Race the Ridge

Sorry for the Mega delay in the race report Andrew. I know you are chomping @ the bit to see what went on in the Mens Cat 1/2 event.

Saturday Time Trial - Cold and rainy!!
I did not get as good as a warmup as I might have liked, but 15 min's on the trainer with a couple of spinup's over BP seemed pretty good. For me, it's mostly about riding the TT position for 15 mins to get my legs used to the position and firing. I also used the SPiro tiger for 5 min 3L bag @ 36 RPM to warm up my resp. system.
I rode down to the start and apparently I was a little early as I had to wait for about 10 mins and I sure did not feel like spinning around in the rain so I sat down undercover and tried to stay focused. Out of the start gate, I quickly got myself to BP and tried my hardest not to go any higher for 3 or 4 minutes, stay calm! After I felt I was calm, I bumped up the HR to around 182 (my BP is 172ish) and that felt like it was the maximum I could sustain a 30+ minute effort for. My legs were feeling very cold and not great because of the weather but I pushed as hard as I could on the pedals, keeping a very compact aero position for the whole ride. I stayed in aero the whole race. My best effort on the day was just over 32mins. 19th in the field. This is pretty much what I expected actually as I would have been close the winning the Cat 3 div, but Cat 1/2 is a different ball game!

Saturday Criterium - Very Cold and Very Rainy!!
if you read Shawn's post, you know about the horrible conditions!! Cancelled races, shortened courses, etc. By the time the pro 1/2 race started, the coast was clear for the whole Crit course and it was fun!! There are no sketchy bike handlers in this division and everyone trusts everyone else to hold lines. As a result, the race is not only fast, but smooth as well. (except the crazy accellarations coming out of a couple of the corners!) I stayed in a pretty cozy position most of the race. Not in the back, but not in the front either... Finished with the pack, no damage and frozen and near hypothermic.. but it was so much fun riding with friends like Jason and others who I know well. It was good to be there.

Sunday Road Race.
10 laps, 100km and 1700Meters of super punchy climbing..
Basically my only plan was to try and make it to the end in the main bunch and not get shelled. The surges on the punchy RTR climbs were totally shocking to me and vicious! Every short climb was just a complete hammerfest followed by a slowing of the pace and almost like everyone was resting untill the next one. I was not wearing a HR monitor because I honestly did not want to know. I did not need any excuses or info to tell me I should stop or fade. I did compare my breathing to many around me in the first half of the race and I felt very controlled. Guys were getting shelled every lap but I was also getting burnt as I was near 100% on almost every short climb. with 1.5 laps to go, I found myself near the back on the steepest one and, as i find out later, there was an attack, and it surged so hard I came unhinched along with a few others... So deeep in the cave I was!! Insane Actually! It was not my breathing, or heart that I could feel, it was complete A-Bomb of my legs!! No more power... Myself, an H&R rider, and a Glotman rider chased for almost a full lap to catch back on. We were so close but all three of us were equally baked. There was no give up in either of us and we rode @ 100% all the way to the finish, only around 4 mins down on the winning group. Jason also came unhitched from the group just after I did and we he rode between us and the pack till the line. He cramped up but then recovered and we could not catch him!! (A real Beast!) I definately made a mistake near the end of the race. I was not attentive enough to my position in the group and knowing I was getting burnt, I should have made a bigger effort to ride closer to the front on the climbs so I could filter back and still be attatched as we crested the climb. I knew this, but thinking and doing are two different things when you are baked out of your mind.

In the end, after much consideration, I have to call my first Cat 1/2 stage race a success. I had a decently competitive TT (Mid pack), good Crit riding, and so close to hanging in what was told to me as being a VERY TOUGH Road Race by a veteran champ racer who was also in the race. 17th overall in GC.. not bad for an old guy rookie!

thanks for Reading,

Quail