Well despite feeling like I have good form, today's race in Silkenbourg was a bit of a disaster. It had a really good field for a local Danish race and it was a bit windy. In the first 35 km two groups of about 8-10 guys attacked the peleton and were pretty clearly gone, we had 3 people up the road and the groups quickly came together. Then a third group of 9 went and I was in it. Riding in the break felt pretty easy, I wasn't having to work too hard to rotate through and after chasing for 30 km we eventually caught the big group up the road. After a brief respite, the attacks started. This is when the day started to go quite sour for me. On the couple of little hills on the lap I started going backwards in the group and eventually missed a big split in the break. Unfortunately, one of my teammates, Ricky, also missed the split and there were a ton of people up the road. So we started to chase. Then another teammate Nicolai, came back from the front split to our group, so we started to chase even harder. Then I took a good pull and suddenly I could not get on the back of the group, we were going about 55 kph in a tailwind and I just could not get on the wheel.
I wasn't going to chase back on my own, so I just had to ride by myself until the peleton caught me. There weren't riding hard and there was not much to do except sit and wait for the finish. Remarkably another group of like 8 guys came back from the breakaway, also clearly destroyed. Then there were a bunch of attacks again for the finish, I tried to chase some down to give Frederick a chance for the sprint. Then they sprinted. I finished somewhere in the middle of the group. C'est la vie.
I think what it was is that I've had a pretty easy week after Fleche du Sud, and my body tends to pretty much shut down on rest weeks. So I think that doing this race will actually make me ride way better in the 1.2 we are doing in Norway on Monday. At least that's what I am telling myself. I had form a week ago, so I don't see why it would suddenly dissapear.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Fleche du Sud
Last week we went to Luxembourg and did the UCI 2.2 Fleche du Sud. It had a prologue and 4 stages. I was hoping for a good ride at this race as it is one of the hillier races that our team does. However, as usually the case, the prologue ended up being more decisive then most of the mountains.
The prologue was 4.2 km on a technical course with some narrow off camber turns, but also some long straights that definitely favored a TT bike. I basically suck at prologues, they are the opposite of what I am good at. But I knew that I needed to do a decent ride if I was to have any hope of doing well on GC. I took it a little too conservative in the corners, but I still averaged 45 kph (28 mph) and finished 50th. That doesn't sound too great, but thats like 30-40 places higher than I normally finish in prologues, and I beat Bart Wellens, so that was ok. Michael Faerk put in a decent ride and got 4th, but he was hoping for a bit more since he is the part of the current world championship winning team persuit team. Phinney crushed everyone and won by 3 seconds, but he also previewed the course way more then we did, and that meant that he was going so fast through the turns that he clipped a couple of curbs according to an interview I saw. Considering Faerk and I only rode the course 3 times, which was just barely enough to get a grip on the direction of the turns, loosing by 6 seconds isn't so bad for Michael.
The first stage looked pretty easy on paper, and turned out to be pretty easy in practice as well. There were two categorized climbs, but they were both pretty gradual and neither seriously broke up the field. The only real excitement came when the started the three 10km finishing circuits and the heavens opened up for a serious deluge. Mathias Gade had just gotten away in a group of 10, so we were hoping they would make it to the line, but despite a small crash by Phinney and some of his team mates in a slow corner, they were still caught with 15 km to go and it ended up being a 100 person field sprint. I just tried to stay near the front and out of trouble and rolled in somewhere in the mid 30s. However, for some reason they put a 4 second gap to the first 20 riders across the line, so Faerk lost a place on GC.
The second day had three categorized climbs in the first 80 km of the race and the first one, which came 26 km into the stage was like 12-15% for the final 500m. I think a lot of guys were pretty nervous about that climb, so when a group of 6 riders went about 15 km into the day, the peleton basically let them go. There were a bunch of attacks up all of the climbs and both Faerk and I were pretty comfortably at the front. Phinney got dropped a few times, but always had guys with him who would help him come back. Then after the last climb we were on a plateau with some good crosswinds so we decided to try and break up the field there. At first a Dutch team was also helping us but they started off going to hard and couldn't sustain it. So we ended up trying it with just 3 guys, me, Michael Berling, and Mathias Gade. We did break the field into three groups, but once we stopped, all of the impetus went out of the front group and I think most guys got back on. At least we hurt some legs, which was pretty evident when we hit the final 60 km which were done on four 15 km laps. Guys were visibly tired, but Faerk was also struggling since he hadn't eaten enough during the first part of the stage, so we didn't want to blow the race up either. I attacked with 6km to go and again with 1500m to go so I gave it a good effort, but again was caught before the line. Since the peleton was so tired, no one really organized a chase of the early break and they ended up staying away by about a minute. It tured out to be the deciding factor on GC.
On the third stage I decided to give it everything to get into a break, but despite countless attacks in the first hour and a half, the break didn't go. Eventually a small group did get away, but they were pretty doomed. The four finishing laps had a good 300 ft climb and I thought it could be a chance to make back some lost time. But despite being off the front at the top of the hill each lap, the downhill was too fast and non-technical that the peleton would basically come back together every lap. So again, it was a 70 person field sprint.
Fourth day started off kind of strage as I found myself without team mates in a group of about 30 riders after 10 minutes of racing. Clearly being in a bad position I did no work until we got brought back. Then a group of 18 went and we only had Berling in it. So again he did no work until a few teams got togher and brought it back. Then there were a bunch of attacks and I got into a group of 8 which I though looked promising, but then we hit the first KOM of the day and our group exploded and got caught by the field. I attacked half way up and got into another group of 3 riders at the top, but we were caught soon after the downhill. Immediately after we got caught a group of 19 went away and we only had Luthando in it. Still, we had someone, so we sat back and let somebody else chace, while Luthando sat on. Eventually they did get caught. There was just one thing left that could change the race, and that was a steep climb with 15km to go that was followed by a plateau before a gradual descent to the finish. Three riders went right at the bottom and I was too messed up from the heat, it was about 87 F and humid, and couldn't follow them. But I did make the front group of about 20 which also contained Faerk. The run-in to the finish consisted of attack after attack as everyone was on their limit trying to make something happen. Another group of about 20-30 made it back on during the final km which included Berling and he helped keep some of the attacks in check. However, the three riders who had gone on the climb managed to keep a 16 second gap to the line and two of them got in front of Faerk and he ended up 11th. Since the group was a relatively small 50 riders, I moved up to 25th place on GC.
Overall, I am pretty satisfied with how the race went. The tactics didn't quite go my way and I made the mistake of not going with the break on stage 2 even though I was in a decent position to go with it. It was a problem of condfidence. I was also worried about the big climbs on the stage and I feared that if I went and got caught that I would have been dropped. It turns out that I was probably one of the 10 best climbers at this race, I finished 5th in the KOM competition without actually sprinting for any mountain tops. So that shouldn't have been a worry. Still, I was getting dropped on these kinds of climbs in 2.2 races last year so I had that in the back of my mind. Now I have a better idea of where I stand, I will take the next race by the horns and attack without trepidation or hesitation. That is what I have done in the past whenever I have gotten good results, and now I have the confidence to do it here.
The prologue was 4.2 km on a technical course with some narrow off camber turns, but also some long straights that definitely favored a TT bike. I basically suck at prologues, they are the opposite of what I am good at. But I knew that I needed to do a decent ride if I was to have any hope of doing well on GC. I took it a little too conservative in the corners, but I still averaged 45 kph (28 mph) and finished 50th. That doesn't sound too great, but thats like 30-40 places higher than I normally finish in prologues, and I beat Bart Wellens, so that was ok. Michael Faerk put in a decent ride and got 4th, but he was hoping for a bit more since he is the part of the current world championship winning team persuit team. Phinney crushed everyone and won by 3 seconds, but he also previewed the course way more then we did, and that meant that he was going so fast through the turns that he clipped a couple of curbs according to an interview I saw. Considering Faerk and I only rode the course 3 times, which was just barely enough to get a grip on the direction of the turns, loosing by 6 seconds isn't so bad for Michael.
The first stage looked pretty easy on paper, and turned out to be pretty easy in practice as well. There were two categorized climbs, but they were both pretty gradual and neither seriously broke up the field. The only real excitement came when the started the three 10km finishing circuits and the heavens opened up for a serious deluge. Mathias Gade had just gotten away in a group of 10, so we were hoping they would make it to the line, but despite a small crash by Phinney and some of his team mates in a slow corner, they were still caught with 15 km to go and it ended up being a 100 person field sprint. I just tried to stay near the front and out of trouble and rolled in somewhere in the mid 30s. However, for some reason they put a 4 second gap to the first 20 riders across the line, so Faerk lost a place on GC.
The second day had three categorized climbs in the first 80 km of the race and the first one, which came 26 km into the stage was like 12-15% for the final 500m. I think a lot of guys were pretty nervous about that climb, so when a group of 6 riders went about 15 km into the day, the peleton basically let them go. There were a bunch of attacks up all of the climbs and both Faerk and I were pretty comfortably at the front. Phinney got dropped a few times, but always had guys with him who would help him come back. Then after the last climb we were on a plateau with some good crosswinds so we decided to try and break up the field there. At first a Dutch team was also helping us but they started off going to hard and couldn't sustain it. So we ended up trying it with just 3 guys, me, Michael Berling, and Mathias Gade. We did break the field into three groups, but once we stopped, all of the impetus went out of the front group and I think most guys got back on. At least we hurt some legs, which was pretty evident when we hit the final 60 km which were done on four 15 km laps. Guys were visibly tired, but Faerk was also struggling since he hadn't eaten enough during the first part of the stage, so we didn't want to blow the race up either. I attacked with 6km to go and again with 1500m to go so I gave it a good effort, but again was caught before the line. Since the peleton was so tired, no one really organized a chase of the early break and they ended up staying away by about a minute. It tured out to be the deciding factor on GC.
On the third stage I decided to give it everything to get into a break, but despite countless attacks in the first hour and a half, the break didn't go. Eventually a small group did get away, but they were pretty doomed. The four finishing laps had a good 300 ft climb and I thought it could be a chance to make back some lost time. But despite being off the front at the top of the hill each lap, the downhill was too fast and non-technical that the peleton would basically come back together every lap. So again, it was a 70 person field sprint.
Fourth day started off kind of strage as I found myself without team mates in a group of about 30 riders after 10 minutes of racing. Clearly being in a bad position I did no work until we got brought back. Then a group of 18 went and we only had Berling in it. So again he did no work until a few teams got togher and brought it back. Then there were a bunch of attacks and I got into a group of 8 which I though looked promising, but then we hit the first KOM of the day and our group exploded and got caught by the field. I attacked half way up and got into another group of 3 riders at the top, but we were caught soon after the downhill. Immediately after we got caught a group of 19 went away and we only had Luthando in it. Still, we had someone, so we sat back and let somebody else chace, while Luthando sat on. Eventually they did get caught. There was just one thing left that could change the race, and that was a steep climb with 15km to go that was followed by a plateau before a gradual descent to the finish. Three riders went right at the bottom and I was too messed up from the heat, it was about 87 F and humid, and couldn't follow them. But I did make the front group of about 20 which also contained Faerk. The run-in to the finish consisted of attack after attack as everyone was on their limit trying to make something happen. Another group of about 20-30 made it back on during the final km which included Berling and he helped keep some of the attacks in check. However, the three riders who had gone on the climb managed to keep a 16 second gap to the line and two of them got in front of Faerk and he ended up 11th. Since the group was a relatively small 50 riders, I moved up to 25th place on GC.
Overall, I am pretty satisfied with how the race went. The tactics didn't quite go my way and I made the mistake of not going with the break on stage 2 even though I was in a decent position to go with it. It was a problem of condfidence. I was also worried about the big climbs on the stage and I feared that if I went and got caught that I would have been dropped. It turns out that I was probably one of the 10 best climbers at this race, I finished 5th in the KOM competition without actually sprinting for any mountain tops. So that shouldn't have been a worry. Still, I was getting dropped on these kinds of climbs in 2.2 races last year so I had that in the back of my mind. Now I have a better idea of where I stand, I will take the next race by the horns and attack without trepidation or hesitation. That is what I have done in the past whenever I have gotten good results, and now I have the confidence to do it here.
Copenhagen Pictures
Sunday, May 17, 2009
GP Copenhagen Bikebuster-Odsherred Classic
This race was great for the team, ok for me. We wanted to get Jacob in the break because we knew that he would crush anyone he was with after 150km and after a ton of attacks in the first 70 km, eventually Jacob went and took two guys with him. The field rode hard for another 10 km, where the break was holding 30 seconds. Then they sat up. Then the break had 3 minutes. Then 5 minutes. Then 8 minutes. Then 12 minutes. Then they started chasing. It was about 90 km to go, 120 in. We went super hard up a hill, split the (greatly reduced) peleton into two groups of about 15. Chris, Berling, and I were in the front, but Linde was too far back when the shit hit the fan so missed the front group. Thinking everything was good in the peleton, Michael decided to go back up to the break, and then 20 seconds later, I got a front flat, couldn't make a gentle corner and fell into a muddy field. It was great cause it felt like landing on a bunch of pillows. Another car eventually gave me a new wheel but by then I was in the second group. I was kind of pissed because I though the race was over, so I waited for a few minutes until we hit the next set of hills, then I just started going as hard as I could up everything hoping to either catch back, or at least really punish all of those guys in the second group cause they were pulling like a bunch of cat 3s. It kind of worked. We eventually got back, but it was basically only Linde and I chasing. So the two of us closed a 45 secondish gap by ourselves while 6 or 7 guys were on the front of the first group setting tempo. It took about 30 minutes of hard chasing.
Needless to say after that i was a little tired, and that was when we started the six 9km finishing laps. Each lap had a steep hill going up to the finish line. And I would basically go backwards on it. There were a ton more attacks from the peleton and the group exploded. Berling had a couple of bad punctures, the second one made Linde give up his wheel and that was the end of Linde's race. But Berling kept attacking and eventually got into a group racing for 10th. Chris was in a group racing for 6th and got 9th. Berling flatted again and ended up like 16th. I ended up in a group that was basically done racing. So I waited until the last lap and then attacked right before the hill and rode the last lap by myself to come in somewhere maybe 20th. It was a bit stupid though because I got to within 30 or 40 seconds of a group in front of me, so if I had gone a lap earlier I could have gotten like 5 places higher. I didn't really realize how tired everyone was. But then again I haven't done that many 130 mile hilly races in 46 degree rain before. In fact this was the first one.
Still I think I would have been in the top 10 if I didn't puncture when I did, so I think the form is there for Fleche du Sud. I am going to tell the guys to ride for me at that race. I am tired of being the one covering all of the moves in the first 80 km. Actually today was kind of cool. I think I spent 20 km from like 50-70km into the race sitting 4th wheel.... some guys would attack, I would just slot on the wheel, they'd go hard for a little while, then sit up. Then someone else would go, I'd get into 4th wheel, sit there for a bit, and so on. I don't think I was outside the top 15 for more then a few minutes until just before Jacob's break went. Thats pretty good.
Oh yeah, and Jacob basically rode away from the other two guys. First with 30 km to go, then he punctured and got caught. Then again with 15 km to go. So we were right, he did crush them after a while.
Overall the day was 6 hours, 5100 KJ, and TSS score of 423. That is my hardest day ever by far.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Sights of Denmark
Here are some of the sights I see on a regular basis. This is the monument signifying the highest point in Denmark, at a whopping 173 meters (567 ft).
The view from the monument is pretty good though.
Here is Horsens from across the fjord, I live about 1500 meters from the beach
Here is one of the many small hills through the woods.
Finally, here is a self portrait on a tiny bike path next to a stream.
The view from the monument is pretty good though.
Here is Horsens from across the fjord, I live about 1500 meters from the beach
Here is one of the many small hills through the woods.Finally, here is a self portrait on a tiny bike path next to a stream.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Watching the Giro
It's been on live on EuroSport and I think its going to be one exciting race. One person that I couldn't help noticing though, is Voight. That guy is ridiculously hard watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oWcNGwu-rs
If everyone was like him I think bike racing would be way too difficult. But I met him in Stuttgart when I was at Worlds and I have to say that he also seemed like a super nice guy. Maybe I should start thinking "what would Voight do" and maybe I'll win more.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
If everyone was like him I think bike racing would be way too difficult. But I met him in Stuttgart when I was at Worlds and I have to say that he also seemed like a super nice guy. Maybe I should start thinking "what would Voight do" and maybe I'll win more.
I found somewhere as flat as Davis...
... and that place is north west Holland.
We did the Omloop der Kempen, 200km with two overpasses providing the only elevation change. It was warm, sunny, and there was no wind. So it had the makings of a field sprint before the day even started. We were told to keep cool and out of trouble for the first 4o km then think about getting to the front and starting to get into breaks. As it was nothing much went until about 100 km into the race. We got pretty caught out though, the group that went was about 20 guys and we completely missed it. I was the closest to the front when it went, but I was still too far back to follow the right weels to get into it. Once I did get far enough up the gap was already too big for me to go across on my own and no one seemed very keep to work with me to get up to them. But luckily there was a pretty quick responce from the rest of my team as four of us got on the front along with 5 guys from the Sean Kelly team and pulled the group back about 15 km later.
Then another break went with 4 riders, and again we missed it. This one looked pretty doomed from the start though and we weren't too concerned. Sure enough, the group was caught just as we started the two finishing circuits with 22km to go. Lacking a sprinter, we all started attacking but to no avail. There were too many people who wanted to keep the race together. Berling tried to get up in the sprint and was on a decent wheel until 500 meters to go when someone pushed him into a curb going through a roundabout forcing him to unclip and loose a lot of speed. In the end he finished 43rd. I was just behind in 51st. There is not a whole lot that I can do in a field sprint.
Next weekend is the GP Copenhagen, which isn't anywhere that close to Copenhagen, but is supposed to be the hardest one day race in Denmark. It looks like its a legitimately hilly race. I am looking forward, hopefully I still know how to climb after all of this flat racing.
We did the Omloop der Kempen, 200km with two overpasses providing the only elevation change. It was warm, sunny, and there was no wind. So it had the makings of a field sprint before the day even started. We were told to keep cool and out of trouble for the first 4o km then think about getting to the front and starting to get into breaks. As it was nothing much went until about 100 km into the race. We got pretty caught out though, the group that went was about 20 guys and we completely missed it. I was the closest to the front when it went, but I was still too far back to follow the right weels to get into it. Once I did get far enough up the gap was already too big for me to go across on my own and no one seemed very keep to work with me to get up to them. But luckily there was a pretty quick responce from the rest of my team as four of us got on the front along with 5 guys from the Sean Kelly team and pulled the group back about 15 km later.
Then another break went with 4 riders, and again we missed it. This one looked pretty doomed from the start though and we weren't too concerned. Sure enough, the group was caught just as we started the two finishing circuits with 22km to go. Lacking a sprinter, we all started attacking but to no avail. There were too many people who wanted to keep the race together. Berling tried to get up in the sprint and was on a decent wheel until 500 meters to go when someone pushed him into a curb going through a roundabout forcing him to unclip and loose a lot of speed. In the end he finished 43rd. I was just behind in 51st. There is not a whole lot that I can do in a field sprint.
Next weekend is the GP Copenhagen, which isn't anywhere that close to Copenhagen, but is supposed to be the hardest one day race in Denmark. It looks like its a legitimately hilly race. I am looking forward, hopefully I still know how to climb after all of this flat racing.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
GP Herning
Today I raced the GP Herning, it got downgraded to a 1.2, but it was still freaking hard. Actually, according to training peaks it was my second hardest day ever in terms of TSS scores (356). The lack of rain in April meant that the gravel roads had the same surface as a rough cross race in Norcal, deep sandy gravel. Honestly, I don't think I really spent more then 20 km in the peleton today. Every time we would hit the gravel I would open up a some gaps trying to keep my bike under control and then I'd have to chase back on the pavement. Eveyone punctured today, myself included. My first one was at a relatively mellow section of the race and I got back pretty safely. The second one happened at a really bad place though. The peleton was coming completely apart on the one gravel section that I pre rode earlier this week and I was just getting on the back of the front group when I flatted at the start of the downhill. The worst part is that it was about 500 meters past where we had a person with some spare wheels, so I had to wait for everyone to go past and get service from the neutral follow car. I was standing there for about a minute but because the peleton has split, Michael could only pace me back up to the second group. We chased hard for a while, but 30 km later we basically all cracked and rode pretty easy the final 60 km to the finish line. However, given the rate of attition our group still finished 24th-31st and we were the last group on the road.
Berling timed his punctures a little better and ended up 4th, but not before having some bike problems that allowed 3 guys from Designa Køkken to ride away with 1st through 3rd. One of these days we are going to win the bike race, we just need the luck to come together a little better.
On a side note, for those of you who were on Cal cycling in spring 2005, you may remember Even Sangnes, a Norwegian exchange student who started racing with Cal that year and ended up going to Nationals with us. Well he was doing the race today as well with a Norwegian Continental team and was pretty shocked to see me in Denmark. But given the hectic nature of the race I didn't really get a chance to talk to him. Maybe tomorrow at the local Danish race in Randers.
Berling timed his punctures a little better and ended up 4th, but not before having some bike problems that allowed 3 guys from Designa Køkken to ride away with 1st through 3rd. One of these days we are going to win the bike race, we just need the luck to come together a little better.
On a side note, for those of you who were on Cal cycling in spring 2005, you may remember Even Sangnes, a Norwegian exchange student who started racing with Cal that year and ended up going to Nationals with us. Well he was doing the race today as well with a Norwegian Continental team and was pretty shocked to see me in Denmark. But given the hectic nature of the race I didn't really get a chance to talk to him. Maybe tomorrow at the local Danish race in Randers.
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