On the heals of Patrick Collins' incredible win at the Ken Harrod Memorial P12 I'm happy to announce to the club that MRC Alum, 2015 Cat 5 now turned Cat 1 Brad "Bradzilla" "Wiggo" Bradford will be racing in the UCI 2.2 4 Day stage race in Quebec starting today. As the first (and only) MRCer to complete the rigorous Coach Skinnyphat training program, I'm more than proud and excited to give you highlights from the race as it unfolds. Brad will be racing against the likes of former Vuelta winner Chris Horner, Lachlan and Gus Morton, and other skinny mostly French speaking dudes.
Stay tuned for updates.
Grand Prix Cycliste de Saguenay
Grand Prix Cycliste de Saguenay
Last edited by JeremyC on Thu Jun 09, 2016 7:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Grand Prix Cycliste de Saguenay
Stage 1 Circuit almost 100 miles with a decent but not huge climb. 5000 feet of climbing Brad averaged 23.6mph. Here's the initial report:
Hardest day ever on bike. 36F. Rained non stop from start to finish. 4 straight hours. Crazy crosswinds. Final Break didn't establish its self for the first 65 miles so peloton was going insane. And just terrible crosswinds. All strung out in the gutter. Hit 60mph on descent. Came off the back on a climb when a guy opened a gap. It takes everything just to hold the wheel, no way I could close. Worked through caravan and came back. In the chase I did 355w for about 15 minutes to get back after probably 2.5-3 hours of racing. Survived in main peloton - not sure where I finished but probably in top 20 of main bunch. Tomorrow can't be worse. Ha
Hardest day ever on bike. 36F. Rained non stop from start to finish. 4 straight hours. Crazy crosswinds. Final Break didn't establish its self for the first 65 miles so peloton was going insane. And just terrible crosswinds. All strung out in the gutter. Hit 60mph on descent. Came off the back on a climb when a guy opened a gap. It takes everything just to hold the wheel, no way I could close. Worked through caravan and came back. In the chase I did 355w for about 15 minutes to get back after probably 2.5-3 hours of racing. Survived in main peloton - not sure where I finished but probably in top 20 of main bunch. Tomorrow can't be worse. Ha
Re: Grand Prix Cycliste de Saguenay
He should say 2C, sounds worse.
Re: Grand Prix Cycliste de Saguenay
And his speeds should be in kph. What've you been teaching this guy, Skinnyphat?pace21 wrote:He should say 2C, sounds worse.
Re: Grand Prix Cycliste de Saguenay
Whatever it was, it seems to have worked. Results are up and show Chris Horner 11 seconds behind Brad, who finished nicely placed in the main peloton. Incroyable!swawersik wrote:What've you been teaching this guy, Skinnyphat?
Re: Grand Prix Cycliste de Saguenay
Sorry I'm a stupid american...swawersik wrote:What've you been teaching this guy, Skinnyphat?
Re: Grand Prix Cycliste de Saguenay
Where is the stage 2 report?
Re: Grand Prix Cycliste de Saguenay
Ici, mon ami:Smudger wrote:Where is the stage 2 report?
http://www.grandprixcyclistesaguenay.co ... TAPE-2.pdf
Re: Grand Prix Cycliste de Saguenay
Yes I saw the results. WaI ting for the DS breakdown of the stage
Re: Grand Prix Cycliste de Saguenay
This is a fragmented report from Bradzilla, which probably indicates his mental state after an excruciating stage:
Very hard.
I find these road races like crits
We're the first 20 mins are insane and if you survive, you can make it to the end
But here, it's the first 40 mins, and then you can survive to the last hour.
2 hours reasonable in between
So, I popped w 2 laps to go
Well, actually 3 lap dropped, but rode hard through caravan and then rally DS gave me a massive slingshot to close final 20 metres
But I reattached right at base of climb already in the red, so got popped for good w 2 to go
Finished 8 mins back of winner, 79/103
The field this year is much deeper w conti's than last year I guess. This stage was a full 2 mph faster than same stage last year
Basically, ppl started attacking on climb in last hour and it shredded field. I was collateral damage. Ha
8 mins back though was well within the 20 min time cut, so, I'm fine and get to ride crit tomorrow
Crit on Saturday!!
Very hard.
I find these road races like crits
We're the first 20 mins are insane and if you survive, you can make it to the end
But here, it's the first 40 mins, and then you can survive to the last hour.
2 hours reasonable in between
So, I popped w 2 laps to go
Well, actually 3 lap dropped, but rode hard through caravan and then rally DS gave me a massive slingshot to close final 20 metres
But I reattached right at base of climb already in the red, so got popped for good w 2 to go
Finished 8 mins back of winner, 79/103
The field this year is much deeper w conti's than last year I guess. This stage was a full 2 mph faster than same stage last year
Basically, ppl started attacking on climb in last hour and it shredded field. I was collateral damage. Ha
8 mins back though was well within the 20 min time cut, so, I'm fine and get to ride crit tomorrow
Crit on Saturday!!
Re: Grand Prix Cycliste de Saguenay
Bradzilla's reports getting shorter, but the results are pretty impressive:
Went well. Missed break. Didn't expect it to stay, but then we got caught behind a crash. Battled for wheels on the back of pro trains.
Finished 23/94
Today is a 90 mile circuit with a 15 minute climb on each lap. Horner vs. Bradzilla? My money is on Sir Bradley
Went well. Missed break. Didn't expect it to stay, but then we got caught behind a crash. Battled for wheels on the back of pro trains.
Finished 23/94
Today is a 90 mile circuit with a 15 minute climb on each lap. Horner vs. Bradzilla? My money is on Sir Bradley
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Bradford
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Re: Grand Prix Cycliste de Saguenay
Hi everyone,
Thanks for the support and relay on the posts (apologies for the somewhat incoherent text and grammar posts).
Stage 4 is a pretty brief summary - another cold and rainy day, with 4 seconds separating 1st and 2nd in the GC, I knew it was going to be a brutal day. Everyone bundled up and took the line in their neoprene and rain jackets and reluctantly rolled out. In the first km, we turned right on to a 10-15 minute undulating climb. The group went ape shit from the gun, and the constant gradient changes and accelerations made for a painful effort. I was promptly popped halfway up the first climb.
As I sagged backwards and watched the gaps open, I realised my day was coming to an end. Several of us banded together and started to rotate. There was an assortment of pros and elite amateurs who suffered the same fate. Josh Berry (Jelly Belly GC guy) was among us, and he really illustrated the difference between pros and ams. As we ploughed forward in the wind exhausting ourselves, he sat back and calmly took off his jacket. Once we had all given what we had, he accelerated hard into the birraging caravan just before it braked into the corner - he made it back into the caravan and worked his way back up to the field. He didn't panic - he made a calculated move - and knew he had the power and the bullets to get himself back in to position. I ended up riding groupetto for another lap or two, before pulling the plug. Anton, my teammate from Toronto was also off the back and we decided it was better to start the 10 hour drive home, rather than race another 3 hours in the rain and not make the time cut. A good portion of the field felt the same way on the last stage, with 93 starters and 56 finishers.
A couple of lessons learned, illustrated from my first UCI stage race.
1. With a lack of neutral starts, these races go hard right from the gun. In all four stages, there was no easing into it. Stages 1 and 4 had significant 15% climbs within the first mile. A proper warm up is essential. Because it was cold and rainy - I didn't do this on stages 1 and 4, and fell victim to the consequences on the last stage. This was lazy of me, and not very professional. True, we didn't have a trailer with trainers set up underneath a tent, but given that I was on the bubble all week, I really needed to take every step I could to prepare. Something to keep in mind racing locally - if you have the fitness, or a team, make it super hard right from the gun. You'll lay the hurt on those who weren't as prepared.
2. Positioning is everything. Like a crit, in these road races, it's worth expending the energy to be at the front of the race (top 30 wheels). The attacks are so fast and furious, for a rider like me, there is no 'closing the gap' - only holding on to the wheel in front of you. If the gap opens, and we're going full gas, there isn't much you can do about it - you're off the back. Expend the energy and move up whenever you can (swelling in corners), and make sure you battle for position going into key sections.
3. It will get easier - no quitting (I know, I abandoned stage 4) - once the break goes up the road, the peloton will settle down. In some cases, this took more than an hour. But you need to fight, you need to survive. Everyone is at their absolute limit - even if you're a conti-pro - repeated accelerations of 1000w, 45 second efforts of 700-800w, 10 mins of VO2 - take a significant toll. You will feel like you can't do anymore, but you need to try and hang on - eventually the pressure will subside and you will have another two hours of reasonable riding before it blows up again in the last hour. It's a regrettable moment when you let the wheel go - when you watch the race go up the road and realise it's the end of your journey.
4. as Jeremy would attest, and everyone else who knows more about training than I do (most of you) - you can't be a GC rider at this level without significant pro volume. I ride around 14-18 hours a week now - but my rides are 3 hours or less - higher intensity efforts, but low on the volume. Crit aside, all of these races were four hour efforts - so, I was at my limit just trying to manage the intensity over the duration of the race, let alone contesting. The guy who won the GC is Ryan Roth (he also won Winston Salem a few weeks ago) - he's a local guy I race on occasion in the Toronto area. When I look at some of his training efforts (many of his rides are on strava) - they are mind blowing. He will do 6 hour days on the bike where he rides three 2 hour 'intervals' at tempo, only pausing to take 10 minute breaks to fill bottles. At our local races, he will ride about 100 km to the race, relentlessly attack the field for another 120 km, and still land on the podium (we usually take the win because we have 4 vs 1 or 2 numbers advantage). This is what pro GC training looks like. The good news is, for shorter stuff, or NRC crit calendar, we can definitely get by on a 15 hour training week with very high intensity efforts, balanced with endurance/tempo volume.
Lots more details around prep, dinners, pro vibe etc. to share with those who are interested offline. Thanks for tuning in!
Thanks for the support and relay on the posts (apologies for the somewhat incoherent text and grammar posts).
Stage 4 is a pretty brief summary - another cold and rainy day, with 4 seconds separating 1st and 2nd in the GC, I knew it was going to be a brutal day. Everyone bundled up and took the line in their neoprene and rain jackets and reluctantly rolled out. In the first km, we turned right on to a 10-15 minute undulating climb. The group went ape shit from the gun, and the constant gradient changes and accelerations made for a painful effort. I was promptly popped halfway up the first climb.
As I sagged backwards and watched the gaps open, I realised my day was coming to an end. Several of us banded together and started to rotate. There was an assortment of pros and elite amateurs who suffered the same fate. Josh Berry (Jelly Belly GC guy) was among us, and he really illustrated the difference between pros and ams. As we ploughed forward in the wind exhausting ourselves, he sat back and calmly took off his jacket. Once we had all given what we had, he accelerated hard into the birraging caravan just before it braked into the corner - he made it back into the caravan and worked his way back up to the field. He didn't panic - he made a calculated move - and knew he had the power and the bullets to get himself back in to position. I ended up riding groupetto for another lap or two, before pulling the plug. Anton, my teammate from Toronto was also off the back and we decided it was better to start the 10 hour drive home, rather than race another 3 hours in the rain and not make the time cut. A good portion of the field felt the same way on the last stage, with 93 starters and 56 finishers.
A couple of lessons learned, illustrated from my first UCI stage race.
1. With a lack of neutral starts, these races go hard right from the gun. In all four stages, there was no easing into it. Stages 1 and 4 had significant 15% climbs within the first mile. A proper warm up is essential. Because it was cold and rainy - I didn't do this on stages 1 and 4, and fell victim to the consequences on the last stage. This was lazy of me, and not very professional. True, we didn't have a trailer with trainers set up underneath a tent, but given that I was on the bubble all week, I really needed to take every step I could to prepare. Something to keep in mind racing locally - if you have the fitness, or a team, make it super hard right from the gun. You'll lay the hurt on those who weren't as prepared.
2. Positioning is everything. Like a crit, in these road races, it's worth expending the energy to be at the front of the race (top 30 wheels). The attacks are so fast and furious, for a rider like me, there is no 'closing the gap' - only holding on to the wheel in front of you. If the gap opens, and we're going full gas, there isn't much you can do about it - you're off the back. Expend the energy and move up whenever you can (swelling in corners), and make sure you battle for position going into key sections.
3. It will get easier - no quitting (I know, I abandoned stage 4) - once the break goes up the road, the peloton will settle down. In some cases, this took more than an hour. But you need to fight, you need to survive. Everyone is at their absolute limit - even if you're a conti-pro - repeated accelerations of 1000w, 45 second efforts of 700-800w, 10 mins of VO2 - take a significant toll. You will feel like you can't do anymore, but you need to try and hang on - eventually the pressure will subside and you will have another two hours of reasonable riding before it blows up again in the last hour. It's a regrettable moment when you let the wheel go - when you watch the race go up the road and realise it's the end of your journey.
4. as Jeremy would attest, and everyone else who knows more about training than I do (most of you) - you can't be a GC rider at this level without significant pro volume. I ride around 14-18 hours a week now - but my rides are 3 hours or less - higher intensity efforts, but low on the volume. Crit aside, all of these races were four hour efforts - so, I was at my limit just trying to manage the intensity over the duration of the race, let alone contesting. The guy who won the GC is Ryan Roth (he also won Winston Salem a few weeks ago) - he's a local guy I race on occasion in the Toronto area. When I look at some of his training efforts (many of his rides are on strava) - they are mind blowing. He will do 6 hour days on the bike where he rides three 2 hour 'intervals' at tempo, only pausing to take 10 minute breaks to fill bottles. At our local races, he will ride about 100 km to the race, relentlessly attack the field for another 120 km, and still land on the podium (we usually take the win because we have 4 vs 1 or 2 numbers advantage). This is what pro GC training looks like. The good news is, for shorter stuff, or NRC crit calendar, we can definitely get by on a 15 hour training week with very high intensity efforts, balanced with endurance/tempo volume.
Lots more details around prep, dinners, pro vibe etc. to share with those who are interested offline. Thanks for tuning in!
Last edited by Bradford on Mon Jun 13, 2016 9:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Grand Prix Cycliste de Saguenay
Great job in your first UCI race Brad—very impressive! It sounds like you gave it everything you had and are determined to learn from the experience. Thanks for sharing it.
KT
Re: Grand Prix Cycliste de Saguenay
Sounds brutally hard! Thanks for sharing this experience Brad, and congrats on competing in your first UCI race.