Perspective Shifting
Not more than 30 seconds (for me) after the finish of today’s SDSR Bonelli Park Circuit Race, I had a perspective shifting chat with a rider whom I respect, and at the end of the day, am a wee bit envious of.
His comment to me, as I was trying to catch my breath after giving it all I had in the finale, was simple and to the point:
So yeah, yesterday, I simply had bad legs and knew I was in trouble in short order, and probably would have gone faster if I hadn’t looked at the SRM display. An extra 15watts would have come in handy too! :-)
The initial comment by this great rider, did however, allow me an opportunity to chat a bit about head position when racing against the clock. Based on my experience of testing over 100 folks in the wind tunnel here in San Diego, I can tell you that how one holds their head while going hard matters.
Yesterday, I kept the ol’ melon low on purpose (that whole concept of reducing CxA drives behavior even on hillclimbs..) , and I probably sighted 20 meters up the road at a given time – and maybe even looked straight down for big chunks of time – one can do that when you go as slow as I do! LOL!
So yeah, I can see how someone watching me during that effort up Glendora mountain yesterday might have the perspective that I was staring at my computer. The interesting thing was from my perspective, I was keeping my head in the right spot. Crazy how things can be viewed so differently, eh? Seeing a situation from someone else's perspective is difficult sometimes - I know I can improve in this area! :-)
Anyway, at around 6 m/s, sighting 20 meters down the road is like me looking 3-4 seconds up the road in order to take the best line through the switchbacks. How were my lines compared to last year? Well, since I raced this year and last year with the SRM and the same set of wheels, I checked it out. Turns out I covered 40 fewer meters this year compared to last year – but crap, I could have missed controlling tire pressure by a few psi and so that “computer distance” doesn’t really mean much, eh?
My global message, after talking a bit about head position, to this talented rider during our chat was simply, “sometimes it happens” – sometimes, despite what we really want to occur, life just gets in the way and as a result, our performance isn’t what we desired. It’s how one reacts, recovers and moves forward from those disappointments that holds some deeper meaning for me…
Today, I moved past yesterday’s disappointment, and rode well, nearly notching a top ten result on a day that the 100 rider field was whittled down to around 30-40 guys at the finish. Ya know, I’m not as powerful as a lot of the guys out there, but am reasonably competitive given the constraints the ol’ motor has. Most importantly, though, I have fun in the process of racing my bike.
FWIW, here’s a comparison of last year’s race (bottom trace) and this year’s race (top trace). This year was way faster, but somehow, I didn’t suffer quite as much… I guess being two kilos lighter helps when tryin’ to haul your ass up those hills, eh?
Keep moving forward, folks! :-)
-kraig
His comment to me, as I was trying to catch my breath after giving it all I had in the finale, was simple and to the point:
“You might have gone faster yesterday if you hadn’t been looking at your
computer.”
A simple comment, from a man of few words, yet, these words kind of felt a bit like they were cutting to the bone – I was taken aback a bit, to be honest - probably because I didn’t really recall focusing on the flashing SRM outside of the first 1k or so (and in fact, I am a proponent of taping the display over during timed efforts once one has settled in after the first few minutes of the effort – due to the distraction factor and the core belief that information can limit one’s potential on the day).
As I mentally re-evaluated yesterday’s hillclimb effort on the drive home after the race today, I came to the realization that this fellow I had the conversation with was more than likely correct in his commentary. I do distinctly recall looking at the SRM with 1k to go and about crapping my pants at how slow I was going. That knowledge probably did slow me down at the end of the day.So yeah, yesterday, I simply had bad legs and knew I was in trouble in short order, and probably would have gone faster if I hadn’t looked at the SRM display. An extra 15watts would have come in handy too! :-)
The initial comment by this great rider, did however, allow me an opportunity to chat a bit about head position when racing against the clock. Based on my experience of testing over 100 folks in the wind tunnel here in San Diego, I can tell you that how one holds their head while going hard matters.
Yesterday, I kept the ol’ melon low on purpose (that whole concept of reducing CxA drives behavior even on hillclimbs..) , and I probably sighted 20 meters up the road at a given time – and maybe even looked straight down for big chunks of time – one can do that when you go as slow as I do! LOL!
So yeah, I can see how someone watching me during that effort up Glendora mountain yesterday might have the perspective that I was staring at my computer. The interesting thing was from my perspective, I was keeping my head in the right spot. Crazy how things can be viewed so differently, eh? Seeing a situation from someone else's perspective is difficult sometimes - I know I can improve in this area! :-)
Anyway, at around 6 m/s, sighting 20 meters down the road is like me looking 3-4 seconds up the road in order to take the best line through the switchbacks. How were my lines compared to last year? Well, since I raced this year and last year with the SRM and the same set of wheels, I checked it out. Turns out I covered 40 fewer meters this year compared to last year – but crap, I could have missed controlling tire pressure by a few psi and so that “computer distance” doesn’t really mean much, eh?
My global message, after talking a bit about head position, to this talented rider during our chat was simply, “sometimes it happens” – sometimes, despite what we really want to occur, life just gets in the way and as a result, our performance isn’t what we desired. It’s how one reacts, recovers and moves forward from those disappointments that holds some deeper meaning for me…
Today, I moved past yesterday’s disappointment, and rode well, nearly notching a top ten result on a day that the 100 rider field was whittled down to around 30-40 guys at the finish. Ya know, I’m not as powerful as a lot of the guys out there, but am reasonably competitive given the constraints the ol’ motor has. Most importantly, though, I have fun in the process of racing my bike.
FWIW, here’s a comparison of last year’s race (bottom trace) and this year’s race (top trace). This year was way faster, but somehow, I didn’t suffer quite as much… I guess being two kilos lighter helps when tryin’ to haul your ass up those hills, eh?
Keep moving forward, folks! :-)
-kraig
Labels: racing, Wind Tunnel
posted by kraig at
6:41 AM
1 Comments:
I was accused of the same thing by a long time friend. He thought that I was limiting myself by looking at the SRM. I honestly think I don't. I view the SRM like an aftermarket tach in my car - it simply states what I'm doing, with no subjectiveness. I'm going 200 watts, 167 bpm, 83 cadence, etc. It's just telling me my numbers. It doesn't say I'm about to cramp or that I'm about to attack, it can't tell if I'm laughing or crying or bored or ecstatic.
I think people use power meters in different ways. For me it's a kind of a pacing/training tool, but as a friend once said to me, "I've never seen you train scientifically." He was my best man and former leadout man so he knows me pretty well, and he's right.
For me the SRM is a historical recorder. I race with it, look at it out of curiosity maybe 4 or 5 times in an hour crit, and then download the data and look at what I did when. I get psyched if I have cool numbers, bummed if I didn't.
I've won field sprints (for the race win) without breaking 1000 watts (wtf??, but it was raining and I led out from way out there), won them with sub-1300 watt sprints (at Bethel, again, wtf??), and gotten annihilated when I did 1400+. When I say sprint, I should say jump - I'm talking peak power. My sprint usually drops 200 watts within a few seconds.
If I remember, I try and keep my rpms higher when I jump, since some barely-scientific experiments showed I could put out massively higher wattages if I jumped at 10-20 rpms higher, and I can hit that wattage again and again each time I shift/jump. I only remembered to check my cadence once before a sprint though, but since then I overcompensated and jumped even higher than that.
I may have to write a post about some of this, but I think I already wrote a post about some of it. lol.
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