Incheon Rally Road Race

12 May 12-

Post TdK I had a weekend off and worked the weekend duty.  I was up to 11 days straight of work which isn't anything crazy, but I was really looking forward to this weekend as it was going to be 2 races in 2 days.  Today was the 40K RR (road race), and tomorrow would be the 22k hill climb, 9k of which would be up the climb.

I had talked to a friend of mine on what the strategy should be for today, and we have started to pick up on some things about the Korean road racing scene.  If you can get a decent gap and start to get out of reach the peloton will just shut down and assume they cannot catch you and just fight for 2nd.  So he told me to just go from the gun and see what happened.  I had JY from my team and Aaron and Luis in the field, so they could control the peloton if need be and JY would be able to win the field sprint if I could stay away.  The other interesting thing is it was grouped by under 40 and over 40, but we all started together.  There was 123 people on the entry list, but I would estimate about 80-90 people on the start line.

Once the gun went off it took me a few seconds to get clipped in but I was still out front.  Once that right foot clipped in I put the hammer down, probably a little too much as my 10s power was 888 watts.  It worked though and I opened up a small gap.  Then the first corner came and I overshot it and ended up on the opposite side of the center divider, which I think caused some more confusion to the group, but 200m up the road there was an opening in the divider and we got back over to the right side of the road.  The course had a few turns early on and that is where I wanted to try and maximize the gap and get them to think that I was going to stay away.  By the first main long stretch I looked back and there had been one guy trying to bridge but he was back to the group by then and it looked as if I had opened up a 30-45s gap, so all was going good.

Then at about 20 minutes into the race when they came at me on the opposite side of the road, it was really confusing.  I had the lead moto so I wasn't worried about me going the right way, well I mean he did take a wrong turn or two, or at least attempted to.  So at that point I knew something was wrong, either A the moto took me the wrong way, or B the chase pack took a wrong turn.  Come to find out they had taken a wrong turn, a couple to be exact.  At that point I kind of had an idea that the race was going to be screwed up, but I kept hammering away and just followed the moto.  I kept looking back on some of the straightaways and couldn't see anyone so I throttled back just a bit as I knew I had to race tomorrow.

I came to the final turn to an empty straight away and no one in sight behind me.  It was a good feeling to have won the race, but it was a bittersweet feeling as well.  I really would to of liked to know if I could of stayed off the front solo.  In the end I still took home the pay check, but they DQ'd the 1st main pack that took the wrong turns which sucked because JY had won that field sprint and put him 2nd across the line.

It was a good way to kick off the start to a 2 race weekend, and I am looking forward to the hill climb tomorrow as I think I have a good shot at the podium, 99% sure JY will be kicking my rear up the mountain though.

Thanks again to everyone for all of the support and a special thanks to the US Military Cycling Team fueled by FRS, Primal Wear for the awesome skin suit, Honey Stinger for the great nutritional products, and WATTS/Storck Cycling of South Korea for all the logistical support.

Link to ride on Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/8353660

Results: 1st out of 76 (123 on start list) Link to Results: Click Here

 Luis, myself, and Aaron, the guys I train with at Osan.

 Waiting for the prize $$$$$

 The traditional Korean bow and nod

2nd Win of the season!

Camp Humphreys Sprint Tri- AF Still on Top

10 Sep 11-

Sorry this blog is so late, the Army news paper was suppose to do an article on the race but it never came about :(

Well since I have raced the Camp Humphreys race 3 times previously and was undefeated I wanted to make sure I showed up again to keep the winning streak for the Air Force.  I missed the race in June due to being home on leave, but luckily my good friend David Temple was here to keep the streak at least with the Air Force.  It is always fun to go to an Army base and take the title, so even with Kona on the horizon I asked coach to try and fit this in the schedule.  The conversation normally goes something like "Coach I want to race this weekend." Coach- "Ummmm we need a big weekend of training and that doesn't really fit" Me- "Come on coach I like racing, I will do the race and then do whatever else afterwards.".......Then I get the schedule and it has no taper into it, I don't think I have ever been able to taper for a sprint, and then on top of the race there is normally another workout in the afternoon.  So I always get a big training day in and get some good publicity for the Air Force.

We headed down to Humphreys with a big group from Osan, I think we had 15 people total.  I was glad to be going down with a big group as we always have a good time down there.  It is a well run race and they even have timing chips.  They close the roads off to traffic and the course is typically accurate to the distance advertised, which is getting hard to find these days.

Swim- It was nice to get a good feel for where my swim fitness is, and a 400 meter all out swim was a good indication.  I haven't been in the pool near as much as I should of been, but I was pleased with how the swim went.  I was first out of the water in the first wave, but we did not all start at the same time.  It was 16 people and they started down lane to lane one right after the other with about 5 seconds in between each lane.  They didn't want the timing system to get messed up. Time-5:50(1:27per/100m)

Bike- The transition was smooth from the pool to the bike and as I was headed out the second guy out of the water was just coming out of the pool.  I really just wanted to focus on my power and try and get into the 300's, since it was only 20K.  There was a weird wind and it seemed like we were always riding into it and never had a tail wind, even though it was an out and back. Lap 1 I split 15:04, with 283Watts.  Lap 2 I split 14:48, with 280Watts, ahh the numbers and how they are confusing.  And then the course was a half mile long so I had a "3rd Lap"(I had my garmin set to auto lap each 10K) of 1:24.  Time-31:18 (24.7mph/avg-281Watts,Norm Power-289)

Run- This is what I was really excited about.  I have had quite a few brick workouts this year and my legs are really starting to run well off the bike.  They come to me really quick and there isn't a lot of adjustment time like I use to have, it use to take a mile or two before the really started feeling like running legs.  The course has some small rolling hills on it but it is pretty fast in my opinion.  I hit the first mile in 5:48, then 5:57, then closed with a 5:48.  I was really happy with my run, but it was .08 short, so just under the 5K, but I guess that makes up for the "long" bike ;) Time-17:40 (5:51min/mile avg)

Overall Time-56:01/1st Place Age Group/1st Place Overall

I was really pleased with the race and how it went.  A good friend of mine Aaron tried to stack a relay team to beat me, as I was being a little cocky and told him I had never lost the overall race, even to a team.  So we made a bet of some beer and wine and he showed up with a team.  Come to find out after the race, I didn't know what there team name was till they showed me the results, it was "BEAT BRAD WILLIAMS", but somehow the results showed "BEAT READ WILLIAMS", my name gets butchered more and more, IM Korea Kona Qualifying list, IM 70.3 Germany Medical Form, who knows what it will be in Kona.  Anyways Aarons team is the closest that anyone has come to beating me and was withing 2 minutes, it was nice to drink some beers on him that Saturday night ;)

Thanks again for all the support, Kona is 13 days out and I fly out in 5, can't wait to get there and be surrounded by the worlds best triathletes!

Here are some pics from the race:

 

Coming out of the pool

The bike all setup in T1

  

The homestretch and yes I am a heel striker ;)

 

The Finish line, with wave starts you never know if you actually won or not.  However I was the first across the line.

 

The Osan Mulitsport Athletes cleaned house on awards!