Team Sportslab UK Road Race League | 2019 UCI Worlds Harrogate Circuit | 3 Laps | 41 km | Advanced
Truth be told, I really didn’t want to race today. Work has been crazy, my schedule is off, and I am lacking sleep. But, what I want and what I need are two entirely different things. And I know I wouldn’t forgive myself for babying my way out of a Zwift race on a day I wasn’t injured or sick. And I am glad I forced myself to do it. What I am not happy about is racing in a way that took me past my redline too many times, putting me in a deficit about 1.5 loops into the 3 lap race. And then, in my infinite wisdom, when I was dropped from main pack near another rider, my brilliant self decided to try and ride away from the other dropped rider. And I did pretty well in getting away from him… until he linked up with a rider behind him. The two of them then tag teamed their way back to my wheel with a half lap to go. Should I have tried to ride away? Should I have sat up and grouped up with the other two? Should I have never red-lined myself in the first place, so I could ride a more complete race? Or, did I just do what I could on the day? Regardless of HOW the race went down, the key is that it went down. In other words, if I had given in to not wanting to ride today, I wouldn’t be asking myself these questions about how the race unfolded.
As I said mid ride, you DNF every race you son’t start. So, I feel good about seizing the opportunity and building my will power. After all, willpower is built on doing the stuff you don’t want to do.
As always, fun and fitness were had. And pain. And suffering. And frustration. And just a touch of self-deprecation and sarcasm. You know, all the good stuff that makes for a great racing experience!
Channel Note:
Whether he’s surfing wheels on a virtual Zwift course, hitting the open road/gravel/MTB training miles, or pedaling massive squares uphill, Luke Walton (your host) is on this channel getting lost in the process (literally and figuratively). And all the while, he’s doing his best to commentate on his riding in the moment, unfiltered. No VoiceOver on this channel. Just stream of consciousness between gasps for air as it unfolds in real time.
Luke’s goal is to provide engaging race commentary and analysis, relatable training/racing insights, a few bad (Dad) jokes, and behind-the-scenes moments that reveal the “in between” of cycling. Rough Draft is all about sharing the unfiltered reality of becoming a stronger and (sometimes) smarter rider… although, never put it past Luke to make really bad tactical decisions. But it’s not just about performance, it’s much more about improvement. Whether you’re chasing watts, crafting your own race tactics, or just enjoying the ride, you’ll find inspiration, motivation, and a community here that shares your passion for the sport.
Every great ride starts as a “Rough Draft.”
Hit subscribe, clip in or drop in, and let’s draft some cycling stories together.
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all right guys here we are for team Sports Lab UK road race we are doing the Harriut circuit today three loops which is so much fun it’s going to be pretty wild uh I have not really had a chance to warm up at all so let’s just see how this goes there are what 19 of us racing here today hopefully we have a little bit of a moderate start so I can ease into this and feel decent and warm up as we go but cannot count on that we’ve got 5 seconds to start three laps it’s like right around 40k I believe for the entirety and here we go all right mass start everybody’s here [Applause] right out of the gates and there is just a gradual climb out of the gates here okay [Applause] wow couple people way off the front to start shot from guns [Applause] i’m going to play the long game here going to ride the pack let’s work our way up getting spicy early here got to keep my wits about me let’s try and claw back up there there we go all right fast start hey [Music] hey hey hey hey hey hey hey [Applause] [Music] wow what a start that just silly holy moly i don’t know how many of those I got in me today okay guy’s off the front again okay i’m just going to stay with the pack there we go [Applause] there we go [Applause] all right there we go we’re all back together it’s just been a wild start very fast okay each time the group comes together somebody pushes off the front again really weird but okay only 6 and 1 halfk in all sorts of watts just to keep it going here okay really need my body to start coming around or this is going to be a very very long 35k this is just loop half of one and we got three total loops to do there goes somebody again [Applause] got to be disciplined up this climb it’s long deceptively long feels like it should be shorter than it is but it takes a minute or two to get up there so don’t want to fall victim to throwing too many watts at the bottom of this hill [Applause] just want to settle in the pace okay heat heat all right heat heat almost up okay uhoh there goes the interwebs and we’re back come on [Applause] there we go nice [Applause] with the grip hard U-turn coming up [Applause] couple pedal strokes here [Applause] it’s lap one really don’t want to fight that hard for one loop has been a lot switch it off on the downhill all right here we go hydrate this has been uh pretty full on right out of the gates [Applause] okay [Applause] heart rate coming down a bit which is nice it’s just going to throttle right back up through the finish line and into the next loop okie dokie okay off as much as possible working our way to completing lap one heat heat heat heat [Applause] okay heat [Applause] one loop done jeez jeez yeah i don’t want to chase not today strong and steady oh all right come on oh man hey Hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey okay recover heat [Applause] heat oh boy okay riding within myself no sudden movements with the group this is tough guys 17 and 12k in 24 to go not quite halfway okay heat heat [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] okay keep it together heat heat all right coming up on halfway okay still here barely okay okay 20 and a half done 21 to go get to the base of the hill we’ll be halfway get over that hill it’s going to feel like way more than halfway done what a vicious lap and a half 332 average for almost 21 kilometers with some serious pushes on these hills [Applause] okay I got to tuck in and be steady on the power on the way up oh boy [Music] oh boy okay hey hey hey oh yeah whoa oh yeah okay [Applause] no man’s land place I’m used to all right let’s breathe a little rg tune coming up let’s pedal here carry speed [Music] there we go that was good okay up and over 24k done 17 to go not sure the drafting boost does anything here but we got to get something else that’s usable for a man on his own come on there we go we can use it better all right even though I’m by myself I got to find recovery that’s going to have to be here i put a decent chunk into Verve 8 after the hill but he’s about to link up with the cryogen rider so while that’s happening I need to get myself back together still have the end of this lap and a full lap to go so yeah yeah got a bunch of statements flying around the chat some trash talk it’s always fun it’s always fun guys we’re having a great time remember that put in two really good loops got shattered about a loop and a half in so I shouldn’t say two loops total almost there but two decent hills first one was great second one was solid similar to the first but those guys just are climbing like animals okay uncover again almost done with two loops okay guys behind me are putting in some pots that’s interesting couple pedal strokes here get some speed into the base of the hill let’s go ahead and use the feather on the toughest part of the hill let’s stay seated so we don’t blow ourselves up okay [Applause] okay heat [Music] heat [Applause] one loop [Music] [Applause] all right [Applause] just want to TT up this okay there we go [Music] up and over okay there we go heat heat okay 11k to go 30 done almost 3/4 of the way through okay okay got these guys coming back on me they’re feeling good about themselves no point in fighting it i just have to be ready if and when they come back i would fight it if I were closer to the finish but I’m not a lot can happen in 10k so I just need to try keep my relative speed high look at them go they’re definitely trying to make the catch okay up over oh I hate no man’s land not gaining on the guys ahead losing on the guys behind wild day all the way around [Applause] what the heck come on just zero out oh is the trainer doing that again i got to tighten the belt what a waste i should have pedled that oh wahoo kicker why do you do me like this are you called the kicker because you kick me when I’m down is that it okay i don’t like where my heart rate is relative to my effort right now so I’m putting on no effort heart rate’s not coming down so I redlined it too many times i know that so my heart rate’s not going to come back and I’ve learned that lesson so many times but no I wanted to be in the front group cuz I’m special so this is why past few races I’ve chosen to ride within myself and I tried to do it a bit today but didn’t didn’t succeed probably should have let those guys go on the first hill but no today’s always the day okay 8K to go these guys are essentially here i actually don’t have anything so I feel awful and it’s very demoralizing to have 40 seconds on two guys who then work together and take it all back you know we left Vervort on the hill he was pedaling like two wat got a 20 second lead on him and he picked up the cryogen rider and look at them now so I should have sat up so I wasn’t going to get the front group but no I kept pushing the hill cuz that’s real smart and look at my lead it’s all for nothing here they come oh yeah like I’m going to pull you guys you guys are the ones that have energy not me well that is so demoralizing feel like such a schmuck sucker but maybe I’ll get a little recovery here never know all right half a loop left kinley and the bees is really putting on a show back there and he’s going to keep it super honest cuz he’s got what 40 seconds 35 seconds on the bees behind him so he keep trying to push into us and he might close some gap cuz I have no doubt now that the three of us are together it’s going to get all gy and weird just spin the legs super light these guys just queuing off at one another my stupid idiot brain like “Well just keep going these guys can’t catch me with 40 seconds.” Guess what anything’s possible when there’s two of you you know if these guys just want are content to just hold certain amount of power certainly not going to get in the way of that okay okay stay with these guys okay less than 5k [Applause] revite but smart move for the downhill shot this corner 4k to go let’s slingshot it okay this sucks that sucked a lot so it’s Verver Vver and Vervite couldn’t be a more perfect duo countrymen and everything okay guys so here we are top eight with two and a halfk to go totally shattered had as much as 40 seconds on these gentlemen ahead of me and they worked together and they are back and better than ever vervite and Verv i will never forget these names i’m definitely gonna follow these two after this race as they are solid steady strong riders and they rode a very smart race and all right I’m just doing what I can to get to the finish it’s going to be a little kick here hopefully it’s not somebody trying to escape cuz there’s plenty of real estate left to escape especially with that big kicker uh as we work towards the finish so guys if you are still here thank you so much for tuning in i really appreciate anybody who’s following commenting liking subscribing it’s been awesome keeps me going every day and I can tell you 100% I didn’t want to race today and I didn’t want to do this circuit but the only way to improve willpower is to do the things you don’t want to do so here we are and that includes putting a little power and a dig in this hill okay civilized okay that’s good little over a K left to go keep spinning out the legs not going to make it in under an hour but not going to be much over an hour either that’s pretty good for this course 1k to go minute 43 on the group behind so this is pretty much for eighth 7th and sixth as far as I can tell i think we’re going to save the draft for the top of the hill hopefully we’ll be in a position to use it [Applause] just a couple pedal strokes into the hill to gain a little steam and speed so we can carry that at the initial rise [Applause] okay start drafting [Applause] oh boy misjudged that terribly [Music] not even close pathetic embarrassing okay all right almost 3 minutes back to the lead eighth place look at that the guys ahead of me 4.1 4.6 and they outspranded me like I was standing still come on what am I doing oh those guys rode really really smart races within themselves made the decisions revive especially he spotted me 40 seconds in Tooth caught up and then those two worked together tore the 40 seconds back out of me while I was putting effort in and falling to pieces i got like 10 seconds of recovery before the main hill then scrambled to recover as much as I could to the finish and had nothing at the sprint screwed up should have carried speed over the top of the hill i was carrying more speed than they were and should have just kept going for a long drag uh cuz they came off the power for a second but no I I decided the best thing to do is sit up cuz I can out sprint guys that can go 12 to 14 watts a kilo my 10 watts will do it oh boy those are voices in my head guys those are the voices in my head comedic of course did what I could today that is considering I had no No real desire to sling my leg over the bike today we’ll take it if you don’t race it’s always a DNF so got to show up to the start line and be part of the conversation and I am a firm believer in willpower and mental fortitude and you get that doing the things you don’t want to do not just the things you’re good at that you can do hard but the things you don’t want to do can you still go hard so I’m toughening up so I need to get tougher as my fitness continues to slowly rise and that’s the that’s the gap maker right there is the mental fitness if I can have stronger mental fitness it can make up for some of my lacking cardio fitness not that I feel out of shape but man I feel out of shape compared to the guys that took two and a half minutes out of me almost 3 minutes out of me over three loops over this circuit that’s a substantial amount of time and I just could not stick with them over that second long slow drag the one that I’m on now loop two’s long stro slow slow drag right after the start line this one right here that I’m pedaling through doesn’t feel like much at 2% and lighter gears but it feels like a lot when you’re tired i’m trying to hold over five watts a kilo to try and hang on to those ahead and keep those away that are behind woof that’s a very fast way to get in over 40k in a little over an hour oh boy I am riding this circuit better than I have previously i know what to expect and I can anticipate how my body will respond i was hoping for a few more watts on the hill on the second half of the course usually climb a little bit better there but I did not today so just got to focus on recovery hydration nutrition stress management it’s probably a big one right now very very busy right now barely got on the bike with a minute to spare before this race started so I did it with no warm-up uh do not try that at home kids that is definitely a bad decision but there weren’t any other races that I wanted to do and fit the timeline so this seemed like the right challenge in a bunch of different ways so there you go can’t always get what you want but I definitely got what I needed oh I needed this thrashing i needed these the suffering it’s just such a catharsis in suffering to the point where you just have to give in and just you can’t fight anymore you can’t fight the stress of your life can’t fight the anxiety in your life anymore you just give in and as that pain and suffering washes over you it’s uh actually kind of nice just puts everything in perspective get you that release that you need all right 43k in just kind of making my way up this hill turning the pedals over lighter gears easier spin coming down off an effort that put me eighth i was in a position to maybe get sixth but not with the way those guys rode the finish and they rode really well they did a great job bridging the gap the 40 seconds I had on them they got that right back and they rode a very strong second half of the last lap especially sprinting to the line so to Vervite and Ververt good job if I sorry if I’m butchering names but Oh yeah and to everybody else who finished first or just completed this circuit great job this one’s not easy it is not an easy circuit especially three loops of it okay about to crest the hill and then I’ll really get some warm down going on so for now that’s all from me