Watching the Friday night fireworks as the pacecar zooms by near the end of the race
Friday, Blue Dome Criterium, 38th
This was a great kick-off race for the weekend of racing at Tulsa Tough. I didn’t know how my legs would feel after a 750 mile drive on the heels of two days of HC climbing in Los Alamos. But it turns out they felt really great. I didn’t anticipate how early our Pro/1 field would try to line up for the start immediately following the 1/2 race — so I ended up starting near the very back of the field. The figure-eight course was super fast, but not very hard. You could always carry your speed through each corner – and because the race never really slowed down much it was hard to pass anyone since there would always be a corner coming up. Eventually I figured out that the short stretch of road between turns 4 and 5 was the spot to pass – but as I found out on the next to last lap, it put you in a bad spot for turn #6. I was moving up really well from near the back of the field to the top 30 or so when I got cut off on turn #6 having to slam on the brakes to avoid colliding with the rider coming from outside to inside on that corner. I lost 10 spots immediately and a lot of momentum going into the final lap. The last lap was so fast that there wasn’t much passing. I ended up getting 38th. The best part of the race, though, was the fireworks (literally) from a nearby baseball game that started with 15 minutes left in our race lasting until the next to last lap. It was a really psychedelic experience as the fireworks were in plain view in front of us on two stretches of the course. Plus they were so loud that you didn’t hear the normal sounds of a bike race. I was disappointed with my result, but the race was very fast and fun, and I knew my legs felt great for the rest of the weekend.
Saturday, Brady Village Criterium, 25th
Josiah and Analise both raced the kids race with Josiah cruising to a 2nd place finish in the 6 and under category. The video below is of Josiah getting 2nd in the kids race. Analise had a rough start, but finished strong in the 7 and older category.
Josiah shows off his 2nd place medal, and Analise shows off her ribbon
Our race was an L-shaped course starting out very flat with two quick lefts. Then after a long straightaway, the course had its only righthand turn followed by a long uphill. This hill was lined with tons of people from nearby restaurants and bars. Then we turned left to continue up a frontage road next to an interstate overpass. People climbed way up on the concrete to watch the race and scream/cheer for us. Then we turned left to fly down the hill into the final turn. Even with a very strong headwind, the hill was steep enough that we went screaming through the last turn fast every lap. I started towards the middle of the field and fought hard to stay there eventually moving up to 25th by the end.
Sunday, Cry-baby Hill Criterium, 32nd
This was the marquee event of the weekend and has to rank as one of the coolest criterium experiences ever. The long 10% hill on the course was lined with so many people packed in so tightly that it felt like what I would imagine riding a grand tour climb through throngs of people would be like. On some laps, you could only fit two or three riders at a time together through the people spraying water with garden hoses, super-soakers, and water bottles. I started at the back again after getting lost on my warm-up. I only had a few minutes to find water, find and kiss Kristine, and make it to the start line. Then there was a somewhat lengthy call-up so I actually had a little more time than I anticipated. In any case, I was at the very back.
The course started out flat along the Arkansas River before narrowing from four lanes to a one lane off-ramp at the base of Cry Baby Hill. The average gradient for the climb is about 10% with half the climb on the off-ramp, and the other half once you make the righthand turn onto W 13th St. This is where it got really crowded with so many people yelling and screaming and many of them dressed up in different costumes. Super-soakers, water bottles, garden hoses were all used to douse us with water, which was really important because the race temp was well into the 90s. Imagine an Athens Twilight crowd on a narrow road without any barriers separating the crowd from the racers – it was absolutely awesome.
Once you crested the climb, you went down a short steep hill to a cross steep with a hump across the middle. On the first lap when we were flying, I caught air on the hump accidentally. Then the road kicked back up again for the turn onto S Galveston Ave which took you down a steep hill into a 110 degree turn back onto the start/finish stretch. This is when you were hit with a huge tailwind, which meant that the corner wasn’t too bad because the tailwind made it possible to get back up to speed quickly/easily rather than trying to risk carrying a crazy amount of speed through the corner.
Josiah making the most of a small sand pit next to turn 3 (don’t worry, this was a very slow uphill corner)
Kristine got this video of the downhill corner of the first lap of our race (Pro/1) –
I felt really good on the hill and passed people every lap. I would continue to pass people on the downhill into the 110 degree turn. I would then hold my position well until just before the turn to go up the hill, where I would usually get passed by several people every lap. Rinse and repeat and this meant that I very, very slowly worked my way from the back of the field to the front. Just before two laps to go, I surged one more time and moved into the top 20 – but then on the flat stretch leading into the hill, there was a big swarm of people up either side and I lost a lot of positions. I started passing people again on the climb, but the damage was done as I was maybe 40 riders back by this point. I continued passing riders everywhere I could, but I only ended up 32nd. Still, this was an Athens Twilight style race that you were happy to finish. Next year, I will be more aggressive on the flat stretch going into the hill so that I don’t lose so many positions each lap.
Coming out of turn 3Here is all my power and heartrate data from the three races:
Tulsa Tough Friday – Blue Dome Criterium
Tulsa Tough Saturday – Brady Village Criterium
Tulsa Tough Sunday – Cry Baby Hill Criterium
Tulsa Tough Friday – Blue Dome Criterium
Tulsa Tough Saturday – Brady Village Criterium
Tulsa Tough Sunday – Cry Baby Hill Criterium
Tulsa Tough Friday – Blue Dome Criterium – Pedal Force / Pedal Velocity
Tulsa Tough Saturday – Brady Village Criterium – Pedal Force / Pedal Velocity
Tulsa Tough Sunday – Cry Baby Hill Criterium – Pedal Force / Pedal Velocity
Tulsa Tough Friday – Blue Dome Criterium – Power Map
Tulsa Tough Saturday – Brady Village Criterium – Power Map
Tulsa Tough Sunday – Cry Baby Hill Criterium – Power Map
LAP DATA / SPLITS
DAY 1, FRIDAY BLUE DOME CRITERIUM Lap Time Avg Pow Max Pow HR MPH 1 01:37 304 901 155 25.5 2 01:23 255 897 164 28.3 3 01:21 309 923 167 29.5 4 01:20 302 911 171 29.4 5 01:19 311 959 173 30.3 6 01:16 292 888 174 31.1 7 01:20 266 883 171 30.2 8 01:20 266 835 169 29.9 9 01:18 304 914 171 30.7 10 01:21 290 705 172 29.2 11 01:24 263 952 169 28.2 12 01:27 267 857 168 27.6 13 01:24 280 792 168 28.7 14 01:20 286 752 167 30 15 01:27 232 728 161 27.8 16 01:21 283 775 161 29.9 17 01:26 256 898 164 28 18 01:22 274 769 165 29.4 19 01:22 298 919 166 29.5 20 01:20 261 939 165 30 21 01:21 247 675 164 29.8 22 01:22 284 878 163 29.5 23 01:21 280 744 168 29.1 24 01:23 233 708 163 28.9 25 01:19 292 844 164 30.1 26 01:21 248 779 166 29.3 27 01:20 307 880 168 29.6 28 01:22 253 963 167 28.8 29 01:23 275 862 167 29 30 01:19 283 744 169 29.9 31 01:21 275 841 171 29.4 32 01:24 261 936 167 28.2 33 01:20 291 841 170 29.6 34 01:21 276 843 172 29 35 01:21 318 959 177 29.4 36 01:21 293 973 176 29.6 37 01:19 284 981 179 30.7 38 01:18 294 870 180 30.8 39 01:19 304 907 185 30.2 40 01:19 328 940 184 30.1 41 01:18 356 976 187 30.9 42 01:14 363 765 190 32.2
DAY 2, SATURDAY BRADY VILLAGE CRITERIUM Lap Time Avg Pow Max Pow HR MPH 1 01:57 295 880 151 26.1 2 01:42 287 839 166 29.1 3 01:43 270 888 168 28.3 4 01:40 246 958 164 29.4 5 01:44 262 821 165 28.2 6 01:41 279 894 170 28.9 7 01:41 257 913 170 29.5 8 01:37 300 909 170 30.3 9 01:46 262 814 172 27.9 10 01:42 279 990 170 29.3 11 01:38 296 998 178 29.7 12 01:39 263 976 175 30.1 13 01:41 270 949 173 29.4 14 01:41 275 941 173 29.5 15 01:42 242 773 174 29.1 16 01:42 245 768 165 29.3 17 01:42 263 853 170 28.8 18 01:43 275 876 173 28.7 19 01:45 268 796 171 27.9 20 01:44 278 937 171 28.3 21 01:42 235 826 169 29 22 01:43 254 890 170 29 23 01:45 266 735 169 28.5 24 01:43 259 767 171 28.6 25 01:40 260 781 172 29.7 26 01:43 275 805 172 28.8 27 01:43 261 716 170 29 28 01:44 250 729 170 28.5 29 01:47 237 892 173 27.7 30 01:46 263 912 171 27.9 31 01:44 244 737 171 28.6 32 01:46 256 754 172 28.3 33 01:47 278 868 173 27.4 34 01:46 247 773 173 27.9 35 01:42 270 862 172 29.2 36 01:41 266 864 176 29.4 37 01:40 284 888 178 29.8 38 01:46 273 884 175 28.1 39 01:43 263 821 175 28.7 40 01:43 291 882 180 29.2 41 01:44 281 860 181 28.6 42 01:41 287 880 181 29.3 43 01:44 248 901 181 28.2 44 01:43 272 806 181 28.4 45 01:47 274 954 183 27.7 46 01:42 297 927 189 28.9 47 01:37 379 990 193 30.3
DAY 3, SUNDAY CRY BABY HILL CRITERIUM Lap Time Avg Pow Max Pow HR MPH 1 02:09 310 847 152 23.7 2 01:53 279 826 163 26.1 3 01:56 259 909 163 25.5 4 01:52 267 819 165 26.7 5 01:54 280 907 166 25.8 6 01:57 279 928 173 25.3 7 02:06 222 803 165 23.4 8 01:56 262 784 165 25.1 9 01:56 265 960 167 25.4 10 01:50 318 1042 176 26.9 11 01:53 314 928 180 25.7 12 02:05 261 818 170 24 13 01:55 263 879 173 25.3 14 02:03 218 755 170 24 15 02:04 233 891 167 24 16 02:00 249 705 168 24.9 17 01:57 252 926 170 25.5 18 02:01 250 873 171 24.7 19 01:58 227 783 171 25.3 20 02:03 226 805 166 24 21 02:03 223 679 168 24.4 22 02:04 246 758 166 23.8 23 01:57 266 816 173 25 24 02:05 238 877 165 23.8 25 01:56 257 815 173 25.6 26 02:04 225 870 167 23.8 27 02:04 243 729 168 24 28 01:58 264 785 174 24.6 29 02:09 221 760 167 22.8 30 02:01 248 801 169 24.3 31 02:03 237 739 171 24 32 02:04 252 768 170 23.7 33 02:01 247 912 173 24.1 34 01:57 279 855 174 25.4 35 02:00 259 879 174 24.3 36 01:56 273 931 178 25.6 37 01:43 373 1041 188 28.3
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