If you asked me before Sunday if I wanted to be dropped by the pack on the first lap, in the first mile on the first hill of my first road race. I would of said "NO!" Looking back though, it wasn't a wasted effort.
It was the first climb that took me out and took me by surprise. I knew it would be tough for me to keeping up on the 11% gradient hill even at a moderate pace. On the first tier of the climb, my hard effort wasn't cutting it. People were passing me on both sides. I had to pick it up. The second tier was steeper, ... I got totally unhiched from the group.
I thought "This can't be happening". It happened. I watched as small groups of rider would move off in the distance. Initially they would be cresting the hill as I hit the base. Then I was behind a whole hill and finally they were out of sight.
I kept riding hard, hoping that the group would slow down. Also, hoping I could catch them on the flat section before the head wind. It was not to be. So, I would look for small victories. There was another dropped rider. I'll try to catch him. I did catch him and I did luckily before the headwind section. It was Bryan R. We were able to work together to catch Brandon F and then a CPC rider. We worked pretty good together but the steep rollers into a headwind were wreaking havoc on his back. Bryan sent us on our way. The last 8 miles or so Brandon and I worked into the wind.
Brandon told me he was done after 1 lap but stuck it out for 2. After 2 laps, Brandon was done fighting the hills and wind. I kept pushing. I had a 15min head start on the B race and didn't want to get caught. I caught up with a couple Kaos guys. Again, we worked together. They finished up 2 laps and called it quits.
The third lap for me was much slower but still not a bad pace. I had to slow down a few times to stretch my back and take a breather. I finish the race as the last one who finished 19th of 29. I had a respectable, for me, 19.1mph pace.
For better or worse, I got to see how I stack up against the competition. I was getting complacent with my workout and needed a good kick to get re-focused. I think I will do much better on the tamer hills at Branched Oak next weekend.
As a workout the race provided me with a race pace intensity, plenty of hill training, and long steady state efforts. So I believe I got everything I needed from the race
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
That 1st effort was a doozy. From then on it was about limiting your looses. Even the 2nd group of 9 that was chasing the 1st group of 7 should of maintained a 30 sec margin because eventually the 1st group would loose guys especially with 69 mi to race. We didn't we had the horsepower but not the smarts. Once the 1st group got out of site out of mind we let up even more. Then 3 attacked on 2nd lap. They were in site whole 2nd lap. 2nd group caught tailwind and took off cause 3rd group let up in the tailwind. We crested the hill and I decided to see how many stragglers were up the road so applied some pressure. Sure enough the 2nd group was fading on the flat.
It's like going to war. All hell might break loose and you'll suffer some damages. You collect yourself and get the numbers and march on. Limit your looses. It's early in the game. You know how many there are of you and the others. Now move forward with your numbers keeping it steady, fast and together. No need to panic. Eventually your back in the game. It's all calculating. I've been trying to explain this for years but it's almost hopeless.
Thanks, Mark. I was wondering what was going on up there. So it sounds like the first group took off and never looked back?
I have been in those situations with plenty of horsepower and no organization. It is frustrating. I can usually get smaller groups of guys to work together. With larger groups a couple people will try to get something organize then realize they are just pulling everyone else along for the ride and back off.
Post a Comment