This week, the final race of August’s Kick ‘N’ Sprint series was held on Scotland’s Rolling Highlands route. I was looking forward to it, because it’s a fun race course: hard enough to keep things interesting, but not so hard (read: climby) that I would get dropped.
Read below to see how my race unfolded…
The Warmup
I got on the bike with plenty of time before the 12:10pm PT race, giving me a full half hour to wake up the ol’ ticker and spin up the legs. I was already one dirty chai and a few pieces of Neuro caffeine gum into my warmup by the time I got on the bike, so I was nicely caffeinated. I had also rubbed PR Lotion into my legs to keep the burning at bay.
My Warmup “Stack”
I rode my Cadex Tri bike during the warmup, since I’m working on upgrading it as we head into ZRL. Just upgraded to stage 3, working on stage 4, which requires 480 minutes!
Lead-In + Lap 1
Rolling Highlands has a long lead-in, but it’s an easy one: 5.1km, starting with a nice little descent and ending with a kick up the Breakaway Brae. In a two-lap race like today’s, you’ll hit the Brae three times: once at the end of the lead-in, once at the end of lap 1, and once at the finish.
I was holding onto a feather powerup, which I used at the bottom of the Brae. 412W for 58s got me through that segment. At the finishing arch I grabbed a draft boost powerup, then settled in for a bit of recovery as we looped past Nessie’s pond and headed back toward the lap banner. Lap 1 had begun.
The next challenge is the climb up through “The Cliffs”. It’s 2.2km long, and not steep at all – a very draftable climb. I held onto my van until we neared the top, where the riders always push the hardest. Then I used it, so I could more easily surf the wheels as we headed toward the lap banner and another powerup.
I grabbed another draft boost through the lap banner, then sat in and recovered to prepare for the Corkscrew Castle climb just up the road. This steep little kicker requires close to an all-out sprint for 15 seconds or so in order to stay in touch. The pack always stretches across the top, but tends to come together before hitting the Brae just 90 seconds up the road.
And that’s what happened: 549W for 31s got me up and over the Corkscrew Castle climb, then it was another go at the Brae, using my draft boost over the flat top to ease my effort as I sat in the wheels. Lap 1 done.
Lap 2 + Finish
After a bit of recovery, we hit the Cliffs climb again. M. Rogozinski went off the front and was soon joined by E.VP, but I just sat in, using my feather to ease the effort near the top. As we went through the lap arch I got a feather as my final powerup, Rogozinki got reeled in, and E.VP was 5s off the front.
We hit the Corkscrew Castle climb with 2km left in the race, and I knew these final 2000 meters would be hellish. I put out some big watts to stay near the front over this climb, figuring the pack might break up and I didn’t want to get gapped. 618W for 28s put me into a good position… but had I dug too deep? I spun my legs past Nessie’s place as our front pack of 24 proceeded toward the final Breakaway Brae.
One rider, S. Leary, went long as we crossed the segment start line. Others followed, and I boosted my power to try to hold their wheels. But seconds later, Leary was too far ahead for me to draft, and I was in the wind, so I eased a bit to let riders around me come around as we hit the uphill hairpin with 400 meters to go. Feather engaged. It all comes down to this!
The orange numbers were everywhere! A. Adams passed me, then T. E1000. 300 meters to go and I was hurting in 4th position. I steered left to get more draft, but my legs were done. More riders passed mein the final 100m, and I rolled across in 8th.
T. E1000 took the win with a powerful, perfectly-timed final kick that pipped S. Leary.
See ride on Strava >
See results on ZwiftPower >
Watch the Video:
Takeaways
Rolling Highlands is a fun race course for me. The three climbs – Breakaway Brae, The Cliffs, and Corkscrew Castle – make it interesting without forcing me out the back.
It’s just that the Breakaway Brae finish always seems to eat my lunch. I do well climbing through the left hairpin, but seem to run out of fuel on the long hall to the line that follows. Pre-race I tell myself I should wait longer before going all in, but somehow I never manage to do it. Because there’s always someone just a little off the front, dangling a tantalizing wheel. If I could just grab that wheel…
My “weebles” (W’bal) chart from intervals.icu is pretty telling when it comes to that final effort over the Corkscrew Castle and Breakaway Brae. W’ is the amount of work you can do over critical power – that is, how big of a bucket you have to draw from when it comes to hard efforts (read more about W’ and Critical Power here.) Ride above your critical power (which is close to, but not the same, as FTP) and you’ll be emptying your bucket. Ride below critical power long enough, and the bucket will refill.
You can see in the chart below that my W’bal began at 25 kilojoules, and dipped to -3.9 as I crossed the finish line. That’s truly emptying the bucket! It’s the lowest I’ve seen my weebles in at least a few months…
If I were to do this race again, I would go easier up the final Corkscrew Castle climb, gambling that it would all come back together before the start of the Breakaway Brae. This would have left me more weebles to play with, and hopefully a bit more kick left in those final meters.
I began this race with a score of 569, just barely sneaking into the 450-570 group. My 8th-place result boosted my score by 5 points, which means I’ll have to race against the big boys next week. Wish me luck!
Your Thoughts
Did you race Rolling Highlands this week? How did it go? Share your thoughts below…
