The Great Forest Park Race 28Mar2010

[Special Note:  I have a "Music Player" gadget, 4th down to the right. You may run audio from it or the video as you see fit by pausing the music player or muting the embedded video. Enjoy!]

Hello race fans.  The above video is of the Masters race, which very much speaks for itself.  Cold 45 degrees, very windy and raining.  There was a  crash and happily it was limited to only 2 riders and was as minor as crashes can be.  The most notable point of the crash was that it involved Tracie Smith, who claims he never gets in crashes and only suckie bike handlers crash. (yeah, right! LOL).  I raced very hard on this and most Masters races.  I find that, for me personally, Masters racing is every bit as hard as the Pro I-II races. This is probably because I must do more work, or tend to solo more at full effort.

I did win this race.  Gary Dyer was able to draft me, and did not try to pimp me (let me do all of the work, and him take the money, via popping me for the sprint finish).  I like Gary.  I was his  teammate years ago (St. Louis Cycling Club) when I trying to get on bigger and better teams. 

That reminds me.  The last race I did for St. Louis Cycling Club was at Soulard in the rain.  It started out dry and then started raining.  Soulard is a serious criterium with many corners and isn't hard to crash on even when it's dry.  I was running Specialized tri-spokes both front and rear.  This was around 1995 and these wheels were considered "the bomb".  Presently these wheels are illegal for mass start events due to safety concerns.  Anyway I crashed twice and got 2 free laps twice (I got caught behind a crash as well).  My final crash was in turn 2 and I did not get up for a very long time.  I kept saying, "This is going to stop hurting.  This is going to stop hurting."  I had slide into a concrete curb and chipped the bone on my hip (that's what the x-rays showed).  I was bed ridden for almost a week and done with racing for the season.  From this story there are three or four important points:  1. I've riddend for another team besides CBC, 2. I know and like Gary as a result, 3. I don't like racing in the rain, 4. wheels make a huge difference.

Oh yeah, I also won the Pro I-II race as well!  Unfortunately the battery on my camera failed on the bell lap of the Masters race.  I got a partial recharge between races with my laptop, but still I was only able to video the start of the race (I've ordered spare batteries).  The last 5 laps would have been good. 

I had some really good teammates in that race.  Jonathan Schottler, Jason Ozenberger and Dan Miller.

The race split into a 10 man break-a-way that included me, Schottler...................wait a second......... STOP!  I don't think I want to discuss a race not on video.  If you want to know about the race just look up the results.

Now watch my video first and then go out into the warm sunshine and ride your bicycle.

To learn about the best video camera in the world for videoing cycling (which is the cameras that I use for my videos) click here.

Froze Toes Finish

This photo was taken by Dennis Fickinger (ficksphotos.com).  As you can tell I am making a considerable effort and Jim VanDeven looks like he's having a pleasant bicycle ride!  Great photo.  It also shows how  my camera is positioned and mounted.  (28Feb2010)  1st place David Henderson

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Power data from the finish of the Froze Toes Race 28Feb2010

This is my wattage from the finish of the Froze Toes Race which took place 28Feb2010.  The sum is 4 minutes @ about 400watts, leading off with a jump of 1096watts.  You can also note that I increased my wattage while heading to the finish line.

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Power data from Froze Toes

Ok, this data is from the Froze Toes Race on 28Feb2010.  The sum of this data is:  273watt average, 300 normalized, 1096watt max, 2278 kJ in 2:19minutes for 62 miles.  There are a few problems with this data.  Primarily with the speed data.  My sensor stopped picking up very early (probably because the magnet on the spoke moved out of position).  The speed can be identified in the violet colored line.  Because the speed went out and I was not wearing my heartrate strap (I hate wearing it in races.  It does me no good and I don't like the sensation of wearing it when racing) my SRM data stops recording when I'm not pedaling (ie coasting).  The absense of zeros leads to higher averages.  Officially the race took 2:27 minutes (average speed 25.3mph) and my data says it took 2:19 minutes which indicates I coasted for about 8 minutes over the course of the race (if my calculations are correct). 

Additionally I want to point out that watt data is just slightly more tricky than one might guess.  Besides knowing the fact that the weight of the rider is important for understanding data (I currently weigh 160lbs @ 5'-11"), there are calibration factors to consider.  Had I not recently had SRM calibrate my SRM device, my wattages would be about 20 watts higher.  Because watt meters are temperature sensitive, I did zero my meter just before the race (which has an accuracy of 1-2%).   Also wattage numbers can be manipulated by adjusting the slope of the device or simply changing the data fields.  I think that is ridiculous to do, but I'm pointing out that it is easy to show monster numbers both accidently and purposefully. 

Have a great cycling day everyone and try to tear your cranks off! ;-)

Start of Froze Toes & how the break formed

[Special Note:  I have a "Music Player" gadget, 4th down to the right. You may run audio from it or the video as you see fit by pausing the music player or muting the embedded video. Enjoy!]  



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Froze Toes Category 1-2 men, 28Feb2010

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Finish of the "Froze Toes Race" Feb 2010

[Special Note:  I have a "Music Player" gadget, 4th down to the right. You may run audio from it or the video as you see fit by pausing the music player or muting the embedded video. Enjoy!]

This video clip is of the last 8:54 minutes of the race.  First I want to thank all the sponsors of the race & team CBC: Cyclextreme Bicycle Warehouse, Walt's Bicycle Shop, Specialized, Shakespeare's Pizza, Peak Roofing, My Health Village, Columbia Center for Dentistry, Smart Business Products, Tryathletics, I.B. Nuts & Fruit Too, and RE/MAX Boone Realty.  Also I want to thank my teammates, Ethan Froese, Johnathan Schottler, Jason Ozenberger & Ebby Norman.  They are a superior crew and only a partial list (Kersha, where were you?  You're cool.)   I will produce a best of video later, but this footage shows what most people want to see..... the finish and what happened and how did things go down. 

I believe 67 riders started the category Pro 1-3, including the professional rider for Jelly Belly, Brad Huff (dnf due to mechanical).  The final break in this clip shows 7 riders, but we started at 10, lost maybe one and had at least 2 bridge up (which was impressive).  The last 7 include myself, Jim Vandeven, Zack Reed, Clayton Burrows, Rob Bell, Andy Malcom, & Andrew Lister.   The race length was 62 miles and 2 laps and the temperature was warmer than most expected at 45 degrees with a moderate wind.  I think the temperature played the biggest role in fatigue in that most of us were overdressed from being used to colder recent temperatures.  I removed my head cover, arm warmers and unzipped and pulled up my tights and was still warm.  The winning break developed after Ethan, Johnathan, some Jason and I put the hammer down on the stretch of the finishing side on lap two.  We expected more cross wind, but it was mostly frontal and the damages where limited to the pack as a result. Still this effort softened up the field to create the winning break which developed almost immediately after. 

So in this video it should be noted that there is a little bit of "cat-n-mouse" because we are approaching the finish and nobody really wants to work.  This is apparent at minute 2:34 where the paceline rotation becomes all screwed up.  At minute 3:00 a soft attack occurs and I jump up and this is immediately responded to from behind me, so I let off.   At minute 4:04 a nice solo attack comes from the right immediately after I am beginning to take my pull.  It doesn't show on video, but I sat up and showed that I would not chase.  To which someone took up the chase.  I sat on the tail end for about a minute and launched my counter attack at minute 4:56 and go as hard as I can for approximately 5 minutes.  I don't look back and instead commit myself.  I do however see a shadow indicating that I have at least one person on my wheel.  The wind conditions are not perfect for my attack in that it is mostly head-wind and not cross (well.....just a little cross).

About 300 yards to go I started to set up and force my drafter, Jim Vandeven  to lead out the sprint. He indicated that he was not going to sprint me and I took him at his word, but still drove as hard as I could to the finish line (just in case).

And that's it.  I won!  I couldn't believe it.  It really felt good and I was and am still very happy about it.  It's a very small early training race, and has no serious meaning.  But it's my hometown, put on by my team, witnessed by my peers and friends.  It just symbolizes to me that "hey, you are pretty good", and "all that hard training and sacrifices has produced something that is beyond a little hometown training race", it's hard to describe, but it's something like being all shiny and new again.

Official race results:  http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=507828

To learn about the best video camera in the world for videoing cycling (which is the cameras that I use for my videos) click here.