Week 9

Wednesday: I knew that this would be the last meaningful workout before the Pesta Pulau Pinang Road Race so I decided to make it count. Was torn between Revolver to get some last minute tune up for the big efforts of the criterium and A Very Dark Place for the sustained efforts required for the road race. I decided to do the latter. I think I created a PB overall. AP 25W, 300W, 305W, 209W, 304W. 80 TSS points.

Saturday: Pesta Pulau Pinang Road Race. I knew that I was going to get dropped at the dam, so I tried to play it smart. A break had gone up the road early and the pace slowed down enough for me to get to the front just before the Teluk Bahang roundabout. I think I was 3^rd or 4^th wheel coming into the corner and top 10 as the climb started. The big guns went and I just played it smart with the power, going hard, but not too deep that I would be shattered coming over the top. Managed to get into a group, but all went to shit when a guy slid out at the corner, leaving me off the back. Rode at FTP to the top of the Teluk Bahang climb. Just as about to cross over I saw a large group in front and chased on the descent. I think it helped that they were not going great guns and I managed to latch back onto the group after a furious chase off the descent. Mostly juniors, but still a couple of seniors in the group. Didn’t work too well even though a bigger group was in sight up the road. Even P2K has more discipline when riding hard. The coaches should drill some tactical nous into their charges. Worked at the front and never shirked my turns. Even chased down a small group going off on the last lap. But it came together again before the climb. On the climb it was just about managing power at FTP as legs were already close to dead. Still managed quite close to FTP which wasn’t too bad after close to 3 hours of hard riding. NP for the race until the climb was 227W. NP for the climb was 253W. Total of 270 TSS points for the race.

Sunday: No big hope for the criterium as I knew the BIG GUNS were riding. And true enough, spat out the back after 2.5 laps of the Mens Elite Category. Too bad the Junior Veterans only had 5 laps as it was good, hard riding. Even managed a stint at the front chasing down a Singaporean who tried to break away. The Mens Open was another repeat of the Elite. Although we lasted a good deal longer. Were still lapped after 12 laps as the TCG were going great guns. 152 TSS points for the day.

All in all, a good weekends of racing. But it made me think what could have been if I was 5 kg’s lighter. Oh well. Next year then. 500 TSS points for the whole week. Toning down the intensity for the next 2 weeks as I want to have a small volume block of at least 2 hours a day over the Christmas and New Year season.