A few members of our Dynamic PT Cycling Team had a frigid start to the 2011 racing season at this past Sunday's Amity training race. I actually watched a cyclist shred his chain into pieces and endo on the first climb on the preview loop. Now that's a real indicator of the wattage needed on these climbs! They aren't super long but they can be steep. 
The clouds hung low on race morning, as did the 39 degree temperature. The intensity of the men's Category 4/5 race skyrocketed pretty quickly, however. These guys couldn't seem to hold themselves back. Even the course preview/warm up loop took a toll on some of the racers, as the faster riders were a little too anxious to use the speed they had pent up all winter long. Once the race began, most of the men stayed closer together during the first of the five official loops. Things had begun to string out already by the first major climb though. A split in the group was evident by the start of the second loop. Four racers were able to break the gap but were again lost during the major climb. A couple quick and short breaks were attempted only to fail, but Cory Hartman decided to give it all, which paid off. He managed to stay away from everyone else for the entire event, which none of us really expected, particularly for this time of year. The gap from my small group of five men to the racers behind continued to grow for the remainder of the race, particularly into lap three as the intensity remained consistently higher with no really intense attacks attempted from within our group (thank goodness). Fellow teammate Todd Latocha was there in the mix the whole time, pushing the pace and pulling quite a bit. Todd led out a hard effort on the final climb and I took a backseat to watch these guys battle it out on the descent before the finish.
He would ultimately finish in third but I know he's going to be capable of much more this season as he is looking quite strong! I was happy with sixth for the day as "anaerobic" isn't typically in my March vocabulary. All in all, here are my geeky ride stats and a couple beautiful graphs:
The clouds hung low on race morning, as did the 39 degree temperature. The intensity of the men's Category 4/5 race skyrocketed pretty quickly, however. These guys couldn't seem to hold themselves back. Even the course preview/warm up loop took a toll on some of the racers, as the faster riders were a little too anxious to use the speed they had pent up all winter long. Once the race began, most of the men stayed closer together during the first of the five official loops. Things had begun to string out already by the first major climb though. A split in the group was evident by the start of the second loop. Four racers were able to break the gap but were again lost during the major climb. A couple quick and short breaks were attempted only to fail, but Cory Hartman decided to give it all, which paid off. He managed to stay away from everyone else for the entire event, which none of us really expected, particularly for this time of year. The gap from my small group of five men to the racers behind continued to grow for the remainder of the race, particularly into lap three as the intensity remained consistently higher with no really intense attacks attempted from within our group (thank goodness). Fellow teammate Todd Latocha was there in the mix the whole time, pushing the pace and pulling quite a bit. Todd led out a hard effort on the final climb and I took a backseat to watch these guys battle it out on the descent before the finish.
He would ultimately finish in third but I know he's going to be capable of much more this season as he is looking quite strong! I was happy with sixth for the day as "anaerobic" isn't typically in my March vocabulary. All in all, here are my geeky ride stats and a couple beautiful graphs: finish time: 1:20:20
total distance: 25.1 miles
maximum speed: 42.7 mph
average speed: 18.7 mph
altitude change per lap: ~ 380 feet
total ascent: ~ 1814 feet
average heart rate: 166 bpm
maximum heart rate: 184 bpm
Great race and hopefully one of many this season!
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