National Masters Champ Men 35-39 Pursuit Final - 3km - 12 Laps
http://tracktiming.live/results/E1933/M3539-TT3000-F-R.htm
Kevin Metcalf 2nd Men 55-59 Scratch Race Final - 7.5km - 30 Laps
Any other STers there?
Sweet 51.96 kph and that includes starting at zero in a 3:27 event.
Pretty cool, going from winning 8 hour races to 3 minutes+!!!
And if you thinking blowing up in ironman and walking is tough, take a look at the guy who got 2nd. Lead Jordan at the first two splits by about .6 seconds, then lost in the 2nd half by 10 seconds!! Something tells me he didnt even feel his legs at that point, just the cranks forcing them around in circles until he finished, ouch…
So how does that time compare to other AG’s and records?? Nearly 52k average speed, but I suppose getting up in that one giant gear is the whole game in this race. What is top speed in a 3k like this??
Reminds me of Eric Heiden, winning the kilo, then the 7 hour US road championships, never mind getting every gold medal in the 5 speed skating events…
Way to go Jordan, give us a race report!!
Glad I didn’t make the trip this year lol… 3:26 would have been a struggle. =D
Ex-cyclist was 2nd in the 3k (45-49 maybe?)
Great ride Rapp!! I’m glad to see that you kept smashing it after Elite nationals!
Reminds me of Eric Heiden, winning the kilo, then the 7 hour US road championships, never mind getting every gold medal in the 5 speed skating events…
Well, except this is a 5-year age category geezer racing. Elite pursuiters go 56-58 km/h.
Reminds me of Eric Heiden, winning the kilo, then the 7 hour US road championships, never mind getting every gold medal in the 5 speed skating events…
Well, except this is a 5-year age category geezer racing. Elite pursuiters go 56-58 km/h.
if i’ve got this right, kent bostick is still natl record holder, 35-39, in colorado springs, back in 1993, 3:24:60. and we all remember that bostick was rather a specialist at timed racing. then dean phillips (part of the family!) 3:22 at aquascalientes 2yr ago (lots of chatter about that here at the time). that was the new 40-44 natl (world?) AG record.
so, 3:27 at sea level, on the way home from work, not that awfully far off the mark. unfortunately, if i’ve got this right, jordan’s still got a ways to go to get the intra-company record 
Well, except this is a 5-year age category geezer racing. Elite pursuiters go 56-58 km/h. //
It just reminded me of my old buddy Eric, the extreme range that he had in sports. OF course my other buddy Jordan is chasing his dreams now, not as lofty as what Eric achieved, but then again, no one since that time 40 years ago has gotten close either…(-;
Monty
The best part of sport is that there are always dreams to chase 
Db
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Yeah, didn’t mean to come off so snarky. I was there, it was a great effort. He’s clearly learned the craft, and will be fun to watch. He could easily improve a full second on his start and get close to that Bostick record.
what happened at elite nats? A 3:27 3k does not line up with 4:52 4k
How does one train for this? I am super interested in this discipline.
find a track / get a track bike
have a great 5’ power
pace really, really well
spend your life practicing standing starts
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what happened at elite nats? A 3:27 3k does not line up with 4:52 4k
Thanks all. Morelock - 4:52 was last year (2018). I went 4:44 this year, though that was an underperformance as my best 4K going in was 4:35. At Elites, I just screwed up execution on the day. The hardest part of track racing has been just a lack of opportunity. It’s hard to learn all the lessons I learned simply by racing a lot as a triathlete. No substitute for experience. I wish I’d gotten to do the events in reverse (I went through 3K in 3:30.X at Elites, and then blew to pieces, though I do think the track was a tad faster on the day…) as I learned a ton racing Elites that I applied to Masters. The calendar order was inverted (unfortunately) from 2019, with Elites in July and Masters in August. I probably cooked myself a bit much in training (I was super fit about a month out… maybe too fit…) going into Elites, but what really killed me was just screwing up the warmup. I’d be more cautious about not warming up “too early” and as a result did basically no warmup at all, which is a death sentence in an event that’s reliant so much on anaerobic capacity. I’ve since learned that I basically cannot warm up too much. I did just over an hour of warmup before Masters and it was night and day difference. I also have gotten my taper a bit more balanced - rest more early and then build a bit going on so I’m carrying a bit more short term load. Also did a huge block of aerobic base work post-Elites (a week of “vacation” from work in which I rode 20hrs of solid z2/z3). Basically, I just did everything better at Masters - better prepared, better execution of pre-race routine, and better execution on the track.
3:27 was pretty close to what I was targeting. My “perfect race” time was 3:25, and I do think if I had needed it, I could have gone that. I will admit to letting the pace soften a bit in the last 1k because 1) it hurts a lot and 2) at that point I knew I just needed to get round for a pretty convincing win. However, as Dan mentioned, 3:27 is still a ways off the Zwift “company record” at Carson of 3:23 for 3K set by Mike MCarthy.
Ashton Lambie is the pretty clear best-in-the-US by a large margin in the IP, but I still think a podium finish at Elite’s is doable at the 4K. Ashton was the only rider to break 4:30 at Elites this year (going an insane 4:16… it’s hard to convey just how fast that is on the Carson track…). And I plan to chase that for the next couple of years while also doing Masters. The 40-44 3K WR is, I believe, very doable. Maybe even at Carson. I’m also very interested in targeting Zirbel’s US Hour Record and I actually think that even if Lambie does decide to go after it at some point that once you get out to an hour, I’m much more competitive with him than I am over 4k. Masters Worlds is interesting, but the travel isn’t really. I’ve spent enough time traveling around the globe with a bike box for one lifetime. At least for now… Though I certainly wouldn’t say I won’t go either this year or in the future.
Beyond that, track racing just makes me a much stronger bike rider. It’s make me better at gravel racing and Zwift racing, both of which I also enjoy. After a long career of racing professionally and, in the later years, not really loving to race, I’m back just enjoying the process and the chance to compete and improve.
I do make all of my data public (except when I travel and that’s only because Strava has been known to be an invitation to break into your house, even with privacy zones set up…). So if anyone is curious about training or data, it’s all up there.
I still have work to do with both training and aerodynamics (Ashton’s big gains from 4:27 in 2018 to 4:16 in 2019 were mostly from aerodynamic gains - different helmet, skinsuit, wheels, frame, bar, position… basically everything). I’ve done some consults with Dan Bigham of HUUB Wattbike and have some support from the HUUB guys (I raced in a prototype of the production version of their skinsuit) and I know I can make some more gains with equipment and position tweaks (some of which require new parts and some of which are just going to be practice - keeping my head way down, which is hard in Carson…). I’ll never be quite as aero as Ashton - he’s shorter by about 5", which is hard to overcome on the track, but I know I can get lower. Golden Cheetah has put me in the high 0.19X for CdA, and I do think I can get it down into the 0.18X range.
My power for the 3K was 500w even (including start), but I know I can get that up closer to 530 based on what I’ve been able to do in training. Maybe even 550 for the 3K; my peak 3min power on the road climbing is just over 550, but it’s of course harder to get that starting a fixed gear and going round the turns. But no reason to think I can’t get into the 510-520 range for 4:30 for the 4K, and that should get me where I’d like to be for that event.
Reminds me of Eric Heiden, winning the kilo, then the 7 hour US road championships, never mind getting every gold medal in the 5 speed skating events…
Well, except this is a 5-year age category geezer racing. Elite pursuiters go 56-58 km/h.
…over 4km. Average speed for 3k is pretty much always lower than for 4k (even for an equivalently strong effort) because of the relative “weight” of the first lap. And Carson is a fairly slow track. When they had World Champs there, the winning time was 4:28 (IIRC). And until Ashton’s epic race at Elites, the track record was 4:25. 3:27 is still a ways off the best recent best Master’s performance (3:22 by the winner of the 35-39 WC in 2017 by a rider who then shifted to Elite competition; South African guy who then raced Commonwealth’s for ZAF).
Also worth noting that at many of the World Cups, the tracks are further sped up through “clever” location of the climate system. Poland, for example, was super fast for World Champs last year (4:07 and just a few hundredths off the overall WR set at Aguas) despite being at sea level because - apparently - they used the relatively common trick of setting up the internal fans to get the air spinning. Also having another fast rider (and waves of fast riders) on the track to keep the air spinning helps a lot too. That’s one of the best parts of having a coach in Greg Henderson who has so much experience on the track. I’d be way more depressed with a 3:27 if I didn’t have some concept of just how variable speed on the track can be. A velodrome is not comparable to a running track in terms of parity.
While it’s obviously a bit of apples & oranges (or at least apples & pears…), not too many guys went through the 3k faster than 3:27 (though it’s pretty incredible just how much faster than that Ashton went… still blows my mind…) at Elites: http://tracktiming.live/results/E1921/M-TT4000-Q-R.htm
(You’ll see our very own Jonathan Freter in there in 5th as one who did though for sure Freter could have gone faster for a straight 3K)
I don’t say this to somehow pump up my own performance. I’m by no means a world-class pursuiter. (Yet!) But I do think that just mentioning absolute speed as a metric for relative performance is not necessarily accurate. In that way, it’s surprising how much track racing is more like Ironman where the course matters a lot. Even though, on the track, it’s not quite so obvious why…
Well, except this is a 5-year age category geezer racing. Elite pursuiters go 56-58 km/h. //
It just reminded me of my old buddy Eric, the extreme range that he had in sports. OF course my other buddy Jordan is chasing his dreams now, not as lofty as what Eric achieved, but then again, no one since that time 40 years ago has gotten close either…(-;
2 minute racing or 8 hrs racing, once we’re outside 20 seconds of purely fast twitch, it’s an aerobic race…remember Wiggins, 4000m pusuit gold and world hour record. Same with Boardman. And Wiggins won the tour de France. So this performance by Rapp, or Eric Heiden winning 1000m speedskate races and 6 hrs road races, all make sense from a physiology angle. I am excited to see how fast Jordan goes for the hour attempt too!
I agree with you. And I admire your consistent, methodical approach to learning the craft.
Reminds me of Eric Heiden, winning the kilo, then the 7 hour US road championships, never mind getting every gold medal in the 5 speed skating events…
Well, except this is a 5-year age category geezer racing. Elite pursuiters go 56-58 km/h.
…over 4km. Average speed for 3k is pretty much always lower than for 4k (even for an equivalently strong effort) because of the relative “weight” of the first lap. And Carson is a fairly slow track. When they had World Champs there, the winning time was 4:28 (IIRC). And until Ashton’s epic race at Elites, the track record was 4:25. 3:27 is still a ways off the best recent best Master’s performance (3:22 by the winner of the 35-39 WC in 2017 by a rider who then shifted to Elite competition; South African guy who then raced Commonwealth’s for ZAF).
Also worth noting that at many of the World Cups, the tracks are further sped up through “clever” location of the climate system. Poland, for example, was super fast for World Champs last year (4:07 and just a few hundredths off the overall WR set at Aguas) despite being at sea level because - apparently - they used the relatively common trick of setting up the internal fans to get the air spinning. Also having another fast rider (and waves of fast riders) on the track to keep the air spinning helps a lot too. That’s one of the best parts of having a coach in Greg Henderson who has so much experience on the track. I’d be way more depressed with a 3:27 if I didn’t have some concept of just how variable speed on the track can be. A velodrome is not comparable to a running track in terms of parity.
While it’s obviously a bit of apples & oranges (or at least apples & pears…), not too many guys went through the 3k faster than 3:27 (though it’s pretty incredible just how much faster than that Ashton went… still blows my mind…) at Elites: http://tracktiming.live/...921/M-TT4000-Q-R.htm
(You’ll see our very own Jonathan Freter in there in 5th as one who did though for sure Freter could have gone faster for a straight 3K)
I don’t say this to somehow pump up my own performance. I’m by no means a world-class pursuiter. (Yet!) But I do think that just mentioning absolute speed as a metric for relative performance is not necessarily accurate. In that way, it’s surprising how much track racing is more like Ironman where the course matters a lot. Even though, on the track, it’s not quite so obvious why…
Same way in track sprinting (running)
50m 5.56
100m 9.58
200m 19.19
You see the “weight” of the first 50m accelerating that human body from a dead stop to speed.
awesome
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JR, congrats on the win.
I am desperate to get into this sports and I have a track a bit over an hour away from me.
Is one able to take the frame of a triathlon bike and use it for individual pursuit? I have an extra TT and would love to track it instead of sell it.