Ontario Mid-Season

I decided that for now I would concentrate more on criterium racing. I love doing the road races because its easy to pretend that you are on the European circuit racing like the pros. However, in the US criteriums out number road races around 10 to 1. It also helps that there is normally little climbing in a criterium therefore slightly easier to be prepared for. I continued training hard and at this point started looking for criterium specific training guides. I entered the Ontario race hoping that racing would help me judge my training and determine if I was getting better. This was the first race that I had done in the afternoon, 315pm to be exact. They like to showcase the CAT 5 racers so that people who come to see the pros can see what its like to start out and potentially get out there and race. To be honest, being that late in the day threw off my normal race day. I am used to getting up, grabbing food, driving to the race, racing, and then going about the rest of the day. I had an uncertain feeling for most of the day, not really understanding how I should eat, what I should do, and how much I could do in the morning without affecting my ability to race. We headed out to the race on a warm day, and I started to warm up. The course was flat and fast but there was a new enemy on that day; wind. There was a strong wind blowing, which had continued to blow hard the later the day got, blowing straight to the finish line. I would have a head wind for the longest part of the course.

This race was also different because it was a CAT4-5 race. That means that both CAT 5 and CAT 4 racers would race together and are scored as one race. I did not realize that this changed the whole dynamic of the race. The race field was limited to 75 instead of the normal 50 and majority of the field were CAT 4. Since the race field contained CAT 4 riders, it was legal by USCF rules to have prizes or prems for the leader of designated laps. Most of the prems were small things donated by local businesses but it was a quick way to get something out of the race if you didnt think you could finish top 6. As I mentioned in the last blog I did scout out the course and knew that it was going to be important to be on somebodies wheel when we hit the front straight.

The race started fast from the whistle. I started near the front and sprinted from the line to the first quarter of the field. I stayed there through the first three turns but the pace was fast and I was already starting to feel tired. When we made the turn onto the front straight I could feel the wind and the riders on the front started to sprint. Everyone was out of the saddle trying to stay close to the person in front of them to hide from the wind. I slid back a little grabbing on to the closest wheel that I could. I tried to recover as we turned but the field would not let me. I started slipping back in the field holding on the best that I could. On the third lap I was dying and needed some water. I waited until we were on the back straight with a tailwind and took a quick drink. When I tried to put my water bottle back in the cage it slipped out of my hand and fell under my wheel. The back of my bike jumped up over the bottle sending me into the racer beside me. I thought I was going down and that I was going to end up take him with me. I was able to stay upright and so were all the other riders but we had lost serious time on the field. We tried to sprint back up but I could not catch on. When we hit the front stretch my nose was in the wind with no one close enough in front of me to draft behind. Everyone behind me had already given up and were sitting up. I continued to tried to close the gap but it actually felt like someone was pulling me backward from the main field. I made it another lap around before they pull me from the race. This was the most disappointed I had been after a race. When I was whistled off the course I turned into a factory parking lot and rode around for a few minutes. I had being training much harder and I felt like I got worse at this race.

I rode over to Anne and Ethan and decided to head home. We saw a few laps of the pro race that was right after mine but I didnt feel like watching that day. I decided that I needed another chance as soon as possible to prove that I was not getting worse. I actually wanted to go on a ride as soon as I got home but I decided that I would just relax and forget about it. I did go out for a ride on Monday after work and probably 4 more times that week pushing myself harder and harder every time.