First race of the year!!!
Breakdown
Wattfest is a circuit race held in Toole, Utah near the end of March. It goes around the Burt Brothers motorsports track. Its a very flat 2 mile course that has wide open roads with sweeping bends in an exposed field. It is properly named Wattfest as it often has riders breaking their power records, to give you some sense of the racing style. For further context, last year I solo bridged to a break and set my 1 hour pr at 300 watts. That year I took fourth in the cat 3/4 race. This year I hoped to get some USAC upgrade points in the P/1/2/3 race.
This year Wattfest was raced on Saturday, so we left Friday night for Salt Lake. Saturday morning I slept in(race at 1pm), watched the Milan San Remo finale, and prepped for the race. Myself and two collegiate teammates raced at 1, with waves containing a Frontier’s teammate as well as my girlfriend leaving after. After one neutral lap the race kicked off, with a few riders attacking and stringing the field out. For the next one to two laps the peloton stayed attacking and mostly strung out. At some point I moved towards the front of the peloton, and followed an attack. The attacked was composed of myself, another visibly strong and committed rider, my fellow collegiate friend, and a rider each from the two of the biggest/strongest teams. The timing also felt crucial, as it felt near the climax or breaking point of an attacking peloton.
Once I had made the break, I made my intentions clear with strong pulls, at or above VO2(380+) to solidify a gap. Within the first two laps of being away we had gained considerable gap, enough so that I was confident in our ability to bring it to the finish. We kept tapping away at the gap and passing lapped fields, and began to settle into a pace. My pulls gradually settled to 300-350 versus the 350-400 from earlier. It is also worth noting that we quickly found the ideal echelon formations for each section of the course, as there was a slight wind. At some point we dropped my collegiate friend and one of the teams represented. This both meant the pace was high and we would be hard to catch, but also that one more team would be chasing from the peloton. Our gap was quite substantial, enough so that I still felt confident that we make it to the line.
Laps started counting down with 6 to go as the gap to the peloton shrunk. The gap was close enough to keep up pulling until half a lap to go, where I took the final pull and fell into second wheel. In my eyes, the rider who was taking the strongest pulls sat in front of me. I felt somewhat ready for the sprint, and when the leading rider launch early, 320 meters to go, I got gapped and took third. We ended up having 30 seconds over the peloton in the end with the man from the prominent team taking the win.
Analysis
First off, I went much faster than last year’s edition. Last year, I averaged 26.1 mph for 50 km of racing, while this year I went 29.1 mph for 50 km. This year I averaged 278 and normalized 295 watts, while last year I averaged 300 and normalized 313 watts. I believe the power/speed discrepancy here is likely due to a few reasons, being that I spent less time alone in the wind, had a faster bike, less wind this year, and perhaps the power meter used this year reads slightly lower. The last statement is both founded and unfounded, as I have not tested the power meters against each other, but I have set a lot of power records on one power meter, and just so happen to not go that fast during those records. IDK. Overall I think it is likely a good sign that I am able to go faster this year for likely less energy.
For RPE/HR data, I have some generalizations. This year I wore a heart rate monitor, however last year I did not. This year I averaged 189 bpm for an hour, certainly a hard effort for me. While I didn’t have heart rate last year, I do recall it being a harder effort than this year. That shows somewhat in the power file, as I had poor sprints both years, but last years was even more poor. All in all, I am happy with having went faster this year for seemingly less exertion.
Below I have the first and second times I’ve done this race, and I have to say the data files look eerily similar. In both races I had some hard anerobic efforts to get a gap and at the end of the race, with a lot of fluctuating between VO2, threshold, and tempo in the meat of the race. I would objectively say that my race this year(lower screenshot) appears as the better effort. It seems much more consistent and efficient in my energy usage, as opposed to less predicable power fluctuations in the year before.
One thing I think is worth noting is my W’ balance. It is seen in both cases my W’ balance is nearly drained to establish my gap, then is slowly regained as I then have moments of riding below threshold. This perfectly illustrates the importance of both having a strong W’, which lets you gap and escape the field, as well as a high Critical Power to then sustain or recover once the gap is established. It is also of interest to see where I invested my W’. In last years race, the dip in the W’ is much more choppy and unpredictable, and peaks out later in the race than this years edition. This is important as a more committed/faster and more consistent drain of W’ is more energy efficient, allowing more gap to be created for a set amount of anerobic capacity used. The timing of the attack is also important, as the earlier I can start riding under CP, the sooner I can start to recharge my W’, giving me more available punch for the end of the race.
In summary, the numbers from this years effort show growth particularly in racing skill. With likely similar fitness currently as opposed to last year, I am very pleased to see myself still adapting and learning how to race more efficiently.
Summary
All in all, I am happy with my race! I completed my goal of getting USAC upgrade points(2 pts left until cat 1 eligibility), as well as showing significant growth in racing ability. I am glad I went! I would recommend others to try their hand at this race next year, it is certainly a fitness test, as well as being a novel experience to race on a race track.
