This weekend had my favorite Criterium, the Burligame Criterium, but I had established that I'd be doing the MT.Diablo Hill Climb this year, just to try it out. A big reason why I had strongly chosen to the hill climb instead of the crit is because my crash had left me a little traumatized. Crashing hurts--no doubt--but the real reason I'd like to avoid situations where crashing is of a high probability is not because of the pain (which actually isn't that bad after you've more than enough time) but it is the forced time off the bike which is really difficult to deal with.
With that being said, I had decided indefinitely to not participate in any criteriums. What his meant was that I can focus my training to building my Aerobic engine, and naturally I've been really inclined to focus on climbing. Thus, it was appropriate to do this race in order to see how well my climbing has improved since my transition back to hard workouts.
Pre-Race
I'm in the midst of taking summer school, and I'll say right away that I haven't been getting enough sleep. This race was relying on 5 hours of sleep but I wasn't really tired until after the race. I warmed up for a good 25 minutes or so and got to the start line. I was a bit nervous when I was being held up on the ramp because my bike was leaning left but I was leaning right.
Start
I was the first person in the E4/5 to go, so I didn't have a 30 second man, so I did constantly check if anyone was behind me, and it actually helped me perform better, by giving me encouragement. But going down the ramp, my gear was too heavy which probably costed me like 7 seconds. I told myself to not go hard on the rolling section in the beginning, but for some reason I was going really hard, my legs weren't listening to me.
The hardest part of the race, before the 1000ft sign, actually wasn't too bad compared to climbs that I regularly do. I was surprised at how gradual the inclines were. Compared to the climbing I've been doing, it wasn't too steep. In fact, the climb is very predictable--it's pretty much just a steady incline then a switchback or a kicker. So holding a rhythm was easy.
I knew the race wouldn't last more than 30 minutes. I also knew the E4 winning time would be in the 28min interval. So my goal was to get below 28 min. Once I hit the 12 minute mark, I assumed I could just imagine I was doing the San Bruno Hill Climb since it would've taken me a little over 16 minutes. I increased my pace and was definitely digging, but I had a reserve. I couldn't look at my power correctly, since technically I was riding in my 5-minute power at times. But whenever I dropped down to my 20-minute power, I did kick it up a little.
At 21 minutes I pressed the lap button just to check my average power, which was at 4.9 w/kg...way above my critical power, meaning I'd just set a record in these zones. I didn't know how many more minutes were left, it could have been 6 or it could've been 10. But since I was so sure I wouldn't go past 30 min I went really hard, any harder would've been a sprint effort (which I was able to save until the end!)
(Thanks to Craig Huffman for this amazing shot!)
Finish
After seeing Craig, I only had a couple of more switchbacks left. I didn't know this during the race, so I kept holding back...just right at 4.7 w/kg. Then I saw a sign on a cone that said "200m", which was surprising because I didn't pass the little white house--it turns out the finish line was over here and not at the junction like I had thought! I was able to finish strong, but if I knew the finish was over here, I definitely could've gone harder the last 5 minutes.
I ended up being only 23 seconds away from 1st, and 8 seconds away from 2nd. Both guys were Cat5's too! I wasn't too stoked about my result. I still believe the time is just "mehh" and I didn't pace correctly, Like always, I still had a fun time out here and definitely plan to do it again. I'm hoping I can shave off at least a minute and a half. That would be a good indicator of my focus toward climbing better!
Thanks for reading!
- DB
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