Races contain two types, gamers and spectators. The below breakdown was taken from the Pro, 1,2 State Road Race Championships in Clermont Florida. This file is not mine, it is not from a Pinnacle athlete, but it is from a rider that finished in the money. You want to know what it takes to ride with the best in this state and be a gamer, see below.
Looking globally one must realize two important things; 1. Knowing when and how to use their fitness and quantifiable strengths. 2. When to do nothing. This rider spent 34:53 or 19.6% of the 2:51:55 doing nothing. At the 2 hour and 10min mark this rider took the race by storm attacking and managing to stay off the front for the remainder of the event. The move worked for a myriad of reason. For starters, the rider has the fitness to ride solo at 87% of his FTP following 2 hours of racing at a normalized power of 292watts or 93% of his FTP. Additionally, the rider managed to race within his limits amidst the various attacks taking place. Looking closer one can notice that this riders weight and high FTP played a vital role on this terrain. Although each lap only contains 440ft of vertical gain, with the more trying sections being roughly 100ft in gain, he was able to remain on the front covering attacks yet never going anaerobic given his power to weight ratio. The vertical gain isnt much per lap but when compounded over 10 laps, its the frequency that kept the spectators seated on the sidelines. Heavier riders that are typically dictating the outcome of the faster flatter venues were at the mercy of the lighter, punchier racers like this one.
The final blow was a 30second attack taking place on the last lap. The attack yielded an average power of 540watts and a peak power output of 937watts. The end result, the power, and the strategic nature this racer threw caution to the wind are all impressive, but what additional information can one walk away from this file with?
His aerobic conditioning is clearly well established. Spending 3hrs at 93% of your FTP is extremely difficult to do. Mind you, this is coupled with 5 independent efforts yielding outputs over 900watts and a 10minute effort at 111% of his FTP at 43minutes into the race. Efforts of this nature are extremely taxing and deplete glycogen stores at an exponential rate. Fitness aside, this rider read the race perfectly. After seeing riders fall from the break near the 2 hour mark he remained patient and attacked with such precision that no one could match it. Having great form is one thing, knowing when and how to utilize it is an entirely different conversation.
