Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Snelling Road Race
Cat: 4
Conditions: Light Rain early, high 40s, a little
windy. Bees.
Field: 65
Distance: 63 miles
Result: unknown
Teammates: None
Rolled my sweet patootie outta bed at 3:30 am to make
this one. Ouch! Drove out with Ed (Club One) and
Dominic (AV).
The course was a 3.3 mile promenade leading to a 11.7
mile loop we did 5 times. (I was expecting 6, but it
turns out that I read the course description wrong
since the tabulation was off by one). Anyway, about
63 miles total. First half was rollers with good
pavement and a tailwind. Second half was mostly flat,
with crappy pavement and a headwind.
The first lap was pretty reasonable, with everyone
sussing out the course. I was riding comfortably in
the approx the 3rd quarter of the pack. As soon as it
we hit the first turn again, though, I started feeling
the yo-yo effect and got gapped briefly. I chased to
get back on without too much trouble.
However, I was feeling a bonk coming on, so I was
trying to get something to eat when there was a big
surge ahead. This time I got gapped and couldn't get
back on. I chased with a group of 3 for about 15
minutes, but we weren't getting anywhere in the
headwind. I was demoralized, and I cracked and let
the other 3 go.
A few minutes later I came across Ed, who had been
with the front group (which was now about 20), but
suffered his second flat of the day to go with a
broken rear derailleur cable. I stopped and caught my
breath, ostensibly 'helping' him to fix his flat.
Gamely, he got back on his 3-speed and we trudged
along, not sure how many laps we'd end up doing.
We got separated when the M123 field passed us, so I
ended up riding the remaining 3 laps one at a time
with various 'instant friends'. The crappy pavement /
headwind part was pretty brutal, but the
tailwind-rollers were rejuvenating. On the 4th lap I
saw Ed getting in the Velo Promo van with his 3rd flat
of the day).
It seems I'm still relearning some of last year's
lessons-- I need to be more attentive on the turns,
and closer to the front when the field starts to
motor.
Even though I finished all 5 laps, it seems Velo Promo
has it in for me again, as I'm not listed on the race
results that were posted at the NCNCA site. I'm not
particularly proud of my result, getting shelled out
the back on lap two, but at some point it would be
nice if I were accurately credited with a result.
Also, they somehow missed Dominic's number, somewhere
in the top 15, possibly 10th.
Conditions: Light Rain early, high 40s, a little
windy. Bees.
Field: 65
Distance: 63 miles
Result: unknown
Teammates: None
Rolled my sweet patootie outta bed at 3:30 am to make
this one. Ouch! Drove out with Ed (Club One) and
Dominic (AV).
The course was a 3.3 mile promenade leading to a 11.7
mile loop we did 5 times. (I was expecting 6, but it
turns out that I read the course description wrong
since the tabulation was off by one). Anyway, about
63 miles total. First half was rollers with good
pavement and a tailwind. Second half was mostly flat,
with crappy pavement and a headwind.
The first lap was pretty reasonable, with everyone
sussing out the course. I was riding comfortably in
the approx the 3rd quarter of the pack. As soon as it
we hit the first turn again, though, I started feeling
the yo-yo effect and got gapped briefly. I chased to
get back on without too much trouble.
However, I was feeling a bonk coming on, so I was
trying to get something to eat when there was a big
surge ahead. This time I got gapped and couldn't get
back on. I chased with a group of 3 for about 15
minutes, but we weren't getting anywhere in the
headwind. I was demoralized, and I cracked and let
the other 3 go.
A few minutes later I came across Ed, who had been
with the front group (which was now about 20), but
suffered his second flat of the day to go with a
broken rear derailleur cable. I stopped and caught my
breath, ostensibly 'helping' him to fix his flat.
Gamely, he got back on his 3-speed and we trudged
along, not sure how many laps we'd end up doing.
We got separated when the M123 field passed us, so I
ended up riding the remaining 3 laps one at a time
with various 'instant friends'. The crappy pavement /
headwind part was pretty brutal, but the
tailwind-rollers were rejuvenating. On the 4th lap I
saw Ed getting in the Velo Promo van with his 3rd flat
of the day).
It seems I'm still relearning some of last year's
lessons-- I need to be more attentive on the turns,
and closer to the front when the field starts to
motor.
Even though I finished all 5 laps, it seems Velo Promo
has it in for me again, as I'm not listed on the race
results that were posted at the NCNCA site. I'm not
particularly proud of my result, getting shelled out
the back on lap two, but at some point it would be
nice if I were accurately credited with a result.
Also, they somehow missed Dominic's number, somewhere
in the top 15, possibly 10th.
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Hicks = pain. Hicksx2 = ??
Sunday I decided to tackle Hicks on my new bike. The smallest gear I've got is a 39x23. It hurt. But I'd never done it without the triple before, so this was an achievement. I also took a time, and it was only a few seconds off my best time (a little over 13 mins) for the South side, even though I wasn't really pushing for a best time.
I had thought to myself that if I felt good, I'd also do Kennedy & Shannon before going home. If I didn't feel good, I'd just go home. And if I felt really good, I'd come back up Hicks' North side.
Well, I didn't feel really good, but once it's on the table, it's hard not to do it without feeling like I wussed out, so I came back up the North side, which I'd never ridden up before, let along in such a big gear. But when I figured I was about halfway up, the road levelled out a bit and then that was it. (About 13.5 minutes from the bridge just before it really turns up.)
The other funny thing that happened was when I was at the top, stopped to put on my windbreaker for the descent, a woman on a mtb passed me. She had about 15-20 seconds on me, and I figured I'd catch her on the descent, just by virtue of having a road bike with road tires. But I swear, she must be one psycho downhill rider, because I didn't see her again until several miles after the road had flattened out. Wow.
I had thought to myself that if I felt good, I'd also do Kennedy & Shannon before going home. If I didn't feel good, I'd just go home. And if I felt really good, I'd come back up Hicks' North side.
Well, I didn't feel really good, but once it's on the table, it's hard not to do it without feeling like I wussed out, so I came back up the North side, which I'd never ridden up before, let along in such a big gear. But when I figured I was about halfway up, the road levelled out a bit and then that was it. (About 13.5 minutes from the bridge just before it really turns up.)
The other funny thing that happened was when I was at the top, stopped to put on my windbreaker for the descent, a woman on a mtb passed me. She had about 15-20 seconds on me, and I figured I'd catch her on the descent, just by virtue of having a road bike with road tires. But I swear, she must be one psycho downhill rider, because I didn't see her again until several miles after the road had flattened out. Wow.
Monday, February 09, 2004
No Time Trial!
I was planning to ride the last time trial of the SJBC Winter Series, but I was too sick with flu. Too bad, now I'm out of the scratch competition. Looking ahead to the last two races of the series, the crit on Sunday, and the 50-mile road race, the next Sunday. Then I need to find a way to get my training back on track, given how little I've been able to ride over the last few weeks.
Monday, February 02, 2004
No Crit
Got up for the SJBC's Trimble Crit on Sunday. I worked until 1am the night before. I was tired. I stood in front of the microwave, about to reheat coffee, for at least a minute giving myself a whole bunch of reasons why I really didn't need to go. But, I'm proud of myself: I went anyway.
The weather was iffy to begin with-- cold and windy, threatening skies. We were just on the starting line when it started to drizzle. It's weird how you don't really notice it's raining when you're racing. In the back of my mind, I knew I was getting hit with water, but I wasn't thinking of it in terms of "oh, it's raining" until I realized "oh, it's raining."
It was a points race, so a sprint for 5-3-2-1 pts every 3rd lap. I tried to get myself in position for the first sprint, but unfortunately the 1-2 field caught us before the end of the 3rd lap, and so I didn't really stand a chance.
The roads started to get pretty slick, so coming around turn 3 on the 5th lap, we were notified that the race was cancelled. All for the best, probably.
I thought about riding for another hour or so for a workout, but in the end I just packed it in.
The weather was iffy to begin with-- cold and windy, threatening skies. We were just on the starting line when it started to drizzle. It's weird how you don't really notice it's raining when you're racing. In the back of my mind, I knew I was getting hit with water, but I wasn't thinking of it in terms of "oh, it's raining" until I realized "oh, it's raining."
It was a points race, so a sprint for 5-3-2-1 pts every 3rd lap. I tried to get myself in position for the first sprint, but unfortunately the 1-2 field caught us before the end of the 3rd lap, and so I didn't really stand a chance.
The roads started to get pretty slick, so coming around turn 3 on the 5th lap, we were notified that the race was cancelled. All for the best, probably.
I thought about riding for another hour or so for a workout, but in the end I just packed it in.
