Time to ride!

Monday, May 21, 2018

2018 Texas State Time Trial Championships

After not having competed in the TX State Time Trial Championships for 5 years I decided early last week to give it a shot and join my teammate (and defending champion) Justin Stanley in trying to keep the Time Trial title within the team. The last time I did the TT Champs was back in 2013 when now-retired Kiwi pro & ex-teammate Logan Hutchings beat me pretty handily for the title in Lytle, TX on a similar course like this past weekend in Hempstead, TX.

With stage & TT-only races races becoming extinct in Texas and most bigger US races only having short TT's these day's it been a while since I had spent 50+minutes "in the hurtlocker" - as I would describe a all-out time trial effort in flat, windy, and humid Central Texas in the middle of May. I've been riding my TT bike on a somewhat regular basis but mainly for general training purposes and staying "sharp" with frequent (weekly) 20min Threshold/+10% efforts on both road and TT bike.

The 10:20am start time and a stiff 10-15mph headwind going out (South) and a cross/tailwind back (North) pacing yourself was crucial. At the same time, it is harder to make up/gain time in the tailwind vs. in the headwind so going out "easy" wasn't an option. So, besides pure power & speed (physical ability) I realized some experience should come in handy for this TT and I'm glad I've done a few of these 40K in my past racing.

We only had 5 guys racing the P1 and I was first up to go from our "field" with Matthew Davis aka "Bolthrower" 30seconds behind me. But I avoided looking back in order to focus on the task ahead and just kept my head down, focused on the course, my cadence and trying to hold 25-26mph for most part of the headwind section. My power/wattage was secondary and I blackened it out (old school, with electrical tape) in order to avoid letting the #'s distract my "internal" pacing and race strategy. At the turn-around (mile 12.5) I realized I had put in a good sized gap into Matt but both Brady Reed (who ended up in 3rd) and Justin were in the position I expected them in (close to my time based on their 1min and 2min later start time compared to me). On the way back I spent most the time rolling the 54x11 and 12 on my SRAM Red eTap 1x11 setup I had built up myself recently with a little bit of "MacGyvering". After having passed the P12 ladies and a few Cat 2's who started a few minutes ahead I knew I was on a good run but was unsure I can beat my own teammate Justin who's been dominating the Time Trials in Texas lately. I would be a close call and it WAS close: 52:21. I went only 16seconds faster but enough to win again after my 2009 and 2010 from way back when. Not the fastest 40K I've ever done but I take it on a windy course.

This fun Strava Labs video gives you an insight how Brady, Justin and I paced and raced each other just to finish all within 25 seconds from each other:

And for all the bike geeks among you here are some bike tech stats for you:

Frame & Fork

Specialized Shiv, Small (51cm)

Stem

Specialized Shiv, integrated

Aerobars

Specialized Shiv, 3T Alloy Bar extensions (Ski-Bend)

Brake Levers

Specialized Shiv-specific with SRAM Red eTap Blips

Rear Derailleur

SRAM Red eTap with Digirit OS cage & ceramic pulleys

Bar-End Shifters

SRAM Red eTap Clics

Cassette

SRAM Red XG-1190, 11-28, 11-Speed

Chain

SRAM Red, PC Red22

Crankset & Chainring

SRAM S900, Quarq, 172.5mm, X-Sync 54t, 130bcd

Rear Wheel/Disc

HED Jet Disc Plus, Clincher

Front Wheel

HED Jet 9, Tubular

Front Tire

Vittoria Crono CS, 24mm, Tubular

Rear Tire

Specialized S-Works Turbo Cotton, 26mm with Vittoria Latex inner tube

Saddle

FIZIK Tritone 5.5, Kium Rails

Seatpost

Specialized Shiv Carbon

Pedals
TIME RXS Ti Carbon

Bottle Cage & Bottle

ARUNDEL Crono

Computer Mount:
SRAM TT

Bike Computer
Garmin 520

Weight

~7.8kg

Thanks to Specialized & HED Cycling (who would have thought 10 years ago that a clincher disc with regular tire and inner tube is faster than a Tubular?), and Hyperthreads for the fast & aero gear. And last but not least, thanks to Ino Sofjan and the North West Cycling Club for putting on this race since 2014 and keeping Time Trialing in Texas alive! I hope there will be more people back in 2019 and a higher attendance for time trialing in general. It's a tough but yet beautiful discipline of our sport!

Brodium
(by Corvin Alstot)

(by Corvin Alstot)

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Red Bull Last Stand - Battle around The Alamo

I’m fortunate to have been able to race many downtown Criterium races in awesome cities in North America: Chicago, Vancouver (CAN), Charlotte, Athens, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Dallas or Austin to just name a few. But none of these Crits have such a historic backdrop like the Red Bull Last Stand races on October 15 in San Antonio as we literally got to race around The Alamo and the site of the famous “Battle of the Alamo” - fought almost exactly 180 years earlier back in 1836.

The new event combined the more and more popular fixie-on-road (‘Fixed’) racing with traditional road bike races (Geared) for men and women and a total purse of $20,000 thanks to Red Bull and their efforts to bring something new and exciting to downtown San Antonio.

The week of the race I decided to just focus on the Geared race since it has been a while that I’ve ridden my track bike (especially on the open road) and I figured my best chances would be doing a Twilight Crit on a short, technical course in the late evening. Just like the ‘Fixed’ races all “roadies” had to do qualifying heats in the afternoon in order to advance to the Final. That was basically doing one or two “hot laps” on the race course while a timing chip determined your placing in the starting grid for the evening’s main event if you made it in the Top50 in qualifying. I came in 9^th or so but that really didn’t matter so much as races like these are not pure speed alone. The races were all held in an Elimination format just like on the velodrome where the last rider crossing the finish line was pulled by the officials on every lap. This made the race itself actually a bit more exciting and interesting and maybe for some spectators confusing.

I believe we had 48 riders in the Geared Final which meant we would set out for 48 laps on the barely 900m long course with 5 or 6 turns and a wide but 180 degree final turn over some somewhat smooth “Texas bricks” every lap. After a short solo-flyer by Davis Dombroswki (RBM) for a prime - and everyone gotten to know the course and lines at race-speed in the pack - we still had 38 laps or so to go. At that point I pinned it hard through one of the tight spots on the course just before Turn #3. It was just out of pure instinct since we weren’t going super-fast and I wanted to draw out some other contenders instead of only racing in a big group and having to sprint every lap making sure you’re not last wheel and get eliminated. To my surprise, I was able to establish a decent gap, first 5, then 10, then 15 seconds. I knew I had decent legs when warming up earlier on the rollers but I sure thought that eventually a few other guys would join me up front. But not so quick, first I had built a solid 25-30 second gap or so with 20 or 25 laps to go riding at TT pace when – BAM! – I found myself on the ground after sliding out in that wide but 180 degree final turn (VIDEO here!). While I fell and slid on my right side on the bricks (to the “Aww” and “Ohh” of the people watching) I realized this is going to be bad, real bad but knew I needed to get up ASAP! So I grabbed my bike and got right back up, jumped on and kept pushing on (to my luck, my bike & body was okay besides some scuffs and "road rash" all over my right side). By the time I came back to Turn #1 after the S/F line I didn’t see the field yet so I knew I had only lost maybe 10seconds of my lead. With the help of the extra added adrenaline I kept riding hard while telling myself: “That was really dumb: you’re off the front solo, nobody else around you and you cause the only crash of the entire race yourself - in front of all the people”. The nature of course (twisty and some dark spots) kept being my best aid as I made sure to try enter a turn before the field gets to the previous turn - “out of sight, out of mind”.

Towards the end of the race I definitely started to get a bit nervous as the group (or what was left from the field) was closing in more and more and at one point the gap was only 7 seconds. But the fact that it was still an Elimination format and guys were worried of who’s going to get which Top 10 place rather than focusing on chasing me down kept motivating me to keep riding a hard pace and that sure helped me to stay away until the end. In the last 2 laps I realized I had won as the gap opened up again to 12 or 15 seconds and I could enjoy the crowd and seeing some of my friends along the course.

This was my last big race of the year and I’m very happy to be able to close it out with a win for our small, yet very successful Elbowz squad in attendance that night: Teammate Colin Strickland dominated the Fixed race (Solo Win) earlier that night and my other “elbro” Tony Baca helped me tremendously to seal the win by “guarding” the peloton while I was off the front solo and finishing 8^th place himself. Gracias amigo!

I was told the next day that about 15,000 people came out to watch the races that night and there’s talk of a similar race like this in 2017 and 2018 which is great news for Texas cycling. So big thanks to Red Bull, promoter Ravi Rajcoomar, and City Council Roberto Treviño for making this happen and bringing exciting bike racing to downtown San Antonio!

And for the number geeks, here's my SRM data: 52:30min, 345W NP, 328W avg. P, IF: 1.04, TSS: 94.6, avg. HR 182bpm, avg. 98rpm, 1036KJ, avg. 26mph. Link to power file here)

last lap shenanigans

Red Bull Last Stand Geared Race podium with Daniel Holloway (l) and Travis McCabe (r)
(photo: Red Bull Events)

with teammate Colin (and sponsor-correct drinks) at the Red Bull after-party

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

North Star Grand Prix - St. Paul Criterium

The first time I did the North Star Grand Prix (then called Nature Valley) I was a 24 old 'kid' and new to NRC stage racing here in the US. Back then, while racing for Mercy Cycling, I attacked often, raced aggressive and did my best to help my teammates in their GC ambitions. Now this Summer, almost 10 years after first trip up to green and bike-friendly Minnesota, coming back with my Elbowz team not much had changed really. Except that I'm a little older, and maybe learned a few things on how to race a NRC race successfully.

My teammate Michael Sheehan had gotten on the podium in the short, morning prologue TT Stage 1, we had two more guys (Kevin & Colin) in the Top10, and had two classification jerseys in the team. It was a great start for the US and gave me definitely some motivation for the evening Stage 2 Criterium in downtown St. Paul.

The crits during NRC stage races are usually following the same script: The defending team (yellow jersey) rides the front, let's an early break go for a bit, the GC riders just want to get through it with spending as little as possible energy, and a few amateurs are shooting for glory and go broke in a most likely unsuccessfull break-away. With that in mind, and the fact that I'm most likely not standing on the GC podium at the end of the race come Sunday I had a bit of a "free role" for this Crit. I liked that idea since - even at age 33 - I still like to "race" and be part of the race and make things happen for our "Elbros".

With a short, 1km, and technical course through downtown St. Paul and only 40 laps on the board I knew this was going to be a short but hard Crit. Riding in the front would make this technical Crit so much easier. From the start I moved up and rode along side Michael who had the KOM jersey and was going to be our man for the finish. Our guest rider Carmen Small (!) was at the front of he race, too and I felt pretty comfortable with the course and noticed we weren't really going all that fast. After the first time bonus sprint I sensed a lull moment where the GC team (Optum) was getting ready to "settle down" so a Colombian ChampSys-NoTubes rider (Bryan Gomez) and I attacked and together with my fellow Texas friend Andrew Dahlheim we suddenly were 3 guys off the front by just a couple of seconds. I told them now or never and we kicked it hard for a couple of laps before settling in for smooth rotations and riding fast but yet still within my limits. Too often, too many times did I blew up in the last 5 laps of a "what-looked-to-be-a-successful-breakaway" so I kept that in mind while listening to our team boss Ben Spies who stood past the finish line with our crew and gave me splits: 15seconds...20sec, 25sec, 35sec, almost 45sec at one point.

It looked promising: I was able to get two time bonus sprints while the ChampSys rider took the Sprint points and I got 2nd both times. We didn't fight for it really, I just knew that I can't have everything and needed to keep the focus on the time and the finish. The finish came up really soon since we only did 1:15min laps on the 1K course. The ChampSys rider and I did the most share of the work and he could corner very well and sure looked like he's got a good sprint in him. Same for Andrew, 9 out of 10 times he'd smoke me in a sprint. So, what to do?

The time gaps got smaller and smaller and the words of my boss Ben louder and louder: "15 SECONDS". Optum was chasing now full on; besides Zirbel (their guy in yellow) they had two fast sprinters here, too and their sponsor is based in Minneapolis / St. Paul. So the gap was coming down and I noticed we needed to go faster in order to make it. It's a cat & mouse play... You try to save your matches for the last few laps so you can put out the high Watts at the end, when it counts while attempting to "fool" the chase a little bit. Both Andrew and ChampSys rider didn't seem to be able to go much faster and once I heard the screams of "8 SECONDS" I knew I needed to make a decision: do I keep riding with them, maybe stay away and get and NRC podium (my first) with the possibility to get caught. OR, do I try to get away solo and do a lap or two at full throttle/all-out and have the chance at winning... again, with the possibility of getting caught. Well, I chose the latter.

Two laps to go and we had looked back and saw the orange train of Optum chasing hard. Out of instinct, with a lap and a quarter to go I went for it and sprinted from the back of Andrew & Bryan as hard as I can to the other side of the road, then diving into the slight uphill Start/Finish straight and went for it. To my surprise, neither of my two break away companions were on my wheel. I don't remember much, my legs were going well and any kind of pain was suppressed by the adrenaline/rush I felt riding off the front now. I was just hoping I wouldn't clip a pedal on some of that bumpy downtown tarmac going now full speed through the turns. Before the final right turn to the finish I checked to see if I'm gonna make it and saw I still had 50 meters or so. As I sprinted out of the last turn I had enough time to look back making sure I could actually raise my hands and not "pull a Zabel"...

photo: Matthew Moses / Moses Images

Crossing the line, just one or two bike length ahead of the two cagy Optum sprinters (Guillaume Boivin and Ryan Anderson) was exciting to say the least. My teammate Michael was first to come up behind me (after a great 7th place for himself) and riding that cool-down lap together with my teammates and sharing this win with them meant so much to me. Yes, I've won a few races in the past 15-20 years and been on the podium several times but this one sure was special since I've been trying at the NRC level for a while and finally: it all came together. These days, I find myself often racing for my teammates simply because they're often in a better position to win - they won't even let me win a Driveway anymore ;-)

The one person who I like to thank most is Ben Spies, owner and founder of our team. Not only is he giving me the opportunity to race bikes at this level and support me 100% but having a former World Superbike Champ and MotoGP race winner on the sidelines of a bicycle race and encourage you is a incredible motivation when trying to succeed. His competitive spirit is definitely transferring to all of us riders and makes us work even harder as a team.

Elbowz Out,

Stefan

PS: Find my NSGP St. Paul Criterium power2max power file here on TrainingPeaks

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Maui, Hawaii on a budget

We decided back in February to do a "late Spring Break" our own and head to Maui, HI for some vacation but also to bring and ride our bikes! Most of us think about Hawaii and imagine a tropical island, beaches, the ocean & scuba diving, fresh fruit with the cost of expensive resorts, expensive dining and a hefty airfare.

Well, you sure can book your flights "as usual" (~$900 round trip/person), bike transport fees (~$300 round trip/person) get a double bedroom in a 3 star hotel for ~$200/night, rent a car for a week (~$400) and all of the sudden you're looking at $4500+ for two people for a week - excluding food expenses! But there are other ways, too and you can save yourself some serious $$$ by planning ahead and take advantage of some deals which are available to everyone - you just have to find them.

Here are a few ways to save yourself some money and still have a great vacation:

Flights: get yourself a Travel Awards Credit Card (CC). Most CC companies offer huge mileage bonuses (30-50K) by signing up for their card. A Round Trip with American Airlines (AA) from AUS > OGG (Maui) runs at around 35K miles and you can get your flight for free that way. Most of their CC comes with zero baggage fees (save $25) and priority boarding, too.
Bike transport: pack your bike in a box/bag which meets airline requirements and you won't get hit with excessive bike fees. AA charges $150 one-way for a bike for domestic travel. We used a Gavilan BFF (or Pika Packworks) padded bag (for my 56cm Tarmac) and a large 34"x26" suitcase (for a 51cm Allez) and never paid any bike bag fees. That saved us $600 (!) total.
getting around: you want to have a rental car while on that island to see some of the neat places around or drive up to the Haleakala Crater to take your time and enjoy the scenery and take photos. BUT, no need to have it all the time if you got your bike. We had a car for only 4 out of the 9 days there and thanks to Priceline and "Name your Own Price" you can get a mid-size care for less than $40/day. Uber is a good alternative, too as they just started to operate in Maui a few month ago. And of course, ride your bike! If you're staying central (Kihei, Kahului) you can ride your road bike to a lot of places like snorkeling in Kihei, Makela or to the Ocean Center/Whale Watching in Maalaea, or to the Sugar Cane Museum just South of Kahului.
Housing: The normal condo rate on Maui in season is around $150-175/night. A 3 or 4-star resort costs you anywhere from $200 to $400/night and you won't find a basic hotel for less than $120 on that island. BUT, there are options like AirBNB where you can get a room, entire apartment or studio for less than $90/night and you have a full kitchen, space for your bikes and access to do laundry etc.
Dining: Maui has some of the best seafood in the world. Hands down. There are a large number of restaurants who offer a wide range of lunch, dinner options. From "normal" priced (i.e. Paia Fish Market) to "Maui expensive" in some of the resort towns/places. But hey, you're on a Pacific island and fresh fish will cost you some. By saving money on the previous items I mentioned it's okay to spend a little extra on fresh food where you know the fish has been caught fresh from the surrounding ocean. Mulligans south of Kihei has some good American/Irish menu, too and with a nice outdoor/bar/patio setting the prices are very manageable. Most places have a Happy Hour (fro food & drinks), too. If you have your own condo or kitchen in an apartment/AirBNB another option is to go to your local grocery store and buy some fresh Poke from the Deli. It's basically a fish dish made/spiced already and goes from $5-10/lb. With a loaf of french bread you can have yourself a really good, healthy, fresh and affordable dinner. And no preparation/cooking needed!

So, with a bit of planning and time spent on finding the right deals that week-long trip to an exotic island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is much more realistic and affordable. It also helps to have a "local" on hand who can give you some first-hand tips and suggestions on what to do, what to see, where to eat etc. besides browsing TripAdvisor. Thanks to Spanish/Texan "ExPat" David Arteaga who was our go-to guy while on Maui!

Below are a handful of photos from our trip: