Effingham Road Race

Monday, May, 24 2010

M1 Race

The master's field in Ontario has certainly leveled itself off, sadly, that level is both FAST and HARD! This year's edition of the Effinghman Ontario Cup Classic brought great weather and, with it, a large field. We had a team plan for Cary to stay with me, Andrew to protect himself against wind, and Martin and Scott to take some pulls to make sure nothing we didn't like went up the road. There were King of the Mountain (KOM) points up for grabs on lap 3,5, and 7 and with that some money so I took a flyer on lap 3 and crested the hill with top points, Peter Mogg bridged over but I was hoping 4 or 5 others would come with him so we sat up and waited. Peter attacked on lap 5 and I was locked up so Cary went with him taking 2nd over the crest of the hill. Lap 7 Peter attacked again but this time I had legs and chased him over the top. He took top KOM points and I took second place leaving Peter with the KOM title, myself 2nd, and Cary 3rd.

As I crested the hill on lap 7 Bruce Krip came flying by so I took a deep breath, scooted past Peter Mogg and chased. Peter unfortunately was cooked so it was Bruce and I going for the win on the last lap. I was cramping SO BAD! Our speed stayed pretty constant but we were caught with about 5km to go. To my surprise there was no counter attack from the bunch; everyone sat up when they caught us. So we took a slow trek till about 2km before the Effingham hill when I got fed up knowing I had no legs left to win the race. I went to the front and did my best to lead it out for one of the boys to get a good head start into the hill. Pulling off at the bottom I watched about 40 riders hit the steep pitch for the finish.

Andrew took team honours with an 12th place finish - a personal best for Andrew and a great result for the team; particularly considering the level of competition in the M1 Master's field on the hardest course in the province. Scott finished in the bunch (21st) alongside Cary (28th). Martin and I brought in the back of the pack.

That left my legs ready and tapped for a duathlon today in Waterloo. The race was a 4km run, 30km bike, 4km run. I finished 13th overall but 11th after a couple of pros got DQ'd. Good enough for 4th in my age group 35-39 with the 4th fastest bike split overall averaging 40.7 kph for 30 kms on rolling terrain. Time for some well deserved R and R!

- Rhys


M2 Race

After an unlucky start to the race season at Good Friday (involved with the big crash at the sprint for the line) I was determined to keep upright for this race. Although I like to climb, the Effingham climb is not one that I relish.

My plan to avoid a crash was severely tested on the 3rd lap.  2 guys in front of me touched and next thing there is a bike on the ground in front of me. Thanks to a full season of cyclo-cross racing last year, I avoided locking up the brakes and headed for the only safe path... the ditch on my right.  Luckily for me, it was not that deep.  After a quick dismount I was back on the road.  After a tough chase, I finally caught the group as they headed up the hill for the 4th time.  I was tired from chasing.  I took it easy up the hill and waited for the other dropped riders to pull me back to the group.
The remainder of the race was uneventful, except for the people who got DQ'd for crossing the yellow line.
On the last lap I was trying to move up to be well position for the final climb, but there was minimal space to move up.  I finally found space right on the yellow line just before the hill.  Riding behind Augy (my only teammate in M2) we hit the hill.  Augy immediately hit the front and moved to the far left where there was clear. He had also had to chase back early in the race after flatting. The replacement wheel he got had an 11-21 cassette (perhaps not the best for this hill)  I  finished a respectable 14th (no one passed me going up the hill and I hit a new max Hr for the season). Augy suffered a near death experience to get up the final climb with his 21.

- Gary

Effingham by the numbers:

With Saris coming on board this season, we've all stepped up our training and logging with PowerTap hubs. With four sets of power data from yesterday's race, we now have an analytical view of what makes Effingham the toughest race on the M1 circuit.

Cary and Rhys are separated by more than 6 kg and, at threshold, a good 20W. Despite this difference, both power profiles showed more similarities than differences. More than 30%, about an hour, of the 2 hour, 40 minute race was coasting (less than 50 Watts). The majority of the rest was a good solid Zone 3 but the 8 climbs up Effingham hill represented 42 minutes of super-Threshold work - with 22 minutes (the latter half of each climb) in the "Supra Max" zone.

If you're looking to prepare for Effingham next year then you'll need to choose your poison. A long break or a sprint finish. This year, the peloton wasn't going to allow a break so the best strategy was to conserve. Save it all for the final climb. 300W won't cut it on that beast, even for the skinny guys. You'll need to bring your fast twitch and whip off 500W for 90 seconds if you want to contend.

- Cary