Archive for the ‘Bike Racing’ Category
Georgetown Grand – W4 Race
The W4 race at Georgetown grand was an exercise in how not to race. I wasn’t expecting to win the race but I was expecting to do pretty well and thought I had a good chance at the podium. I was worried that if I over-thought it or got myself stressed out, then I wouldn’t do well. Unfortunately, I went a little too far in the other direction. I did almost no prep for this race. I looked up directions just before going to bed, I got lost on the way up there because I didn’t look up where to park, and then I had no idea how to get to registration. I also left later than I should have because I felt groggy.
By the time I finally got to registration I was flustered and that’s when things really went downhill. I lost my car keys twice. Once when I left them at registration and once when I left them with the ice guy. I spent countless minutes running around in flip-flops trying to find them. When I say running, I mean full out on cold legs (huge mistake here). Finally, two lost keys, and extra pair of sunglasses, and 1 heart rate monitor later, I was finally warming-up. Yup, all 15-minutes of warm up.
The first lap was difficult but bearable. One very strong girl went off the front early in the first lap and the rest of us chased. I focused mostly on position and not getting gapped. On the second lap, there was one girl in between us and the lead girl. I can’t say if we were catching the second girl or not. I had gone to the front to drive because I was worried about the small chase group getting caught and I wanted to catch the second girl at least! I feel like we were catching her but I also know I didn’t see or hear the crash so she must have had a decent gap. We came up to corner 7 right as she crashed out.
After that, it was just the 7 of us chasing the lead. Of course, I didn’t know how big a gap we had on the pack so I kept trying to get us to work together. Looking back, I really should have attacked. The girls were hopeless. They had no concept of taking turns on the front and when they did pull, they treated it like an attack so that we were always speeding up or slowing down. We were never steady. Somewhere around 17-minutes in, I cramped hard in both calves coming around corner 5 (remember all that running I did earlier?). The rest of the race was spent trying to stretch them out on the saddle to prepare for the sprint. There were times that it felt like we were going so slow! I tell myself that if I hadn’t cramped I could have attacked more. Who knows if this is true. It’s amazing the way your mind twists things once the race is over. Looking at my HR profile, I didn’t have much wiggle room.
When we came into the final turn, I had good position and was feeling strong; outside of the cramping. We separated and kicked out of the turn and up the one rise on the course. I’ve sprinted trough a calf pull before so I wasn’t worried. This ended up being a long sprint! Actually, it was about 270m of sprint. I would have backed off and then kicked closer to the finish, but my calf cramped so hard up that hill that my toes curled and would not uncurl. Not only did I not pass the two girl I should have, but two more passed me! 6th overall. Not the result I wanted and I hate that it came down to good preparation, not training.
Belterra Classico Race
This will hopefully go down in history as my worst race ever. I had not been training well leading up to it (ie less time on the bike but really intense workouts). I had also not been sleeping or eating well. My week was basically a lesson in what not to do. The race was at 11:00 so I slept in a little, ate breakfast, and rolled out for my 30-min ride to the course.
Brian was going to drive up later to watch the race. He actually ended up rolling up right behind me. He had is camera with him so I knew at least he’d get some good photos. It was nice to have him out since he rarely gets to see me race. He really didn’t have an excuse with this race being in his back yard.
I had put in some short efforts on my way there but knew it would not be good enough preparation for doing that hill over and over again. We were racing with the elite women so I tracked down Sheri when I got there. She was with Kim and Meredith, who had ridden almost 40 miles from the city. I started rolling with Kim to find out what our game plan was. The next thing I knew we were lined up. This might have been fine for Kim, who had a 2-hour warm-up, but I felt it was too early. For whatever reason, I stayed rather than adding to my warm up. Then our race was delayed by about 10-minutes so my total standing time was almost 30-min. Also, Kim had been the first person to line up so I was right at the start.
When we started, I was on the front with Kim and Kim was motoring like she always does and I rapidly realized I was in over my head. How to you fall back from your own teammate? I slowed down and the gap was rapidly filled in but it was awkward. I need to recover badly. Unfortunately, I pulled back right before the hill and couldn’t recover. Then on the downhill, I ran out of gears and had to chase. That was basically my race.
I was dropped after two laps, caught a few girls that I worked with the rest of the race until the end when I gaped because of a car on the course and botched my sprint. I think I came in 3rd or 4th from last. It was horrible. I only beat myself up over it for 24-hours, as is the rule. Then I came down with the worst sore throat I’ve had in years and really wished I hadn’t pushed myself so hard. I was so ready for another try at the driveway this week but after being sick, I know I can’t push it.
Getting my Race Legs Back
I tried to keep my nerves down about this race but when you only race once every 3-weeks, It’s tough to convince yourself that it’s not important. The entire time that I was warming up I just kept reminding myself that it was just for fun but that I should do my best. I got there really early and spent some time getting in a good warm up. I spent a good 15-minutes working myself up-to and out of endurance. Then I started my openers. 5 30-45 second efforts; building with each one. Then I spent 10 more minutes just spinning easy.
It was ladies night which meant the field was large and we had mentored racing. There were a ton of women racing as juniors too. I was nervous but hoped to stay with the pack. We started and immediately I almost get taken out by a 10-14 year old who cuts across the course on the hill. I caught the group but didn’t expect to recover before the next attack. The attacks were plenty and strong but the course made it difficult for anybody to get away.
I felt pretty good and actually covered a strong attack from Tiffany. Annalisa had just covered another attack and I was in great position to grab Tiff’s wheel. As I went by, I heard Anna ask if I had this one. It was a strong attack but I was determined to get on it. I bridged and stuck on her wheel. I knew I should really be working with her to stay away because I knew most of the race consisted of my teammates who wouldn’t chase me down. Still, I thought it was the weenie thing to do.
Just as we got to the top of the hill, Tiffany either gave up on her attack or took a bad line and I saw my chance to redeem myself. I kicked at the top of the hill and did my best to stay away. Again, it’s very difficult because of the downhill. I was caught and found myself back in the pack with two to go.
The last lap came quickly and I was not in a good spot. I needed to move up fast without wasting much energy.  At the start of the race, I hadn’t even considered that I might be contesting the sprint so I was not prepared at all. I knew I needed to be on somebody’s wheel who was strong and who would go early but not too early. I picked one of the juniors. Things were going ok except that it felt like we weren’t sprinting early enough. I just kept seeing the meter markers go by. Then next thing I knew it was 100m and the front folks were going. Kim and Nadia were in the middle of the road and it felt like they had no intention of sprinting. I needed a lane fast! I saw an opening on the outside and took it at full power only to find a lapped rider in my way. It was almost ugly but I managed to break and get around her. I lost at least one position because of it. I took 5th place but there were at least 2-junior women in front of me so I really took about 7th.
I was super happy with the way I covered moved and rode somewhat aggressively. Given everything I’ve been though, I feel much stronger than I expected. There was drama and controversy after the race; but what else is new.
First Race of a Second Life, Done!
Well I can now call myself a racer again. I was nervous all day, though I don’t really know what for. I know that I’m very competitive and I think I was worried that I might fall lower on the list of finishers than I had expected. As fate would have it, my white whale showed up tonight. I really shouldn’t have anything against this girl except that she was probably the most competitive non-AFWC out there, she wears a vanderkitten kit that matches her bike, and she sat-on and out sprinted me at ToA last year. Ok, I have beef. So when I saw her, I knew I would be disappointed if I didn’t beat her.
I lined up next to the regular AFWC girls. When we saw how few non-AFWC women there were we decided to just constantly attack to make the race interesting. It got off to a very odd start when a few of the 10-14y boys decided to start in front of us. We finally got passed them and really started moving. Kim was the first to attack and I got on the train. It was hard but not killer. Then one of the juniors attacked and Kim came towards the back with me. This is when things started to get odd. One of the kids up front was treating this like a 100m dash and when he blew, he blew! He was totally in our way going around one of the turns and I just wasn’t willing to risk it. A gap had already formed and this kid just made it worse. I tried to use Kim and Meredith to bridge but when they caught one of the juniors attacked and I couldn’t hold it.
I settled into my race at a pace that was sustainable for the next 25 min. That’s right, I got dropped 5-min into the race. My only goal at this point was not letting VK catch me. Well she did and I could tell she was just sitting on m wheel. At one point I purposely slowed and she came around. At that point the game was on. I knew from ToA that her game was to sit in and then sprint. I knew she wasn’t strong on hills but that she would also be saving her energy for the sprint. I attacked her up the hill a few times but not consistently enough that she would be able to predict what I was going to do. I kept testing her to see where she would break.  I knew it would have to be a hard attack on the hill and that would hurt me too. I wasn’t sure if I should do it on the last lap or the second to last lap. I was worried that if I did it on the last lap I would be too tired to sprint. I thought if I did it on the second to last lap it might tire her out. In the end, I opted for the last lap. She seemed to be recovering just fine over the course of the lap.
We rolled up to the finish line with one to go and I knew we both knew the game. She knew I was going to attack up the hill and I knew she was going to sprint hard. I had let her come up the hill in front of me on that lap because I wanted to gauge how badly the hill was hurting her so she was still in front of me coming up to the finish line. We were about 10-ft away when the leaders passed us and crossed the finish line just in front of us. Our race was done and without even knowing it she had beat me. It was tough to take but I was very proud of my effort. I already can’t wait until next time.
Tour of Austin
This weekend was the Tour of Austin Bike race. Hopefully, what I will remember most about this race is coming in 2nd on Sunday and not the complete emotional breakdown it almost caused me trying to balance my home life, work, racing, and volunteering 3 slots at the event!!
Friday was the prolog time trial and, as much as I wanted to take this seriously, I just couldn’t. I don’t have TT equipment, and I don’t TT well. I didn’t really give it my all because I wanted to be fresh for the crits. I got 6th out of 9 ladies.
Saturday we were at the driveway again. I was hoping to place better in this race, but I made the mistake of eating a large sandwich too close to the race. I knew when I lined up that I was likely going to be fighting the urge to vomit the whole race. I was with the main group for a few laps when I started to feel bad. We came up on our second prime and I made the mistake of not sprinting with them, thinking they would slow down like they usually do. Not this time. I chased for 2 laps before figuring it was better to cut my losses and fall back to the group that was coming up on me. They rode the race like a typical cat-4 race. A few women doing the work, a couple hard efforts followed by a period of slowing down and letting everybody catch back on. I attacked as much as I could and worked at the front to keep the pace high hoping to drop some of the women who were saving themselves for the sprint, or at least tire them out. It came down to a pack sprint anyway. My second big mistake of the night was underestimating the tail wind and not starting my sprint with everybody else. I passed most of the field in my sprint but couldn’t quite pass the one girl I really wanted to pass. I didn’t even make mid-pack with 9th place finish out of 14 women who lined up. came in 3rd in the sprint for my group, but there were 5 cat-4s in the lead group.
Sunday I stayed in bed and rested all morning. I picked up bagels and lox at CM before heading to my shift at registration. I took it easy and ate early. Before my race, I ate a few clif blocks as well. I also made sure to stay hydrated. I wasn’t expecting a great race after the day before, which probably made me more relaxed about it. When we took off, I quickly got on Kim’s wheel and tried to stay on either her, Kelley, or Betty’s wheel. My goal was to just last. Kelley started to give up early and I had to go around her a few times. After a few laps, I realized that Nadia, Gracie, and I were the only 4’s. I knew based on yesterday that the other 4s would not work together to catch us. After a few more laps, there was an attack and I went around Gracie to chase it. I caught on and Gracie didn’t. Then it was just Nadia and I. Nadia did more work than I did, as it just wasn’t in my best interest. We passed the other 4’s with about 5 laps to go. In retrospect, this should have been a signal for me to start attacking, pulling, and protecting Kim more. My position was pretty sealed. I played it safe and let Kim fight her own battle. In the end, I didn’t expect the sprint to start so early and got popped off the back of the sprint. I came in about 5 seconds behind the leaders for 2nd. A great showing for me but I wish I had given more now.
When Monday rolled around, I was itching to race again. I had promised Brian I would tend to my housework though and I also had a ton of work to get done before the Portland trip. That combined with the iffy weather kept me from lining up. I hope I can store this enthusiasm for the next time though!!