Cold Coxsackie, Mr. No Twitch

BY KENNETH LUNDGREN

Slow Twitch? How ’bout NO TWITCH!!! Lol. I’ll get to that…

First event of the year. The plan was to sit in a bit, then really open it up and try to power a breakaway, just running myself into the ground. A result was not important — TSS was what we wanted…

At the line, I pointed Justin Lindine out to Bruno. Lindine’s a talented young Target Training maniatico… I raced with him at Battenkill, Fitchburg, Chris Thater — the kid is FAST! I told Nick to go with him, being Target Training was well represented… Would’ve been nice to see Nick in there with a SHARK.

Race starts off — did I mention it was 34 when I left my house and 29 at the start line in Coxsackie? — and I’m just puttering along, first race of the year. Group riding skills a little rusty, yup. An early move forms, just off the front, and I bridge to it, testing the legs, feeling good. System’s a go.

Then, I turn, see Justin Lindine bolting. I thought for one nanosecond, then bolted, too, following in his wake. Funny, I missed the wheel, so it was a fast pursuit for almost 1m — put out almost 500w 1m just trying to catch this maniatico…

So we’re off the front, really gunning. I feel okay — Lindine looks very fit, just flying along. He was riding like a man possessed… We fell into sort of a rhythm: as a TTist, I ripped the flats, getting up to great speed on the tailwinds (!!!!), and he tackled the climbs, most of the rollers. I’ve been doing sub and LT training, so I love that 320-360w range, steady eddy. But he was pulling harder, especially on the uphills. On the hill before the Start/Finish, he was really going fast. I said to him, “Justin, either I’m really fat or you’re really strong. Don’t drop me. You need me. You’re allowed to drop me on the final lap.” He laughed…

To make a long story short, we got a big gap, but I assume the big teams — Kenda, Westwood — got the train moving along and after almost an hour and four laps, we were caught. At that point, I was hurting, but still stayed at the front. I had gotten what I wanted — now I just hoped to survive!

I noticed the peloton was smaller — must’ve broken into pieces during the chase. One of my clients, Evan Cooper, unfortunately was on the wrong side of that splinter, but he finished with a few strong riders and I was VERY happy to see him finish the race, riding hard…

One minute after the catch, the second move goes. I was on Lindine’s wheel, watched him take off, and I just sat there. I thought this was crazy. To make a long story short, this new 6-man move, with 2 Kendas, survived. After the break, I sat mid-pack, just cruising. I was really starting to hurt near the end but maintained my pack position. I saw Bruno up front a ton, gassing it, attacking, reacting, and saw Goldman up there, coming back to mid-pack, then going up front again. I’m sure they were happy with their files…

Going into the sprint, I stood in the drops and was getting gapped by the guys in front of me! NO TWITCH!!!! I sat and got down and clawed some guys back. I suppose this is what you get when you’re a time-trialist who’s done ZERO sprint training this year, lol…

Coxsackie is wicked fun, Belgium-like, rolling, windy, scenic, fast. This is my kind of course, very much like the Hollenbeck Road Race. As a road rider, my strength is breakaways. I tried my hand, got some excellent training. If more guys bridged, I think we could of sealed the deal. For this stage of my training, I’m very happy with the numbers — they were better than anticipated when I looked at the file…

Oh, the most important part: Lindine dropped the 5-man break on that final hill and won SOLO! Beast. Made me feel better, knowing I could ride with the day’s fastest and hold my own for an hour… He came up to me afterwards, laughing. I knew he was strong on that uphill! Sometimes you have one of those days where you just can’t get deep pain in your legs… Musta been great for him… Kudos…

Breakaway: 50:00, 331w, 21.5 miles, 101 rpms, 25.1 mph.

Race: 2:10, 271w, 53 miles, 98 rpms, 24.1 mph.

Thanks for reading.

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Coach's Diary | Saturday, March 22nd, 2008 | | |