Syracuse Race Weekend Race Report

Before I get started on the race report from this weekend, I want to put out a call for any information about possibly increasing the q-factor, the distance between the pedals, on a road bike. After the vacation-ending injuries to Sue in Asheville, she has stayed off the road bike and has been riding some on her mountain bike and has not had any hip/knee issues. In fact, she's been off the anti-inflammatories for several days now with no problems whatsoever. Sweet. Anyway, she hopped on the road bike Monday just to ride down to the village parade and back, and in that very short time, had the sensation that her feet were really close together. Rough measurements seem to indicate that the pedal-center-to-frame-center distance is about 1cm greater on the mountain bike. Most people tend to want advice on decreasing the q-factor, but as we've learned, Sue is definitely not "most people", and we want to try increasing the q-factor on her road steed to see if that eases some of her hip/knee problems while riding. We'd already moved the cleats inward a long time ago, so I'm looking for something different. I'm thinking replacing the bottom bracket spindle for a double with a spindle made for a triple but still using a double and then adjusting the front derailleur to match might work a little, but I'm not sure how that would turn out.

Moving on to the race report, the Syracuse Race was rather uneventful this year. The fog during the road race was probably the most interesting part of the weekend.

Most of my Colavita team lined up in the 3/4 field Saturday. The road race course is about a 30 mile loop with mostly flats except for a roughly two-mile climb in the middle. Most of the larger fields tend to race for the hill; that is to say, they ride piano until the hill, then make a selection.

The first time up the hill, I was selected to be dropped, along with about half the field. My wattage for the climb was about 20W higher then I'd done earlier in the week during the club ride, and I had thought that was hard. During the few rollers following the climb, a bunch of us regrouped into about a twelve-man chase group. We hit the gas for miles, and eventually did catch back on to the leading pack, which was spinning along a little less than tempo, content to just ride along until they hit the hill again for the next selection. As always, there were a few in the bunch who were driving the rest of nuts. They would surge ahead or take long pulls or otherwise disrupt the smooth progress of a nice tight double pace line. A few in the group had their tongues dragging on their front wheel and were obviously pretty blown from the hill climb, and there was one annoying guy who kept scolding them for not doing work. I've seen this guy in races earlier this year. I have no idea who he is, but he's always chatting about something, sharing his racing wisdom with the masses. I made it my mission to beat him up the final climb.

It was cool and wet with fog, and I had to make myself eat and drink. The many miles of flats and little rollers can sap the energy from your legs without you really recognizing it.

The second time up the hill, I was selected out again, and this time when I got to the top, I was with one other guy, a friend of mine on another local team. He was stronger than I was on the rollers and flats, so I said goodbye and let myself drop off as he caught another rider so I could ride my own pace home. A couple miles later, he cramped up so much, he had to get off the bike and stretch and waved me on. I caught up to one, then two more guys. We passed a few more who had cramped and blown up in the remaining miles to the finish line. One was the annoying guy from earlier in the race, and I was pleased to at least finish in front of him. A teammate, Jeremy, had finished third on the day, so he was best placed on GC points, so we'd work for him during the crit on Sunday.

The drag race street sprints downtown in the evening were, as usual, both fun and annoying at the same time. They do virtually nothing for showing your talent as a bike rider, and although it's interesting and fun, it's annoying to get suited up and warmed up for 10 to 30 seconds of racing depending on how many heats you win. I won my first easily with a peak power of 1208 watts, lost my second with 1222 watts, and then came in third in my last round, to get a handful of points added to my GC score.

It was a beautiful day in the park for the criterium on Sunday. The 3/4 field felt darn fast. We averaged just under 27 mph for the roughly 25 miles. There was one crash on the downhill; a single guy who did a superman onto a driveway that went down an embankment. He was seen standing afterwards, and I think he lost skin only and didn't do any major damage. The final turn was incredibly rough with pothole patches all over the place, and I'm surprised no one went down through there from the sideways float you got when spending half the time in the air over the bumps. The tree-lined road was echoing with the cracking, rapping sound of deep-dish carbon wheels. None came apart, but for sure there were a few microfibers that didn't survive the day.

When it came time late in the race to move our leader to the front, about two or three of us were up to the task. I joined the of the team in the middle of the pack, who's sole contribution to the leadout was yelling, "Go for it Jeremy! Good luck!" Later that evening, I would download the power meter to see an insane looking graph. Peaks and valleys all over the place. The average wattage for the crit was only something like 210W, but there was an awful lot of time spent in the 3, 4, and 500s.

All in all, it was good training, and I needed the intensity. The ESG qualifiers come up this Saturday, and I'm hoping to make the team again. It will depend mostly on the actions of others, whether or not they can go or want to go to the games in late July. Ten guys and three alternates are chosen, and if enough of the top guys would rather go to Altoona or do some other race, then I just might squeak onto the squad. I'm not holding much hope though. I feel like I was in better shape last year, and even then I still only scored 16th place and just made the team with seven guys above me decided not to go. With the games in Rochester this year, I think even more guys will want to go, so I'll probably be staying home in late July. But hey, you never know.

See you on the road.