 50+ guys it's ridiculous that not ONE other rider from another team came forward to help with the chase when Robert and I were killing ourselves on the front for 45 minutes. If you're reading this and were in the race: LAME!

After 20+ minutes of chasing I was getting pretty fried so I told Robert that I was done and drifted back into the field to rest. Unbelievably Robert stayed on the front drilling it solo for the next 20 minutes. That was impressive to watch.

At about mile 40-something I knew that I wouldn't survive the next 47 mile lap as I was already cramping...I gave LL and Karl each a bottle then picked up one at the feed zone and did one last chase back to the field and gave it to Robert.

My day was done. Eventually LL got 9th and Robert 15th...CM went 1,2,3,4. Ugh...

TNWC #4

Field Sprint, nothing much more to add cuz I can't sprint.

1. Marc W
2. LL
3. Jamie

TNWC #3

Mrs K and I rolled out early to get a workout in before the crit but there was a train stopped on Beltline Rd so I did my SST interval down Rosewood and past the stadium. Not ideal so I tacked on a bit of time to make up for the stoplights etc. I ended up with 35' at 90-93% and felt OK, not great.

A large turnout tonight which was great and we started off fast. After a few of hard laps everyone sort of sat up and I rolled up to Toby and said "let's go" so off we went and luckily GW and Karl came across to us. We basically just put our heads down and killed it for 20+ minutes. Hard, hard riding. Great job guys!

GW and I gapped Karl and Toby at one point so we slowed down to let them get back on and I told them to just sit on for a few laps to recover. I knew we had a much greater chance of staying away with them pulling through every once in a while than just GW and myself.

With under one lap to go I pulled out the team card and told Karl to take a flyer...that forced GW to chase him down the backstretch into the wind. As soon as he caught him I countered hard but GW still had the juice to close the gap so then I settled on Toby's wheel with GW on mine.

The sun was in a good position so I could watch GW's shadow so when he jumped I was right on him. I came off his wheel pretty fast and he was starting to die--I thought I had it but the fucker looked over and found another gear in the last 50m and held me off by inches. ;-) I guess that's what happens when you have a sub 1k watt sprint. A very fun race. GW is absolutely flying right now.

1. GW
2. Me
3. Toby

TNWC #2

Good race tonight. I did a 30' interval at 93% right before and had really good legs. Away with Gordon, Marc and Gabriel Hipps.

Couple of things... Once the break got formed we tried to do a rotating paceline but in the crosswinds it was pretty inconsistent so without any talk we went back to the 20sec pulls and that worked a lot better. Everyone was riding hard and smooth, a perfect break.

Coming up on 40' I thought it would be close so I slowed the break down to make sure we hit the line at exactly 40' to save us a lap. If you've got a good gap this is worth the seconds lost...and since you rest a bit you can drill the next lap to bring the time back up easily.

Coming into the finish I figured that I was F'd...I was going against the best sprinter in town and one of the strongest TT'ers (& both on the same team!). So into turn 3 I swung way to the side to make those guys do something...MW said he wasn't gonna contest it so I just attacked figuring with the cross tailwind I may be able to hold off GW. That didn't happen. Oh Well.

1. Gordon

2. Me

3. Gabriel Hibbs

Out Like a Lion RR

Bike racing sometimes ain't pretty, it's a battle and you do what you need to do to win.

4 of the OSB team (minus Jay) lined up today along with at least 10+ Carolina Masters (CM) riders and all of their heavy hitters. We were outnumbered and outgunned so at the start line we talked strategy...the plan was to have at least one guy in the early break and to just sit on, work as little as possible and try to get as many of our guys up the road. Not the most diplomatic of plans but we didn't have many options.

This race always has a large field and it's short at 40 miles so it's always GO from the gun. The roads are narrow so you want to be up off the front as soon as possible.

Just after the short neutral section ended a CM guy attacks and gets a gap...I thought it was John P. so I knew I had to be up there so I went across as Robert and Karl worked to shut down the field. It turned out to be Kerry from CM who's known to be a strong sprinter and a good rider but not super dominant like some of their other guys. A strong Mob racing guy also came across so there were 3 of us.

I knew, knew, KNEW that Kerry was just the carrot and was just getting up the road till some of the other CM guys could come across. There was NO WAY that CM was going to let this be the break of the day...so I just sat on. I did no work at all. I didn't pull through once. Our Plan A. To say that the other two guys were pissed was an understatement, HaHa...I got pretty much dog cussed™ for about 3 laps! The Moto comes up...you've got 1:30 to the field. Then...3 chasers at 30" consisting of Charlie Brown, John Patterson and Ladd. Here we go...

Mob guy looks at me and I say "what did you expect was going to happen?" He then stopped yelling at me and now was trying to form some sort of alliance.

I also knew (x3) that once we were caught that the shit would hit the fan in a big way. I was actually pre-attacked before they even made contact and sort of caught Patterson off guard a bit when as he came flying by. We rolled around for 60 sec then Kerry attacks hard and I went to the front and closed it for LL. A flurry of hard ass attacks and Kerry and I were dropped from the break. Adios LL and good luck!

At this point I said to him that we should both work to stay ahead of the field and we did a couple laps trading pulls. Another CM guy ended up bridging up to us and I worked with these 2 to keep our lead over the main field. At one point we only had 30" with 2 laps to go. We rode hard and with great teamwork by Robert and Karl to control things in the field we maintained our lead.

With a couple miles to go the group was nowhere to be seen so I sat on and stopped working but was starting to cramp a bit. Coming into the finish one guy attacked hard and I tried to follow but that effort pretty much finished me off and I came in right after both of them for 7th. In retrospect I should have just picked the guy who I thought I could beat and just sat on him and let the other guy go.

LL went through his own little hell and finished 4th. After all was done we were content with the results as there wasn't much else we could have done today.

Help Wanted

Ladd needs volunteers for his Time Trial on 4/3. It's from 8-12. If you can help out send him an email at ladd.lumpkin@gmail.com . Thanks.

TNWC 3/16

The TNWC is back. One down, 38 to go.

For those who are new to our weekly crit, it's a "training race" so leave the team tactics for the weekend races. This race is all about smashing your friends (& teammates) and getting stronger. Chase everything and attack like mad. If you get dropped, jump back in on the next lap then attack some more. Ride hard then ride harder and get faster.

Tonight we had around 15-20 guys and basically just chased Nick in some form all of the race. He ended up solo for the last few laps and won with "ease" (or not...I hope he suffered like a dog!). I did a 30' interval at 90% of FTP before the crit then just tried to ride, attack and chase as hard as I could (see above). It was a good workout.

1. Nick

2. Wingo

3. Me

Forest Acres Crit

The legs were pretty dead this morning so I rode over to the course to get an extra long warmup. I wasn't expecting much today. A smallish field but the usual strong men were there from Carolina Masters and POA. I figured things would be sorted out in the first few laps.

At the end of lap 1 there was the perfect lull so I attacked at the start finish...mostly because my family and friends were there watching and my thought that I might get shelled later in the race. HaHa. I got a good gap which caused a chase and at the backside climb I was caught and the counters went hard. As people flew by I was looking at who went: 2-CM, 2-POA, Jay-check, LL-check. I knew this break would go the distance so it was time to chill.

John "F-ing" Patterson ended up getting away and solo'd in for the win. Jay got 4th, LL 6th.

What follows is a ridiculously long play by play for 7th place... wtf? I guess I'm bored.

I spent the next few laps sitting second wheel and covering any attacks. I ended up away with a CM and Gordon Stihl. I was rolling through and taking 80% pulls but still doing some work cuz I knew the break was long gone. But that I guess wasn't enough for the CM dude--he started giving me some grief. I truly didn't care at this point so I just shut it down, sat on and let them work. Gordon would try to let a big gap open and get me to close it but...I didn't care!

Keith from CM joined up with us and he's flying right now and a really strong sprinter so I had even less motivation to do any work. My "problem" was that now there were 2 CM riders in our group. After a couple laps of Keith and I sitting on he started attacking hard on the climb. I followed him pretty easily a couple times but once we'd get a gap he'd expect me to work and I was like "nope". Actually I tried to tell him I was tired or something Haha... He got pretty pissed but we're friends and I had invited him to stay with us this weekend. In retrospect I probably should have worked with him to get a big gap on the other guys then sat on him for the last couple laps. He's a hard guy to beat when he's sitting on your wheel.

I think Keith was a little worried about Gordon (I wasn't for some reason). With one to go he let a big gap open (to make Gordon close it) so I attacked the other CM rider but my heart (or legs...or mind) weren't really into it. I just went hard enough to make them chase me. We all were together at the climb so I swung wide to the side to watch Keith then we lined up for the downhill finish.

Crusty had told me to be first through the last turn due to the downhill and tailwind. So right before I was going to launch Keith comes flying by...Shit! I got his wheel just after the turn but it was too late. Even though I went into the race feeling like crap the legs did everything I asked them to do so I'm at least happy with that.

TNWC starts this tuesday at 6:30.

B-R Road Race

Today was the Blythewood road race. I was a little apprehensive cuz I really haven't been training that much and I knew it would be a hard mans race. Plus the wind was howling so there would be nowhere to hide either in a break or the field.

At the start we had some collusion with another team about trying to go from the gun. Jay and LL were gonna go and I was gonna try to make the gap happen from the field. This made for a very hard first lap as there were lots of attacks/counters. The 1st 20' I had a NP of 105%. After things settled down 2 guys managed to slip away and stayed away to the finish. We then were chasing hard at times but the friggin gap kept going up...frustrating but kudos to them. 1st hour of racing had a 98% NP.

The short hard laps took its toll and the field was pretty much whittled down. Jay got away with 2 others in chase #1 then LL and 4 others in chase #2. Once LL was out of sight I just shut it down, rode at the back and then stopped on lap 7 so I could watch the finish and conserve a bit for Sunday. Jay ended up 4th, LL 6th.

I did get some grief from a d-bag about "negative" racing. It's always negative if you miss the break or have no teammates. I do make a point not to actively impede an organized chase but if the field wants to follow me around at 21 mph, so be it. Good job to Toby S. today for chasing solo with half lap pulls...just noone would help him.

Crit tomorrow 11am at Satchel Ford Elementary School off Trenholm Rd. Should be some more fireworks from the gun.

*sniff*

Been sick since I unclipped from the race on Sunday. Bad head cold. I did manage to only drink 1/2 bottle in the race and I was also so dehydrated on Monday that I nearly passed out. I kept seeing all these pretty floaty things for about 3 hrs and spent the day in bed.

I took a couple days off the bike then tonight I got on the velodyne and had a pretty solid workout with good leg sensations. It's all good. I'm off to Utah for some skiing tomorrow but may try to squeeze in an "easy" VO2 workout before the flight.

River falls is this weekend which I'll miss. I will be back for our local Blythewood-Roubaix races the following weekend. The course is good and has been changed. No gravel, No dirt . A couple of tough climbs each lap that WILL be selective. Things you will not see at the finish are sprinters or pack fill. This one's gonna be fun.

Race no. 3 Donaldson center

Today's race was 6 laps at the Donaldson center, about 45 miles. A break of 3 took off from the gun and the group just rolled around at 21 mph for 3 laps. Patience was the key as we weren't too worried about the break.

Since the group was riding slow it was pretty hard for anyone to get away since everyone's just sitting there fresh and not really working. Plus there were a lot of antsy guys just waiting to launch. The best time to attack in a race is right after a really hard effort when everyone is gassed. So with 3 laps to go we had to go to Plan B which is to try to make the race hard. Robert and I went to the front and instead of a steady chase we started just drilling it and putting people in the gutter due to the crosswinds. Then LL came up and joined in the rotation cuz he wasn't feeling all that great.

We were crushing it at the front. I had a 10' NP of 310w (110%) and 18' at 300w (107%). We had the group strung out and brought the break back from two minute lead within a lap. Great job by Robert and LL.

Once the break was caught there were many attacks with Jay working it the best he could. I was pretty much toast on the 5th lap but sat in and managed to recover a bit then went back up to see what I could do.

Ryan Jenkins was off with another guy and as I came up Jay told me to go as hard as possible up the next climb to try to set him up to go across. My legs were dead so I just went to the front and sprinted up the climb for as hard as I could go for 30s (579w ave Ha!). This got things a bit closer, the shit hit the fan and I just drifted to the back to try to stay in contact with the group which was pretty hard in the crosswinds. My day was done at this point with about 6 miles to go and I just cruised in at the back.

The break got reeled in and Ryan J. then slipped off solo and held it to the line. The strongest guy definitely won today. Jay managed to get 7th in the field sprint. Not the typical result for Team OSB but we worked together, were able to execute a plan and at least had someone in position at the end with a shot at the win. Next week should be better at River Falls.

Race no. 2 Fork Shoals

It was damn cold this morning... around 30˚ and probably the coldest race I've done. Our team has always kicked ass at Fork Shoals so we were psyched, confident and looking forward to it (last year we finished 1-2-4). We did 3 laps and 45 miles (despite the flyer saying 60 miles). At the end of the first lap Jay was up the road in a small break and LL and Ryan Jenkens from Carolina Masters bridged across. Once they got together they were gone as Ryan is a great TT'er and has won a ton of races.

The POA team again had 10+ riders and one guy in the break but they didn't seem too

happy with it and they were chasing all day long. Go figure, but I wouldn't like my chances against LL and JC either. I was only really worried about one guy, Charlie Brown. He's Ryan's teammate and if he shows at a bike race there's a good chance he'll win. Lets just say on the drive up his name was mentioned a few times! So I followed him around in the group and made sure if he attacked then either Robert or I went with him.

For the finish the break basically stopped working so Jay had to do a ton of work to set up LL. It came down to a sprint and there was a photo finish for first. Unfortunately the brainiacs who were officiating forgot to turn on the camera so they picked Ryan as the winner... trouble was all of Ryan's teammates standing at the finish thought LL had beat him. That kind of sucks but what can you do. LL finished 2nd and Jay 4th.

I had a good run at the finish and basically just followed Charlie to finish 9th. I had an IF of .88 for close to 2 hrs so it was a pretty good workout. I bonked HARD standing in line at Subway...gotta eat more in these races.

Tomorrow is a Donaldson Ctr Road Race and a 11am start so it will be good and warm.

Race no.1

Greenville training series #1 was today for LL, Jay, RK and I. I woke up with a really crap stomach for some reason that bothered me all day. Weather was nice and around 50˚ at the start.

LL and I lined up at the front and within a minute POC (who had probably 10 guys there) had launched a guy...I followed that. We were caught then they launched another & I found myself away with him. We got a good gap and rode pretty hard for a lap (VO2 type pulls) then we settled in and stayed away for 45 min. The other guy wasn't super strong so I didn't think we'd stay away but I worked hard anyway to make some other teams chase--we were eventually caught.

Unfortunately right after we were caught the usual counter attacks happened and it got very hard for next lap. That hurt a bit. My first hour of racing was at an IF of .96

I was pretty much in conserve mode at this point and LL, Jay and RK were attacking and were represented in every serious break until the end, sometimes with all 3 of them up there. Nice!

On the last lap LL and Robert got into a fairly large unorganized break that dangled off the front and ended up staying away with LL getting 3rd and RK getting 7th.

I was going to just bag the sprint since 8 places were up the road but got caught up in the spirit of things and had a good run, I passed a bunch of people in the grass on the right then popped back on the pavement to get 3rd in the field sprint and I think 11th on the day.

Good strong riding by our team today. It was a really fun race.

Come TT with me

We got a new TT series here in Columbia this year. 20k and 40k options. Awesome course. First race is April 3. More info is HERE. Click the image below to see it larger.

No AM

Got everything ready to ride this morning except my motivation to get up at 5:45...got lucky with the rain and was able to do an unstructured 2:20.

Gonna be sparse updates here till the racing begins in a few weeks.