The Plan

I was thinking of a break away as the finish was an up hill one. Mostly, today’s race was to become familiar with a loan bike.

The Race

Today I road a Fuji Altimara. That’s a light hill climbing bike with semi compact gearing and electronic shifting.  I’d set a PB up Baw Baw on Friday with it, but wanted to get familiar with the bike under race conditions.  It handles suitably.  This bike is a loan from my sponsor, Drouin Cycles. It took a while to get used to the shifters.

The first couple of laps were fairly sedate with only four riders willing to pull turns.  Along the section where we should be hitting 40+, we were cruising along at around 38kph.

On lap two, Ross H and Tubs got off the front after the long drag from the bottom corner. We let the hang for a couple of laps.

The fourth lap was the most lively.  I tried for an early break with no success. Three others made a sustained attack and were doing well.  One of them was JP.  I went into TT mode and caught them just as they gave up.  Rob M then took off for a short-lived stint off the front.

On the fifth lap, I tried for a break again, but nobody was willing to me off the front.

On the last lap, I stayed pretty much third wheel the entire lap, waiting for a CCCC rider to have a go at the front.

Pete W jumped along the flat before the final hill. The CCCC rider ran out of legs so I chased. Up the climb, I reeled him in and I had clear air in front of me.

I was looking good until 30m to go when JP came over the top of me. Rob M was trying to get over the top of me, but I made sure I stayed in front.  Pretty much spent after the sprint so I went for a 50km post race ride up some hills.

Summary

I felt strong in the final sprint, but obviously I was not strong enough. When attacks went up the three climbs on the course, I would try to stay seated while others stood.

Stats for the Day

CTL: 104
ATL: 117
TSB: 3

Power Stats

I noticed post ride the pedals were set to 172.5.  This means with 175mm cranks, the below readings will be around 4% higher than actual.

Average pwr: 254W
Normalised Power: 303W
Critical power (CP): 239W (75% FTP – 2.97W/kg).
Intensity Factor: 0.95
TSS: 106.4
TRiMP: 128.4

Quadrant Analysis 2016-03-27

Race Highlights

• Distance: 48.7km
• Av Speed: 35.9kph
• Race Time: 1:21:29
• Max HR: 186
• 6 laps
• fastest av speed: 36.6kph (lap 6)
• highest speed reached: 61.9kph (lap 3)
• highest av power: 274W (lap 5)
• highest power reached: 1027 (lap 4)

Thanks to my sponsor, Drouin Cycles – Performance Division.