Double race weekend recap…

Super fun weekend of racing…

Race #1 – Boulevard Road Race

Saturday morning I was up early headed way out east of San Diego to Campo.  It was pretty damn cold when I got there and the wind was already beginning to howl.  the forecast was for highs in the 60′s and 20-30 mph winds our of the ENE.  The direction of the wind out there means that we were going to have headwinds on pretty much all the climbs.

I got in a good warm up on the trainer and then jumped on my bike to spin to the start and and my chain was skipping all over the place.  I scrambled to try to get the rear derailleur dialed in but it was no use.  See I took my bike to Velo Hangar on friday to get my bike dialed in.  Sonja & Blaize came through big for me and got me a pair of Zipp Firecrest 303′s to race on this weekend so I grabbed a cassette out of my garage and Gordon put it on.  It was shifting perfect on the stand (under no load).  So I headed home and didn’t try it out before 10 minuted before the race Saturday.  Dumb.  The cassette I grabbed was an older red 11-26 that I raced and trained on ALL last year… multiple ironmans, 70.3, and tons of miles.  So it was completely worn out, especially in my “favorite” gears.  So what did this mean for the race…. that I had 2-3 usable gears depending if I was in the big or small ring.  Any other gears would skip every time I rode hard.  So definitely not the way I wanted to enter my first race, but I got through it… with another lesson learned.

So the race started and we spun up the first short climbs and right before the descent I went to the front.  I had ridden the descent a couple of weeks ago and it’s fast, twisty, and fun.  There are couple of corners that if taken to hot could be sketchy so I wanted to control the descent and I did… and I was able string out the pack of the 50 guys a bit.  I was on the front the entire descent and then sat up as we started the first climb on La Posta Rd.  Nobody would come to the front at all the so I tried to shake it up to see who wanted to race.  I really couldn’t go too hard because of the shifting situation but I had enough to lead out some of the climbs and then sit in.  I worked too much on La Posta during the first lap.  Then we hit highway 80 and I went straight to the gutter and to the front.  The wind was head/cross and strong, gusting well over 20 mph.  I was hoping being on the far right of the road (in the gutter) I could keep the draft guys could get off me to a minimum.  Highway 80 is a long grueling and I was just trying to ride a steady tempo and throw in a couple of surges to break up the field, which ended up working.  When reached the top of the climb and rolled through the end of the first lap I was still on the front (not smart) but the front group had dwindled from 50 to about 20 or so.

how not to win a bike race:

As we headed to into the second lap I was still on the front as we descended back to where the start line was and nobody would come around.  So I just coasted down the descent with everybody on my wheel.  I rode more in the gutter up the short initial climbs and then as soon as we hit the major descent I attacked.  My 53×11 was working fine!  I hammered and tried to string out the field again and it work.  By the end of the descent we were probably 15 guys deep.  Then I finally started riding smarter.  It only took 75% of the race to get off the front.  I sat in the entire time up La Posta Rd this time around and it was EASY.  Then we hit the final climb up HWY 80 and again just sat in.  I had to climb the entire thing in my big ring because  my 26 in the back was working ok and 53×26 was one of the only gears that wasn’t skipping and that I could apply some pressure.  There were a couple of attacks on the climb but I just sat in and we covered them all but the group was down to 10.

My plan was to give it a go at the 1k mark but I think I missed the sign or it blew over.  I was waiting the sign when all of sudden an attack came and I thought the guy was going way to early but everybody scrambled to cover it and next thing I know we passed the “200m to go” sign.  Crap.  I started to hammer pulled myself back to the group and finished 4th in a sprint finish.  So all in all not a great race, but it was fun, and with every start I am learning something.

Race #2 – Red Trolley Crit

Ever since my first Crit a couple of weeks ago I had been really looking forward to the this race.  My race was at 10am so beth and I rode to down to the race (about an hour spin from home).  Perfect warm up and I was feeling good.  Again the Cat 4/5 race was sold out and 75 guys deep.  I lined up a couple rows back with a “plan” to sit in more than I did last time and then try to get away at some point.  The course was short with a good, short climb so there were A LOT of laps and overall it was a good course for me.  I sat in for a couple of laps hovering around in the top 10.  Then 15 or so minutes into the race, and after the first prime I went off the front.  I was able to get away for 5 laps and at one point had 15 seconds on the group.

how NOT to win a bike race photo #2… yep that’s me off the front.

I knew I went to early to win so I ended up sitting up and just recovering a bit before the final laps.  Then with two to go I took matters back into my own hands and went back to the front to drive the pace (photo above).  I lead the charge into the final turn and then some guys swarmed for the sprint.  I still don’t have a sprint that can contend with the sprinters, but I feel I am making progress.  I held on finished 10th.

Super stoked with the effort.  My goal for these races is to go out and work, not win.  I am a Cat 5 right now, I don’t need points to upgrade, just starts.  I am trying to learn how to race my bike, upgrade to Cat 4, and get faster while doing it…and that’s not going to happen sitting in.  So that may mean putting my nose in the wind a lot more than I would if winning was a concern…. and riding off the front is FUN… even if it doesn’t stick.

on tap is a busy week of work before heading out to AZ on Thursday morning and the Valley of the Sun stage race.  We have a good crew coming out with Beth, Pete, Heather, & Wattie all racing.