Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Lindsey Wilson College Race Report

Last weekend was my first experience with road racing and holy cow it was such a good time. I had raced mountain bikes a few times over the last year and plenty of BMX in my younger days, but those races were a far cry from what I was about to experience on the road.

Our journey started on Friday (Feb 22) in the afternoon when we loaded up the cars and headed out for our roughly 7 hour journey down to Columbia, Kentucky. The ride down went pretty well despite stopping at the world's busiest Subway somewhere in Ohio and some random sketchy gas station in the middle of nowhere Kentucky. After passing into the Central Time Zone (which would cause some confusion all weekend) we arrived at a decent hour and got around for bed to get ready for all of the racing that would happen on Saturday.

Saturday started bright and early as our start time for the Team Time Trial was at 8:07 AM. We got there early, signed in, and got our race numbers that we would use for the rest of the weekend (and collegiate season until category upgrades.) This was my first time pinning on a number, so I guess that was kind of a neat experience. Thanks to Zack and Kevin for the pro-tips about crumpling up the number and using some  pinning techniques so the numbers didn't flap in the wind quite so much. Despite a somewhat rushed warm up the Michigan Men's C TTTTeam did pretty solidly. We even beat Wisconsin's B team. After the TTT we headed to McDonald's/Subway (a common theme on the weekend) to refuel for the afternoon's road race.

Next up was my first mass start road race which just so happened to boast a field of over 70 riders. All of us were in the Men's D Category, which means that most of us didn't have much, if any, experience racing. Men's D's carries a reputation for being a crash factory, so I was a little nervous as things got underway. Sure enough the reputation proved itself to be true as two riders crashed right in front of me less than a mile into the race. I quickly took evasive action and rode through the nearby grass/ditch on the side of the road. I was able to come out unscathed, but I had to sprint to get back up to the leaders. A feeling of tension was present in the peloton as everyone knew the first big climb of the day was coming. It finally arrived and we pushed the pace pretty hard to get up it. Eventually we reached the top and settled back in to our previous pace. The race was smooth sailing for a while as everyone stuck together and we took the next two climbs at a much easier pace. But this was just the calm before the storm as everyone had the final climb on their mind. As we made the turn onto the final road, about 20 miles into the race, the guys at the front started pushing the pace. Riders continued to get dropped off the back as we came ever closer to the climb. Unfortunately that climb would spell my doom as the guys at the front left me in the dust when my legs gave up. I slowly struggled up the hill by myself, watching the leaders ride off into the distance. I finished the climb and rolled across the finish line with and end result of 27th out of 72. I'd have preferred to do a little better, but I'm still content as it was my first race and a tough course. We headed back to the cabin and proceeded to eat everything we could find before heading to McDonald's to borrow some WiFi. Eventually we headed back and went to bed to get rested up for Sunday's criterium.

I was a mix of excited and terrified on the way to the crit on Sunday. On one hand I had heard from everyone how much fun crits were. On the other hand John provided the insight of ,"...everyone in Ds will most likely crash and suffer horrific injuries." While there was some joking involved there, the message still went through that this could be potentially dangerous. My nerves settled a bit as we took our warm up laps and rolled up to the line to get our talking to from the race officials. After listening to their mini-lecture we were off and racing. It didn't take long for some of the D riders to lose control as one guy went off the course in the very first turn. We settled into our groove quickly though. The race went along at a pace around 22mph with the group staying together for the most part as attacks off the front got brought back really quickly. After 3-4 laps we started lapping some of the dropped riders that would get pulled from the race. Everything was going well until a Notre Dame rider lost concentration for a few seconds and ended up slamming off the pavement and off into the grass. I still don't know how he managed to crash in the middle of the pack and not take out anyone with him, but we definitely got lucky there. About 15 minutes into the 30min race I decided to lead a lap just for poops and giggles. Eventually the officials started holding up signs that counted down the laps. As the numbers got lower the tension in the field started getting higher. As the 1 lap to go sign came up I was feeling good and sitting in 3rd right on the wheel of the guy in front of me. Everything was going well until we hit the backstretch and the guy in front got tired and sat up. In hindsight I should have reacted better and much quicker, but I didn't and quickly had riders passing me on both sides. I couldn't find a way to get out and ended up losing a bunch of spots. I eventually was able to grab a new wheel, but it was too late and I was too far back. As we made the final turn and headed towards the finish line I tried to sprint back up towards the front, but it was too much too late and I crossed the line in 13th out of around 60. I was happy with the finish considering it was my 2nd race and first crit and learned a good lesson in final lap strategy in the process. It definitely left me hungry to train harder and get some more race experience.

Overall I had an absolute blast and can't wait to race again. Next up is a trip to DePauw University in Greencastle, IN next weekend. As soon as the races get over on Sunday we'll be heading down to Helen, GA for some spring break training.

Getting Started

Hello everyone.

I'm starting this blog as a way to keep a record of my experiences as I venture deeper into the world of bike racing. Most of the content here will probably be race reports, however I plan to post some other goodies here and there as I see fit. Essentially this will be a place that allows me to share my thoughts and experiences in cycling without ramming content down all of the uninterested folks' throats on other social media outlets.

So yep, there's my introduction. Some real content should be coming soon as I'll post a race recap from my first weekend of road racing at Lindsey Wilson College last weekend quite soon.