Syn-Fit Criterium

I didn't race very smart on Saturday, but I got a cool new pic out of it (above). Jim Wilson is really active with NCVC and works a lot with the Juniors. He also takes great pictures of the races and allows you to download the hi-resolution original. Above one is courtesy of his website. I think this photo is from the beginning of the race. I think the 3rd guy back is yawning at the pace I was setting.

Syn-Fit is raced on a .85 mile loop with only 2 turns and it's basically flat. Overall a safe course on smooth roads, but no section to make a selection.

I had my highest average heartrate in this race (172 bpm) out of the 3 practice and 2 regular races I've done this year. Jeff Cup was 168 bpm, but for an hour and 18 minutes. Syn-Fit lasted about 37 minutes.

I don't know what I was doing and I can't really remember the exact details, but I think I was mixing it up off the front and/or leading the pack during laps 2, 3 and 4. That was stupid (I admit when I'm stupid). I'm guessing at my fitness level, I don't have many matches to burn and I blew through too many in those first 4 laps. Looking back at my data, I can see a period of 4-5 minutes where my heart rate was over 180 bpm in the first 8-10 minutes of the race.

What was I doing?

It's my own fault, but I got about 15 minutes of warm-up for the race. I hopped out on the course at 9:10am for a 9:30am start. Stupid, again. I have yet to get to a race and get settled in time for an appropriate warm-up.

There was a bad crash somewhere between lap 6-8. It happened on a straight and open stretch of road. I don't know what happened, but I was able to slow down enough (stopped) to avoid the half dozen people that went down.

The chase on after that sucked. It took a good 2 or 3 laps. I think you can see this on the heart rate tab of my race file. If you look inbetween minutes 20-26, you can see 2 humps, the first being the bridge up to a rider and then subsequently recovering behind him (and heart rate dropping), then the second effort to go around that rider and make it back to the pack. That was probably the one smart thing I did during the race.

After my fun (read: horrible) experience with the Jeff Cup bunch (only about 15-20 people) sprint finish I had made up my mind not to contest the sprint in this race. I probably couldn't have anyway given the way I needlessly expended energy early on, but that was my mindset: no bunch sprint for me today (read: wimp). I don't think that mindset will last very long, hopefully.

I made one late attempt at a break during the 2nd to last lap. That was my (1) expend my remaining energy trying to break away for the win (.000052% chance of success) or (2) get swallowed up half a lap later and not contest the bunch sprint (99.999948% chance of happening) tactic. And the results are that I'm not Fabian Cancellara (big surprise there!). If only I had an aero frame....hmmm, that would have bought me about 6 more meters of break away.

My teammate and buddy Brian (below pic with Cezanne and I) said after the race that when I jumped on the 2nd to last lap he tried to jump on my wheel, but I jumped too hard for him to latch on. I wish I would have known because it would have been great if we both got in a last lap break away. I jumped so no one would latch on, but I probably went to hard and expended too much effort which made holding off the pack that much harder. You can see in the heart rate data that the blip towards the end started off at 187 bpm, that was my initial effort to get a gap and then you can see the trickle down.

Makes me wonder if I tried that move, but had "sit in" all race and not spent that 4-5 minutes in the beginning in the red or had to chase on. Reality is that I probably would have been able to stay away for a bit longer at the end, but ultimately not change the outcome.

It was definitely fun to come through the start/finish on the bell lap with a gap. The previous few laps I was at the back of the pack waving and smiling at Cezanne as we went through and then I came through the very next time in pain with a small gap, kind of funny.

I latched back on the back of the group after I was absorbed and then drifted off the back as everyone rounded the last turn. I drifted off enough to see a junior nail the outside curb of that turn, almost taking out Brian for the second time that race.

The lap data for the race is here.

There was a lot of traffic on the way back home. The Syn-Fit Crit was out near Dulles Airport. To top it off I got stuck behind a garbage truck in Georgetown on 33rd St. It was painstakingly slow, but in reality, these guys were very efficient. They didn't waste a single step. I found myself not being frustrated in the least for being held up.

I tried to take a nap on Saturday afternoon since Orthodox Easter service started at 11:30pm that night and we were driving to Annapolis for it. Most things I do are lame (title of the blog as I've mentioned before) and my normal bed time is definitely one of them. So, the 11:30pm start time is about an hour and a half later than the time I usually turn in given my usual 5:40am rise time during the week.

After having some of the left-over pizza we had the night before with Wick and Kyle for lunch, I tried to turn in from about 3:30pm-6pm. I think I may have gotten a little bit of sleep, mainly from 5:30-6pm and I woke up feeling totally drained and unrested. So, it was the nap I wish I didn't take.

We got to Church in Annapolis right on time and met my Dad and my brother Stephen and his girlfriend Natalie. We didn't stay for the full service, but longer than most. We left the Church at 1am and headed to my Dad's for a late night snack.

We got to bed around 2am and the plan was to sleep in until 10am... So, we were up around 7:30am and out of bed around 8-8:15am. We had showered, walked Bono, walked downtown to Hard Bean, had some coffee and a small breakfast and were back on my Dad's porch watching the world go by when the 10am alarm went off on my phone.

Bono was enjoying the porch too and watching people coming and going from downtown Annapolis (pic below).

Another view off the porch below. You can barely make out the Naval Academy behind and to the right of the hotel.

Easter lunch/dinner was great. We had the whole family there except for Jason who is in Djibouti in Africa. He was missed, but we'll get him next time! The food (leg of lamb, spanakopita, feta cheese, kalamata olives, bread, and baklava) were great. I was disgustingly stuffed afterwards, but that didn't stop me from playing uncle.

Jon and Jen's kids (those old enough to play) all went up stairs to jump on the spare bed and asked me to come with them. They jumped around and wrestled and hid in the closet. They like to "pile on" each other and the wrestling and kicking that comes with that makes me uncomfortable, although I'm sure it is tame compared to what I and my 4 brothers used to do. I have stitches (2 sets) to prove it. So, in an attempt to not let it escalate, it became "pile on uncle Chris" time.

After that we headed to the playground for a bit, then headed back to my Dad's where we all got ready to go. Overall a great weekend and the funnest racing I've done so far.