Race summary
If last weekend’s Sunny King criterium was dominated by Kenda, then this weekend’s Athens Twilight Pro Race was quite a show of strength by Team Mountain Khakis. They had riders in just about every move. And then they were still able to set things up in the end for their sprinter Luke Keough, who edged John Murphy (Kenda) on the line with Emile Abraham (Rosetti Devo) rounding out the podium in third. Even the announcers were getting in on the action. I remember rounding turn 2 maybe 30 laps or so into the 80 lap race and Jeff Hopkins (announcing from the back-side of the course) was already saying that Team Mountain Khakis deserved most aggressive team. Kudos to the whole team for quite a performance and the huge win!
I did not do the grid qualifiers so I started at the back of the 130 rider field. A minute or two before they said go, I realized that I should be on the left side of the group so I turned around and rode around to the left side to be ready to take the outside line in Turns 1 and 2. This worked out really well because the guys in front of me clipped in well and we were able to pass a few people within the first few seconds of the race. On the second lap I was still on the outside and was able to shoot up the hill coming out of Turn 2 passing 10-20 riders. I had tons of momentum across the top of the hill, and the group was still going fast enough not to bunch up on the approach to turn 3 – so I was able to carry my momentum all the way down the hill passing another 10-20 riders. I went from the very back of a large field to mid-pack by the end of the 2nd lap. I continued to fight for position moving up every time the pace slowed down even a tiny bit. The extra energy burned to move up was well worth it for the faster lines you could take through the corners.
By the midway point of the race, I had worked my way to nearly the front of the field with a two-man break a few seconds up the road. The front of the field slowed down coming up the hill out of turn 2, and I decided this was my moment to do something in the race whether it worked or not. I attacked hard up the left side with Jeff Hopkins calling out my name over the PA – something along the lines of “and there goes a move from Brian Toone”. Coming across the top of the hill, I could hear Chad Andrews (who was announcing the start/finish line) mention something about “rider from Alabama”. Then going into Turns 3 and 4, I could hear him mention “Toonesfanclub”, which is the twitter handle my wife uses to announce updates during races (see sidebar of tweets to the right). So by the start/finish line I was caught, but I was elated to have at least done something in the race. That is always a goal for this race – not only to finish well, but also to do something in the race. Last year I was able to win a prime. Three years ago I was in a late race break of 10 riders that eventually produced a smaller break (unfortunately without me in it) with the winner Heath Blackgrove.
After getting caught, I fought hard to maintain my position but had slid back to maybe the top 40 riders with 5 laps to go. This worked out well, though, because with 5 laps to go and again with 4 laps to go there was a bunch-up on the hill as the front riders slowed down which meant that those of us a little farther back were able to shoot up the sides. By the final lap I had moved up into the top 20 and maintained that position all the way to the line taking 20th – my best Athens Twilight finish yet … DNF in 1997 and 1998, 48th in 2007, DNF in 2008, 27th in 2009, DNF in 2010, 26th in 2011, and 20th in 2012.
Here is all my data and graphs from this year’s race.
2012 Athens Twilight Lap Data POWER (watts) Lap Time Avg xPow Max HR Spd 1 01:19 330 292 820 168 27.2 2 01:12 267 228 827 172 29.2 3 01:14 270 236 975 173 28.8 4 01:11 305 261 851 177 30.1 5 01:13 257 228 895 178 29.5 6 01:12 256 226 845 176 30.3 7 01:16 234 212 890 173 27.5 8 01:15 243 219 919 173 28 9 01:18 258 223 891 174 27.2 10 01:18 231 211 860 176 27.6 11 01:18 272 238 873 178 27.3 12 01:13 271 235 918 179 28.6 13 01:11 284 239 931 179 29.8 14 01:10 250 212 821 182 29.6 15 01:14 249 223 973 179 28.7 16 01:10 280 235 917 180 30.1 17 01:13 234 203 901 179 28.8 18 01:11 268 229 876 179 29.3 19 01:15 261 232 884 179 28 20 01:12 236 210 934 179 29 21 01:13 249 216 903 179 28.7 22 01:10 262 230 864 178 29.5 23 01:18 234 214 897 177 27.1 24 01:17 262 238 896 179 27.6 25 01:17 244 215 920 178 27.4 26 01:15 256 224 976 178 27.6 27 01:18 238 218 903 177 27.2 28 01:16 226 203 790 175 27.7 29 01:16 216 190 794 175 27.7 30 01:14 235 199 706 175 28.5 31 01:13 239 209 885 176 28.8 32 01:13 253 220 875 177 28.6 33 01:18 260 235 900 178 27.5 34 01:13 247 223 933 177 29.3 35 01:13 218 198 885 176 28.7 36 01:19 257 234 883 172 27.1 37 01:16 232 205 842 178 27.4 38 01:16 232 200 881 172 27.5 39 01:14 222 195 832 173 29.3 40 01:16 241 210 856 172 27.8 41 01:13 262 223 930 176 28.9 42 01:12 228 200 820 176 30 43 01:19 224 202 800 171 26.9 44 01:21 215 193 862 169 25.8 45 01:14 267 232 775 172 28.3 46 01:15 244 214 755 174 28 47 01:19 229 206 817 169 26.9 48 01:19 214 191 851 169 26.6 49 01:20 191 186 813 171 26.3 50 01:17 246 222 821 166 26.7 51 01:12 225 199 775 170 28.8 52 01:13 251 218 868 171 29.1 53 01:14 240 213 844 170 29.2 54 01:12 259 225 802 172 29.8 55 01:15 214 186 816 171 28 56 01:16 280 228 842 171 27.3 57 01:13 325 280 971 181 28.9 58 01:21 202 170 783 174 25.1 59 01:17 243 213 701 169 27.5 60 01:14 212 190 743 170 27 61 01:19 224 199 852 167 26.8 62 01:14 232 201 816 169 28.6 63 01:12 244 215 832 173 28.8 64 01:15 245 225 885 173 28.4 65 01:14 261 229 731 172 27.7 66 01:14 232 203 827 172 28.2 67 01:11 238 211 876 173 29.6 68 01:16 244 216 846 173 27.8 69 01:17 239 211 854 174 28.1 70 01:14 212 189 817 173 28.9 71 01:15 236 206 879 172 28 72 01:12 253 217 875 174 28.6 73 01:16 243 218 812 176 27.6 74 01:19 261 214 782 174 26.5 75 01:16 280 233 865 175 28.3 76 01:12 254 221 919 178 29.1 77 01:13 226 190 827 176 29 78 01:13 284 236 850 176 29.4 79 01:10 276 233 922 180 29.5 80 01:07 363 304 1088 184 31.5
Heartrate zone summary. 47.6 miles is a long way to race in a crit!
2012 athens twilight heartrate power data (30sec smoothing on power data) – click to enlarge
This was what a pedal force / pedal velocity graph looks like the more “bursts” of power you have. The black dots are from my long-warmup. The red dots are from the race. Click to enlarge.
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