Race two of the season was in Ontario on Sunday February 27th. I felt good about the race because the course was the same as last year’s races. I did ok at Ontario last year, I was able to stay in the pack and not get dropped on the same course.
I was also excited because I had a lot of teammates in the same race. This was a CAT 4/5 race and there are a lot of CAT 5 guys on my team. I tried to organize a plan but they had not raced the course before and were a little hesitant.
The race started out bad in general. On the second lap someone dropped a water bottle right in the center of the pack. It bounced off my tire and several other people rode over it. I made the same mistake on this course last year. I wonder if he went back and got the water bottle? I did and I used it at this race.
A little more than halfway through the race someone went down. I couldn’t see where the person was so I slammed on the brakes and just waited for the sea of racers to split. When they finally did I saw a guy lying on the ground with his hands covering his face. It felt like things were going in slow motion because I literally slid past him, tires locked up, missing his helmet by inches.
The same lap 3 turns later another racer got a flat. Once again everyone was on the breaks expecting to find someone on the ground. Luckily he made it to the edge of the road without going down. The race slowed a little after that and an ambulance was on the course for a lap getting the downed rider to the hospital.
Before I realized it there were only three laps to go. I didn’t even hear the call for 5 laps to go. I started looking for my teammates but couldn’t find any. I started moving closer and closer to the front. I felt pretty good and was getting excited. With one lap to go the speed really picked up. The field started to split and I was in the front group.
There was another increase in speed around corner 4 of the 6 turn course and a few more riders peeled off. When we made the last turn there were maybe 20 of us in the lead group. I was stoked because I was up there. Then I darted to the inside and tried to sprint to the line. Unfortunately I was still about 800 meters from the finish line on a slight uphill with a head wind.
I past almost every rider, I had my head buried and I was digging deep. I looked up looking for the finish line and saw that it was still 200 meters away. I dug a little deeper and pushed harder. I could see the pack passing on the right. I tried to get behind someone but I couldn’t do it. I finished 15th out of what they claimed to be 80 starters. The placements went to 64 but from my understanding a lot of people were pulled out for being off the pace.
I am excited about the finish and disappointed at the same time. I knew that I needed to sit in as long as possible. I knew that I couldn’t make it to the finish line on my own from that far out. I told myself that I needed to race smart. Yet I saw that straight to the finish line and couldn’t contain myself.
I am excited though because I was right there, I was with the lead group on the bell lap. I know deep down that can compete with these guys. Given the chance to be there again I know that I could race a little smarter and finish in a better position.
A person has to earn a lot of points or have 28 pack finishes to move from CAT 4 to CAT 3. That is a lot of racing. That is at least 2 years of racing and a full schedule at that. Most people train for a year before they start racing. That means realistically they have 2 or 3 years of race training compared to my 1. Yet I am still up there challenging at the end of the race.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Valentine's Day Massacre
My first race of the season was yesterday, February 13th, in Brea. It was a one mile, 4 right turn criterium. I was looking forward to getting the season started but I was nervous at the same time. I hadn’t really had the time to train like I would have liked. I was in Dallas for super bowl weekend and I had missed a couple of weekend training sessions in January because of school and Ethan’s birthday. Family and school always come first so I was nervous that I would be pulled from the race.
The course seems pretty straight forward there was a downhill on one side of the course rolling into the long straight opposite of the finish line. Then one of the short sides had an uphill into a right hand turn. I was a little nervous about the hill, which is still the weakest part of my game and now I am will better climber. I am getting better all the time but I am still behind the curve compared to the people that I am racing with.
My goal for the race was to race smarter. I wanted to sit in and not chase breakaways. I was the only person on my team so there I wanted to find a couple of guys to work with and just stay in the pack. Like I said before I was nervous that I wouldn’t even finish so a pack finish would be great.
When we arrived I couldn’t find the course. There was a street that was blocked off but there were fire trucks sitting on the street. I registered and they didn’t say anything about the course or what was going on. It wasn’t until I got back to the car to start getting ready that I learned there was a crash and they were running about an hour behind because they were cleaning up the wreckage.
I was able to stay in the middle of the pack literally the whole race according to Anne. I stayed in the middle of the field and in the middle line. I didn’t really have a chance to look back often but I felt like I was close to the back the whole time. I think that it is because I am used to racing in fields of 50. There were 102 people registered for this race. So when I was judging how many people were in front of me I guessed about 30 which in a CAT 5 race would put me dangerously close to the back.
One thing that I learned quickly was that people were slowing down on the downhill back stretch and then trying to sprint up the hill. Once at the top they were slowing back down again. It only took about 2 laps for me to figure this out and instead of sprinting up the hill I just rode up at a comfortable pace. I would get passed by a couple of people but as soon as I got to the top I would get back to the same spot in the field and I wasn’t as tired. All the slowing made the race on the edge of being out of control and it got worse with 5 laps to go.
With 3 laps to go I started to work to get closer to the front. My plan was to carry my downhill speed into the right hand turn to the uphill. As we made the right hand turn I found a manhole cover that was sticking way out of the ground. It sent me airborne and close to the edge of the road. I had to slow down and I dropped way back in the field.
With only 2 laps to go I had a lot of work to do, so I started moving up again but this time on the inside. On the last lap I sprinted up the hill and grabbed onto a train of guys moving fast. All the sudden I heard a loud pop and I saw guys in my line going down.
I grabbed the breaks and moved away from the accident. I almost had to stop to avoid it but I got around the wreck without a problem. I got going again and heard more crashing. To my right and a little behind me more guys were going down. I decided to take it easy for the last 100 meters to the finish line.
I finished 26th out of 80 people to cross the finish line. There were a couple of guys that were pulled from the race and then the people in the crash that didn’t finish. I felt like I had a good shot to do better until the guys started going down.
I felt pretty good in the race and really smooth. I am looking forward to my next race which is completely flat in Ontario. I think that I will have some teammates in that race. I am not expecting a win this season in the CAT 4. My goal is to stay upright and use this season to learn how to be a better racer. The goal is always to win but I really want to learn a lot this season.
The course seems pretty straight forward there was a downhill on one side of the course rolling into the long straight opposite of the finish line. Then one of the short sides had an uphill into a right hand turn. I was a little nervous about the hill, which is still the weakest part of my game and now I am will better climber. I am getting better all the time but I am still behind the curve compared to the people that I am racing with.
My goal for the race was to race smarter. I wanted to sit in and not chase breakaways. I was the only person on my team so there I wanted to find a couple of guys to work with and just stay in the pack. Like I said before I was nervous that I wouldn’t even finish so a pack finish would be great.
When we arrived I couldn’t find the course. There was a street that was blocked off but there were fire trucks sitting on the street. I registered and they didn’t say anything about the course or what was going on. It wasn’t until I got back to the car to start getting ready that I learned there was a crash and they were running about an hour behind because they were cleaning up the wreckage.
I was able to stay in the middle of the pack literally the whole race according to Anne. I stayed in the middle of the field and in the middle line. I didn’t really have a chance to look back often but I felt like I was close to the back the whole time. I think that it is because I am used to racing in fields of 50. There were 102 people registered for this race. So when I was judging how many people were in front of me I guessed about 30 which in a CAT 5 race would put me dangerously close to the back.
One thing that I learned quickly was that people were slowing down on the downhill back stretch and then trying to sprint up the hill. Once at the top they were slowing back down again. It only took about 2 laps for me to figure this out and instead of sprinting up the hill I just rode up at a comfortable pace. I would get passed by a couple of people but as soon as I got to the top I would get back to the same spot in the field and I wasn’t as tired. All the slowing made the race on the edge of being out of control and it got worse with 5 laps to go.
With 3 laps to go I started to work to get closer to the front. My plan was to carry my downhill speed into the right hand turn to the uphill. As we made the right hand turn I found a manhole cover that was sticking way out of the ground. It sent me airborne and close to the edge of the road. I had to slow down and I dropped way back in the field.
With only 2 laps to go I had a lot of work to do, so I started moving up again but this time on the inside. On the last lap I sprinted up the hill and grabbed onto a train of guys moving fast. All the sudden I heard a loud pop and I saw guys in my line going down.
I grabbed the breaks and moved away from the accident. I almost had to stop to avoid it but I got around the wreck without a problem. I got going again and heard more crashing. To my right and a little behind me more guys were going down. I decided to take it easy for the last 100 meters to the finish line.
I finished 26th out of 80 people to cross the finish line. There were a couple of guys that were pulled from the race and then the people in the crash that didn’t finish. I felt like I had a good shot to do better until the guys started going down.
I felt pretty good in the race and really smooth. I am looking forward to my next race which is completely flat in Ontario. I think that I will have some teammates in that race. I am not expecting a win this season in the CAT 4. My goal is to stay upright and use this season to learn how to be a better racer. The goal is always to win but I really want to learn a lot this season.
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