30/4/12 Soldiers Honour Handicap Road Race

OK, 46.2km of rolly rollies.

I drove the course this arvo with GPS on. Here's the plot
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/87111641

Synopsis
It's a course of rollies. Dayboro Rd (to Dayboro) will carry a bit of traffic, as will Mt Samson Rd (Dayboro to Wynn Rd turnoff)
Wynn Rd will have less.

0-2.5 km Bullocky Rest to Dayboro Rd. all flat, concrete road at Young's Crossing requires extra concentration.

2.5-19.25km 17km Dayboro Rd to Dayboro
an adequate shoulder in some parts, not in others. heavy trucks could be operating on Sunday, and rednecks in utes and traybacks are a given. Dayboro Police recommend single file riding.
ok, the worst of the rises starts essentially as soon as you get on Dayboro Rd, 4km long averaging 3%.
This one will fry you if you hit it too hard; unless you are a sub 10% bodyfat whippet climbing afficionado, then a good time to get away....until the descents and flats, when the enduro guys will smoke you.
From there, it's more rollies to Dayboro, thus:
10.5km, a 500m rise <4%.
12.75km, 500-700m rise <4%.
15km 750-1000m rise, 4-5%. From its crest, it's downhill to Dayboro.

19.25-32.25km Dayboro to Winn Rd turnoff along Mt Samson Road.
mainly more gentle rollies, with a few 3+% bits over creeks. worst is at 21.5-24km from Armstrong Creek = 3% average grad.
traffic will be fast (100km speed limit in some parts) and unpredictable on this section.

32.25-43km. 12km on Winn Rd.
This is all rollies. Some of you have done Clear Mtn a few times recently. It's 3km from Winn Rd turnoff to Clear Mtn Rd intersection, all pretty tame.
THere's a couple of rises in the last 9km to Forgan Rd turnoff that would benefit from getting out of the saddle.

43km Forgan Road.
OK, 2.2k to the finish at Bullocky Rest. There's 300 metres of flat, then a 5%er for 250metres, where you could gun it and get the lead on guys who aren't sure how long the rise is. After that, it is all flat to the finish.


SOME STRATEGIES
- In my view, you want to draft until Clear Mtn Rd intersection.
- If you are faster than your handicap group, consider waiting for a faster group to come through rather than break on your own.
Otherwise you might just become a vulnerable rabbit to motivate your group to up the ante.
- From the Winn/Clear Mtn Rd intersection, it's around 9-10km to the finish, with some nice rollies to encourage each other through, and drop foreigners.
- Once you hit the Forgan Rd intersection, you are 2.2km from the finish....and you want to hurt everyone by giving it 100% over the Forgan Rest rise and onwards.

BruceG,

This is fantastic. Just how clever are you anyway. I think this report is so helpful I have printed it out and will follow your strategy to the end! Are you racing? If you are I hope I get the same handicap so we can race together. I might even take the synopsis with me and consult it on the race! You should be the team race-planner or strategist. I mean it. Thanks.

Paul

Hey Paul. Glad to help in some way. But just be careful with my distances.
They are from the front gate of Bullocky Rest, and I am not 100% sure if that is the actual start line.

I emailed Terry yesterday 2pm so presume he has handicapped me.
I'll only race if there's light intermittent showers or less.

My Revised Thoughts re Race Strategy

Am happy to work with you, drafting sharing short pulls; but predict our fitness and skills will result in different races.
i.e.
I really am a poor climber, and will rely on making up in between. You are more consistent.
Despite what the group does, I'll be gunning it to Dayboro Rd, to be as far ahead as I can for the 4km climb.
I expect to be overtaken on it, and will try and smash the downhills and straights, latching onto anything that comes past.
It'll be the same for each hill.
Drafting won't help much when climbing sub 30kph, nor on the descents for a heavier guy like me. Therefore, I'll try and be selective about when I use a group or other rider.

My race is all about compensating my slow climbing.
Above all else I'll be racing via HR thresholds and how I feel.
If I've got more than the group pace, I'll be chasing rabbits and sucking passing wheels.

This race is not long enough to have energy bonking issues. I figure a realistic time for me will be 95-105 minutes.
My energy and hydration strategy
- 1000 mls between wakening and 730am, and 500ml at 8am start.
- 1x900ml bottle on course. drinking every 15 minutes = ~150mls at 15,30,45,60,75 minutes = 750mls
Drink will be 6% carb. I'll also be using sodium bicarb to help with lactic acid on the hills.
- 2x small fruit bars = 3 gels.

I'll be trying to keep my bike weight down, so kit will be 1xtube, tire levers, pump, no multi-tool.
If I get two flats, then I don't care when I finish if at all.

My revised thoughts boil down to me wanting to hit it pretty firmly from the outset, rather than be held back by a group. If the group is fast, then great. I want to finish the race a spent force, and not wish I'd gone harder earlier. If I blow up, I'll back off for 5 minutes then hit it again. I won't blow up for long on a ride this short.

Hey Guys,
According to the HPRW website, you register at Bullocky Rest but they tell you what your start time is so you have enough time to ride around to North Pine Country markets ON Dayboro Rd where the start is.
I'm assuming they're doing that so that we aren't 'racing' across the causeway on Youngs Crossing Rd, AND the left turn up at the lights on to Dayboro Rd would be a bit hectic/dangerous if cars are coming through from the right. Maybe it was a police request for the permit.

Bruce, it is great to hear you are racing. It does not start at Bullocky's Rest. That is the sign-on location and the finish. It actually starts at the Markets on Dayboro Road so you have to ride round to the start. It is not far. So you won't have to ride fast from Bullocky's to the start-line. I took a drive out to the course today and was surprised at just how hilly it is. Having said that I have ridden it before and was not too phased by the climbs although I must admit I have never raced over this course and that makes all the difference. Also, when you say drafting doesn't help much on the hills I can only agree. But on the easier slopes it certainly does as the speeds can still be relatively fast. I think it is a challenging course and will sort out a lot of people. Just be careful. When I did the Closeburn TT it wrecked me for a couple of days. I was absolutely useless the next day when we did Eaton's Hill-Brighton although PeterO did it quite comfortably. I've only ever done one road race (Elimbah - really great) before but found drafting essential. It made the race really exciting. The difference between Closeburn and Elimbah (where I was able to draft) was huge. It will be good if our handicaps are similar as I think your endurance on the flatter sections will be invaluable. I hope this rain has stopped as it was absolutely a no-go place to ride today in the rain with visibility virtually zero on highly reflective silver white wet roads and cars stirring up great clouds of spray. As far as hydration is concerned it is something that I have never taken much notice of as I have little understanding of the matter. Still I will take a leaf out of your book and drink before I leave home and take two water bottles on the bike. One filled with water and the other filled with coconut water as an electrolyte. I hope this will be enough. Regarding tools/spares/pumps etc. I didn't know we had to take any. I thought if you break down you would get a lift back in the HPRW sag wagon (I hope there is one). It will have to improve markedly for me to ride. Anyway, barring the weather, I look forward to seeing you at Nundah for a 6.30am start.
Paul.

Hey Paul. PhilM and I aren't riding out from Nundah. A bit too much before a 46k lumpy road race

Thanks for clarifying the start. It pays to read the blurb. At least they're not finishing it at the start line.
I don't know how good those gradient %s are either. I've just taken the apparent averages from MapMyRide's elevation chart.

Paul, I don't disagree that drafting will be somewhat beneficial. My point is how much do you go slower than you feel strong enough for, just so you can draft with a group? My view is drafting will not be anywhere near as critical as it is on the Brissy Gold Coast Ride. And breaking from your group will have opportunities to draft behind riders further ahead, or those who catch you. Anyway, it will all depend on the strength of our groups. My strategy may very well become to minimize how much I fall off the back.

I've done probably 5 loops through Samford Dayboro Petrie with BBTA or others. Each time, they've been fairly competitive, and despite trying to stay together and draft, we invariably split up on climbs or descents. Lighter guys would get away from me on the climbs, and I'd catch them on the descents and flats.

Anyway, I wasn't going to race (decided to yesterday), because I know I'm more handicapped on the hills. But anyway, it will be a good training ride, and I was kind of not looking forward to doing a slow Scarborough run instead

Anyhoo, man it is cats and dogs here, in bed together, howling and meowing.
It's either going to rain itself out overnight, or not.

edit:
I wonder what the plan is if there's 3 feet of water over Young's Crossing.

Hmmmm.....BOM map looking noice, and forecast updated to "a few showers"

Well what a balls-up! Up at 5am, sky overcast but clear so the assumption is the race is on! Knowing that Bruce and Phil were driving out because they would be stuffed after 46km of rolly racing, I suddenly recalled how utterly stuffed I was after the 34km Closeburn TT. So at 6am I drove over to Nundah and let Michael, Joe and Peter know that I had decided to drive out instead of ride. By the time I reached the Warner (from Albany Creek/Strathpine) turnoff there were signs advising that Young's Crossing Road was closed so I diverted round through Strathpine. This was my big mistake as I think had I continued on through Warner and - is it Joyner? - I could have approached Bullocky's Rest before the road closure at Young's Crossing. But not being that familiar with the area, I diverted down over the Bald Hills Flats to Strathpine and approached the Petrie Markets from Dayboro Rd. Well it was 7.10am. Sign on was at 7am. But I thought with Young's Crossing closed the sign-on might be at the Markets. Well there is a penalty for thinking for yourself. There was nobody at the markets. Not a sign. Not a bike. Not any effing thing. So I got on my bike and rode to Young's Crossing Road which was indeed flooded with a torrent pouring over it. By this time I had had enough of Soldier's Honour road racing and had no intention of driving out to Dayboro/Winn Road to come back to Bullocky's Rest so I came home. Really flat. Really disappointed. In fact I wanted to start effing at everybody and everything in sight until Carmel pulled me into line and said anyone with any brains would have known that Young's Crossing would be closed after all that rain. The ride out was supposed to be a warm-up. But to have to stand round for over an hour at Bullocky's Rest getting chilled to the bone would have negated any warm-up effect. So here I am. Reduced to sitting in front of a computer when I should have been racing. At 9am Peter called and asked where I was. Somehow they had ridden from Bullocky's Rest to the Markets where the commissaries were trying to get the race started. Nobody's fault and all credit to the club for persisting and trying to get the race started. My big disappointment is that I will never know if I could have beaten Willow (who was my secret target rider) AAahhhhh! Don't tell him! But I managed (somehow) to beat him in the TT so I thought this would prove whether he was just having an off TT day. Had I been able to beat him in this race as well then I might be able to say I can beat him! Oh the web we weave. Never mind. All very disappointing. The thing is that had I ridden out I would have got to race but because I was in the car not knowing what was going on left me heading home to write this. The truth is I'm more annoyed at myself than anything else. If I had ridden out I would have been with everybody else and known what was going on. Hope you all had a good race . . . oh, PhilM and BruceG, did you get to race?

Paul

Hi Paul. I feel for you missing this morning. When the AC guys rolled up without you, then said you were driving, I didn't have my mobile on me, but was motivated to call to see why you hadn't arrived. In fact, the Phil and I had been wondering where the hell the AC guys were, because they were late.

Though honestly, I thought if you'd had problems finding the place, you'd have got on the horn to the AC boys, Phil, or me. Anyway, lesson learned for all. Never feel like you are alone mate. THere's always plenty of help. And a reminder to me to confirm with a call, rather than let things float.

BTW Paul, it is not a given you would have raced if you rode out rather than drove. It's possible you may have got a flat, or two, or a mechanical issue. Michael got one before registration, and another near Petrie Markets, and I counted at least another 4 flats before the markets.

As it was, the start was late due to giving us time to get to the markets, then another 40 minutes or so for fallen power lines on Dayboro Rd to be cleared, then 20-30 minutes of handicap time to wait after the first riders started. Registration stayed near Bullocky Rest, as did the finish line.

Anyways Paul, here's my post mortem.
My race unfolded pretty much as expected. I couldn't stay with anyone up the hills, but could make ground on the descents and flats. I went off a handicap of 20 minutes, with 4 others. MichaelF went off 25, and I "think" JoeH 28, and PhilM and PeterO 30.

Two of my group shot up the first hill, and gained 150 metres straight up. I cut loose from the other two around the same time, and chased the first two for most of the race. No faster riders passed me until around 3k past Dayboro. Ginger haired Ian was with 2 or 3 whippets hammering along. He is deceptively strong that Ian....and he offered words of encouragement to me, but they passed me on a climb and I couldn't hop on. About a km later, Michael F and 3 or 4 others came past; once again on a hill, and I couldn't get on. I don't think anyone else passed before the Winn Rd turnoff; but on Winn Rd probably 6 groups passed, mostly in the last 4km of the race.

JoeH and his buddy caught me just after Clear Mtn Rd intersection. I had caught one of my group a half km back, but was shadowing him to see how strong he was, and to pick the right time to pass him without him hopping on my wheel. Joe and mate passed me near the crest of a hill, so I was able to go with them, well for 500 metres...but that got me past my group mate and into second place for my group of 5.

The scratch guys and their supporting motorbike passed me about 1/2km before the Forgan Rd turnoff, hammering it.

My final time was around 1h21m. and my average speed was 29.9, which I was happy with considering I had no more than 700 metres of draft time, so pretty much an ITT for me. I think it compares favorably with JoeH's time around 1h10m which he achieved working with at least one other for the whole race. I put pretty much all I had into the race. I could have probably done a bit more at the beginning and middle sections, but the redline is a razor's edge and it was difficult to know how I'd feel in towards the final bits.

What I was surprised about is how quickly Dayboro came up, then Winn Rd turn off, then Forgan Rd. The race didn't seem excessively long at any point. I never said to myself, not another hill. I think this is a result of knowing the course you are going to do. It helps you pace yourself so much better.

Anyway lessons learned:
- hills make it difficult to stay with a group.
- drafting is definitely an aero and psychological benefit though, IF you can stay with the group on climbs.

Bruce,

In your writing you have a great ability to make the reader feel involved. It is like being in the race alongside you. To average 30kph over such terrain and for such a distance alone is really something. If you are as bad on the hills as you say you are you must have been flying on the flats! This doesn't surprise me because during our training sessions on the track you are back to your best with surprising accelerations and sustained high speeds. In the TT I did I averaged not much more than that over much easier terrain and for only 34km. The real plus in a road race is to be able to draft and this you regrettably were not able to do. Imagine what your average would have been had you had a bunch to work with! And your handicap was not all that advantageous. To hold on till the last 4km has my absolute admiration. You really did well and you must go in for TTs. I always prefer team TTs as they are so much easier but if the course is reasonably flat an ITT would suit you perfectly. And anyway, what is all this about hills? What happens to you? What do you feel like that they have become such a hurdle? I don't understand how you can climb mountains the way you do yet have trouble on hills. I will never understand cycling! It has to have something to do with attitude. I have reached the stage where hills are manageable but only because I feel confident enough to attack them and get over them knowing I can recover quickly once at the top. That is motivation enough for me. I see a hill. I blast away just to get to the top so I can get over the pain and suffering quicker. But a mountain requires a complete change in attitude. Know you are going to suffer. Get a mantra going in your head. Match your cadence to the mantra. Match your breathing to the mantra. Your speed will be governed by the chosen gearing. And just sit there and pedal. My preference is to never look more than a bike length ahead. Much too debilitating. Simply settle down and just like magic the summit appears. Well now . . . isn't that a bit patronizing Paul? Here I am telling an experienced mountain climber how to climb! One who never baulks at climbing anything blast you. Woops. Sorry. Still, there must be a reason why you are losing speed on the hills. Do you change into the small chainring too early? On lots of hills I find it better not to go into the small ring at all as my speed does suffer regardless of which cog I an on at the back. On hilly rides I will only go into the small chainring if the climb is short and quite steep or if it is a long hard climb. But you know best. The thing is you are not overweight. You have power on the flat to sustain quite high speeds so what is it? It is only a suggestion but because you are so competent on mountains, maybe you could change your attitude on the hills. I suppose the motorbike for the scratch riders was for safety reasons but it does seem to conflict with the handicap concept. Anyway, thanks for the feedback. It is really appreciated and helps me in some small way understand what it was like to ride that course. I can't help feeling frustrated that I missed out. It is something that I could have done and should have done but will have to wait another year to have a go. And how many years have I got? A ha . . . that is the question, isn't it!

Thanks Bruce,

Paul.

Thanks for nice words Paul. Re why I go up hills AND mountains slow is because I have less power for my bodyweight.
To be frank and concise, I don't think medicine understands all the effects of post viral syndromes like I got with Ross River.
It knocked the crap out of me over 20 years ago, and I've never been the same since.
Personally, I think it effects the neural and endocrine systems. I've had consults with 3 cardiologists regarding my heart function over the last 10 years. My maximum HR has never gone above 160 since I've been riding with AC. In last year's Brissie Gold Coast ride, Rob Heyman and I were riding together, and his HR was 160 something and mine was high 130s. He was flabbergasted. But it isn't necessarily a good thing. It indicates the nerve impulses that drive heart rate are compromised in me. I literally cannot get my heart to beat as fast as a normal person, no matter how hard I push myself. This reduces the blood I can push through my body in a minute (cardiac output = stroke volume x heart rate), and therefore the work my muscles can do; and that's part of the answer to why I cannot climb as well as you guys.

That's why the biggest gain I am going to make with climbing is to get my bodyweight down. Remember climbing ability is power divided by bodyweight (watts/kg). You can either increase your power or decrease your bodyweight, or both.
As you get older, it is harder to increase your power significantly once you've trained for a year or so, because you haven't got the testosterone and growth hormone to create a lot more muscle.
I am currently around 22% bodyfat. I can be healthy and 10% bodyfat, and that's a bodyweight of 77kg, which is what I was in my 20s.

For every unneccessary kg of bodyfat I carry, I need an extra 3watts to maintain the same pace up a hill. If I lose 10kg of bodyfat, that gives me an extra 30 watts to go faster. Up Coot-tha, that would let me go almost 10% faster. My best time would decrease from 11m45s to 10m47s, almost a minute off for doing nothing more than losing fat.

But there's one other BIG advantage to reduced bodyfat, and that is that the heart and arteries have less fat stored in and around them. So getting the fat off is like cleaning out gunk from within the arteries, widening them, and allowing more blood to reach the muscles. This will increase power also, but how much is difficult to determine.

So to summarize Professor Julius Sumner's hill climbing lesson , for my medical history, my climbing gains will more likely come from getting a body fat % similar to yours

Anyway, I have been hobbled somewhat in my weight loss due to yet another health issue which I've told you about, and that's the burnt out thyroid. I haven't yet gone onto a maximum thyroxine dosage, and my appetite gets quite ravenous and I get very weak almost daily, which feeds into overeating. Once again, I think this is courtesy of the ross river virus / chronic fatigue thing, and all the stress that has followed that.

Anyway, all quite personal, but if it helps others appreciate their health more, all the better. Health is such a beautiful thing, and so easily disrespected. No matter the troubles we've got in the world, we should be mindful not to take it out on our bodies. They are not cars that can be traded in when they wear out. This is the one thing I feel so sad about Australia - the drinking and crap food culture makes it so hard to excel in anything else in life - study, work, self discipline, equanimous disposition.

Rant Off

Bruce - what can I say! You know so much . . . ignorant me is tempted to say you know too much so I will dismiss that thought completely! I take 100mg of thyroxine daily. I also take 4mg of perindapril for my blood pressure. Both of these health issues are common to all my siblings and compliments of our mother who at 90+ is still as healthy as the day she first drew breath (if you discount her total lack of any cognitive function!). But that's another desperate story.
I must admit I was unaware of any problem before I started taking either tablet and am still unaware of any effect post tablets but I suppose the doctor knows best.
The thing is I hardly feel any different to when I was a young man. In truth I hardly ever think of my age (and when I do I shut the thought out with a shudder and an oh yuk, who needs that). I always remember an interview with John Travolta who said he doesn't feel any different inside to when he was young. That sometimes when he sees himself in the mirror he gets a shock! Well tell me about it!
But with your brain constantly being aware of cause and effect it must be either a great interest for you or a great burden to carry! The question is - is ignorance bliss? Hardly . . . the difference between my brother though and me is huge. He is constantly aware of every little twinge or ache or whatever. He has had every medical procedure known to Man. He is always - ill, in hospital, why, he has had at least a half dozen different beds in two years! Yet he is never well. Carmel says the medical profession really knows very little about thyroid and its effects. She says something about reverse T3 or something but that the medical profession in Australia won't recognise it and persist with pushing thyroxine on everyone. She insists that thyroxine does not work for everyone. Anyway you are not alone in being able to rant. I found your assessment of yourself not only interesting but to me it sounds extremely logical and worth pursuing. You have an obvious interest in medical science and it seems to me you are using yourself as a test subject. Your Mt Coot-tha study attracts me. So all I have to do is achieve my optimum bodyfat/weight and I will ride faster with no increase in effort. Why I find this interesting is because that is what I was trying to say happens to me when I choose not to use the small chainring but stay in the big one and use a bigger cog at the back! Some blokes say oh just get rid of a water bottle but I don't think that is at all comparable to loosing a similar amount of body fat is it? Body fat is not just weight. It is weight + the effect of inhibiting blood/oxygen flow round the parts of the body that count. Anyway, now I'm getting into areas about which I know nothing so will shut up! Regardless of all of the above, the point is you did really well in the race because effectively it was a ITT. I'm sure (without even being within sight of the race) that Michael would have drafted most of the way as would I. Because that is my natural way of riding. So to ride 46km by yourself is an achievement. It now poses the question . . . just what would you have achieved had you drafted?

Paul.

Hey Paul. I could go on, but there's a couple of people in the group who are not as noble in character and motivation as you. So we'll pick it up one day over coffee.

The Race results are up. Here's the AC guys.
Not bad grouping by Terry. Apart from Phil who has put in big k's and had a bug, we all finished within 2m38s of each other.
Total field finish time range was around 23m40s. I presume Terry tries to keep this tight, without causing congestion.
My solo ride doesn't look too shabby.



I've converted the HPRW pdf to a xls if anyone wants to play with it.

thanks for that table Bruce. I can see they made at least one mistake though - they list No. 52 Tim Hodda coming in at 1:37:53, when in fact he came in my group at 1:41:48 - he started with my group at 34 min, and if you look at him, there is no way you'd think he could've done it in 1:03:53 ! (you even see his time of 1:41:48 in one of his IPad photos on the HPRW website).

No sure if i should bother emailing adam and letting him know.

Peter, I also wondered about Stephen Froome coming in with the same time as me. AFAIK, I passed him a few km's before the finish, and he was no where in sight from the Forgan Cove hill. Anyway, I was pretty toasted so I could be mistaken. It'd be a hard job for the officials to track the numbers....roll on electronic timing

yeah, well the next thing i was going to ask you was - did you ever find out the approximate cost of those electronic timing systems they use in sporting events? I remember saying you were going to ask one of your mates who is in a big club down south.