USA Criterium Finals
Crash Up Derby at Mandalay Bay
I'm happy to say I survived the USA Criterium Pro Championships this past Thursday night. It wasn't easy placing 22nd and winning a $100 prime and I certainly can't say it was my most enjoyable experience. I crashed twice on the 1km, 5-turn, plus a round about course. As quoted on Cyclingnews.com, this was the wolds richest parking lot criterium.
If you like seeing red bull chuggin', No-Doz poppin' crazy criterium racers duke it out under the lights this was the place to be. The large prize pursde meant guys were laying it all out on the line to dip into the cash pot up for grabs almost every lap. Hand fulls of money were up being thrown out including a $5,000 prime with two laps to go.
My second crash was the one that almost ended my night in turn number number one. A guy two wheels ahead of me clipped his pedal and took down the guy just ahead of me. I ended up going straight over the first guy and landed on top of him, which definitely helped my fall. When I got up I had to untangle our bikes and get his handle bars out of my front wheel. I then rode the course backwards to the pits and realized my bars were pointed in the wrong direction. Luckily the guys in the Mavic pit took care of me and I got back in the race one lap later.
Somehow after my last crash I still had the motivation to make something of the night and I kept making my way one by one to the front of the group. This was no easy task as you could only really pass guys within the last quarter of the course leading into the finish stretch. The instant I saw the front of the group, about lap 40 of 60, I took my chance and took off for a one-lap flyer. Luckily for me it was a prime lap, although it was the smallest prime of the day at $100. Oh well. Thankfully I don't do this for a living anymore.
As we hit the last 10 laps I knew things would get absolutely death defying. I decided to sit in about 30th position knowing that the prize money went 30 deep. Not too many guys were going to pass me as it was single file and my nose was pretty much pinned to the front wheel hitting top speeds. I made my way through the carnage of the last laps which pulled me up to 22nd at the finish.
The Power Data:
The power output for this event was not that high since it was such a technical course. I spend a lot of time coasting and in fact 12% of the race was spend not pedaling.
Burning Up the Matches- There were 195 instances where I hit more than 480 watts for more than 4 seconds within the race. Compare that to only 2 instances where I was over 480 watts for more than 10 seconds.
74 minutes
I had my fifth highest CP5 of the season of 413w
I had my fourth highest CP20 of the season of 351w
1439 kj
TSS 113
.95 Intensity factor
320 avg watts
1180 max watts
163 avg HR (173 is my LT)
186 max HR
93 avg cadence; 122 max
For a direct link to my race file go to:
http://www.trainingpeaks.com/tny.aspx?a=sw&key=9JVrUOE8gST1tfFePm6m%2B0m8OrT4W97g
That was the last race of my 26th year of racing and a race like no other I've ever done.
Viva Las Vegas
Dirk
Crash Up Derby at Mandalay Bay
I'm happy to say I survived the USA Criterium Pro Championships this past Thursday night. It wasn't easy placing 22nd and winning a $100 prime and I certainly can't say it was my most enjoyable experience. I crashed twice on the 1km, 5-turn, plus a round about course. As quoted on Cyclingnews.com, this was the wolds richest parking lot criterium.
If you like seeing red bull chuggin', No-Doz poppin' crazy criterium racers duke it out under the lights this was the place to be. The large prize pursde meant guys were laying it all out on the line to dip into the cash pot up for grabs almost every lap. Hand fulls of money were up being thrown out including a $5,000 prime with two laps to go.
My second crash was the one that almost ended my night in turn number number one. A guy two wheels ahead of me clipped his pedal and took down the guy just ahead of me. I ended up going straight over the first guy and landed on top of him, which definitely helped my fall. When I got up I had to untangle our bikes and get his handle bars out of my front wheel. I then rode the course backwards to the pits and realized my bars were pointed in the wrong direction. Luckily the guys in the Mavic pit took care of me and I got back in the race one lap later.
Somehow after my last crash I still had the motivation to make something of the night and I kept making my way one by one to the front of the group. This was no easy task as you could only really pass guys within the last quarter of the course leading into the finish stretch. The instant I saw the front of the group, about lap 40 of 60, I took my chance and took off for a one-lap flyer. Luckily for me it was a prime lap, although it was the smallest prime of the day at $100. Oh well. Thankfully I don't do this for a living anymore.
As we hit the last 10 laps I knew things would get absolutely death defying. I decided to sit in about 30th position knowing that the prize money went 30 deep. Not too many guys were going to pass me as it was single file and my nose was pretty much pinned to the front wheel hitting top speeds. I made my way through the carnage of the last laps which pulled me up to 22nd at the finish.
The Power Data:
The power output for this event was not that high since it was such a technical course. I spend a lot of time coasting and in fact 12% of the race was spend not pedaling.
Burning Up the Matches- There were 195 instances where I hit more than 480 watts for more than 4 seconds within the race. Compare that to only 2 instances where I was over 480 watts for more than 10 seconds.
74 minutes
I had my fifth highest CP5 of the season of 413w
I had my fourth highest CP20 of the season of 351w
1439 kj
TSS 113
.95 Intensity factor
320 avg watts
1180 max watts
163 avg HR (173 is my LT)
186 max HR
93 avg cadence; 122 max
For a direct link to my race file go to:http://www.trainingpeaks.com/tny.aspx?a=sw&key=9JVrUOE8gST1tfFePm6m%2B0m8OrT4W97g
That was the last race of my 26th year of racing and a race like no other I've ever done.
Viva Las Vegas
Dirk
