Palace 28.07

[Sylv]

Ouch that was [size=150]PAINFUL[/size]

[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2455/3766213685_9dbc2b38e9.jpg[/img]

I counted about 33 kicks > 700w and 100 > 600w

More tomorrow

[Sylv]

Yes that was probably my hardest race at Palace yet, I wish I could commission the Shadow to write my report, as you know he has the knack to make you feel how tough and intense it can be in the thick of the action, but I will have a go. Yet in some way it was possibly also one of the best races, as it was a constant battle to stay on, not to get dropped, get back on and survive, with not a single lull in the action - I only had time to take two sips out of my bottle. I'm sure my fitness has dipped a bit which didn't help as I haven't felt strong enough to step on a turbo for over a month and a half and hadn't raced in such anger since the Smithfield Crit in early June.

Usual suspects on the start line, Warrick, Dan Santoni, Felix English, Matt Seaton, Kevin Knox, Ian Paine and a bunch of Dynamos, about 20-25 people, but fortunately no one from Madison.co.uk. English drove the first lap and a half before Warrick attacked, about 6 of us got a gap which we held for a couple of laps, before being brought back. Pace was high and never eased off on the climb, where almost everytime someone would attack. Small groups of 2 or 3 would get away and then be brought back within a few laps. I was beginning to tire and we were already shelling out riders, including poor Ben Spurrier for his inaugural E12 ride.

I was now struggling to hold wheels on the climb and lost contact with another couple of riders, I sat on the wheel of a Dynamo TTer and told myself not to panick as he didn't seem to panick himself and looked confident he could slowly regain the now 25m or so we had lost on the front of the bunch. That was so so hard, I kept telling myself that if I could just make it back to them, everything after would be alright, I could just sit behind people and have a rest. It took us over two laps, but it wasn't ok after that, the pace seemed to pick up and immediately I was in danger again, losing touch out of the hairpin, down the hill, and up the climb. I looked at the lap board for the first time - 17 to go - how the fekc am I going to hold on for another 35 minutes at that pace?! I was having to take drastic measures to keep up, pedalling through corners and throwing the bike at crazy angles, unfortunately down the bottom hairpin this resulted in me clipping my pedal which threw my rear wheel sideway, I thought I was going to carreer into Phil Jones who was sat on his stomach taking photos, or that at least the scare would be enough to warrant a DNF, but I kept it in control and wasn't phazed enough to want to give up, so kept going trying to close the few meters I'd lost on last wheel.

Now I was just in survival mode - try and finish the race - try and move up halfway through the group so as not to be last wheel - which I overdid a bit and had to do two half-laps at the front, having recovered a bit though. Another time I lost contact again and had to sit behind the TTer - until he wanted me to take a turn, which I couldn't until about 30s later. We lapped a group of about 6 riders of our race. With 4 laps to go it looked like we were going to leave Warrick at the front all the way to the finish, but someone attacked up the hill and there was a delayed reaction, just two riders went clear to join him, while the rest eased off before starting the chase unsuccessfully, Warrick looking like he was stopping with a slow puncture, untill we all started to look at each other for the sprint. At that stage I was just glad to finish but still had a go, had nothing left by the top of the hill, was 5th of our group, and 8th overall, don't think more than 12 finished!

Comparison with May race:

28 July / 19 May
weight 59.1kg / 61.1
duration 1h00 / 1h03
av speed 39.9km/h / 39.44
av power 271w / 250w
norm power ??w / 319w
av HR 169bpm / 165
30s power 542w / 641w
1min power 451w / 461w
5m power 331w / 306w
10min power 307w / 275w

1 Matt Seaton Rapha Condor
2 Felix English Corridori @ 2 secs
3 Ian Paine London Dynamo @ 5
4 Daniel Santoni Pearson Cycles @ 17 secs
5 Simon Lewis VC Londres
6 Kevin Knox Dulwich Paragon
7 Paul Wills Kingsnorth Int
8 Sylvain Garde Addiscombe CC
9 Tom Hemnant London Dynamo
10 Sam Humpheson London Dynamo

Lap times

00:02:15
00:03:22
00:01:53
00:01:56
00:02:03
00:02:05
00:01:57
00:01:56
00:01:58
00:01:58
00:01:56
00:01:53
00:03:32
00:01:54
00:01:57
00:02:06
00:02:08
00:01:57
00:02:02
00:01:57
00:01:57
00:01:59
00:01:57
00:02:04
00:02:03
00:02:07
00:02:05
00:02:12
00:01:52

[kieran]

Well done Sylv, you were certainly a bit out of breath after the race. Sorry I didn't stick around but the insects were having a feast on my legs.

In the 3/4ths were Steve, Simon and myself, a small field today probably max of aout 50 riders. I was doing fine until just after the 8th lap I had a puncture. So went back to the start line to fix it, while doing this Simon pulled out of the race. After fixing it I was allowed back in but would have to pull out with 5 laps to go (I'd missed about 4 laps while mending the puncture). Steve left the race sometime later, so I was the only ACC in the 3/4th race now, I felt really great and had no problems staying near the front or closing down small gaps so I was gutted when I pulled out with 2 laps to go. Oh well, I enjoyed it while it lasted.

[Andrew G]

Well done Sylv that sounds insanely hard, all those laps sub 2 minutes .

[Scott]

That made great reading - is Matt Seaton your ghost writer?

Your looking a bit lumpy at 59.1kg - remember 'a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips'

You is the man!

[kieran]

Weight 59.1kg! what height are you by the way? I'm currently 1.73m (5'8" in ye olde terms) and about 64kg ( 10 stone in olde terms), so a BMI of 21.4. I find it really hard to get rid of any more weight (maybe reducing my chocolate and wine intake might help?)

[Sylv]

Don't worry I had half a doughnut today

169cm. When I had body fat measured with calipers last year I was 59.7 and it was 15.6% so there is some way to go before I emulate Bradley, I could go down to 55kg @ 8% but that would be very very hard to achieve.

It's funny I was telling myself that Palace seems to convene to bigger, more powerful body types, in yesterday's race there was only Simon Lewis, me and a Brixton guy of the smaller type who made it to the end (Brixton guy dropping out just before the end). Well Warrick is pretty small too I guess.

[Toks]

Excellent ride Sylv and great report. From the data it looks like you're actually stronger but then so is everyone else. I haven't been bothered about racing since the RAS for some reason but I better get back out there otherwise it'll be November before I know it.

[Andrew G]

Skinny sods! I'm only 5'6" and weigh between 10.5 and 11 stone depending on the time of year and I wouldn't say I was fat, clearly I am.

[mlocke]

[quote="Andrew G"]Skinny sods! I'm only 5'6" and weigh between 10.5 and 11 stone depending on the time of year and I wouldn't say I was fat, clearly I am.