I raced today.
They call me the yellow-armed bandit.OK, I raced yesterday at Waterford Hills (a car-road-race course), too, but the results were rather poor - the person in front of me let a gap open up. Of course, this is a major faux pas, as getting out of the draft in road biking is roughly equivalent to 'getting hung out to dry' in Nascar - but without being able to catch back on at the end.
Now, by the end of last year, these gaps were the kind of thing that I could close. No problem, no anxiety, thirty seconds of time-trialing caught me back on.
Not so much yesterday. I don't know if it was the cold weather, general malaise, or (heaven forfend) just a lack of fitness, but I couldn't close the gap. Despite a half-hour of trying.
So I was a little anxious about my performance coming into "the" race today. I put "the" in quotation marks, because, as luck would have it, I could race three times today. I decided to try all three.
Race Level: C (26 riders)
The first race was really something I would've avoided, had I not had a bunch of teammates in it. It's really for beginners, and although the definition of 'beginner' is somewhat vague, I probably should not qualify. Still, the only person on our team who'd raced this event before recommended it, and I figured, that, at a minimum, I could chase some breaks down and lead-out my teammates for the final sprint.
We did well. I chased down several breaks, although I probably went to hard; at the end, I wasn't able to lead out my teammate well. He ended up coming around me much earlier than he should've had to in order to compensate, but he still sprinted up the final hill for the win. Another teammate sprinted past me for second. Although I was content to just coast to the line, the other competitors seemed to be dying, while I was soft-pedaling... so I put in a few good kicks, no real effort, and managed third.
So we got 1-2-3. And I think I'm kicked out of that race.
Race Level: B (~20 riders?)
This is where I really should've been racing. Same theory - chase down breaks, lead out teammate. Drastically different results, as I was on the nose of the peloton for much of the race, attempting to chase down a strong four-man break. I failed. Then, in the last lap, I was looking for my teammates to get them on my wheel - they were on the right side of the peloton; I was on the left. I went past the front, and slowed down the right side, looking to let them grab my wheel; but no luck. I ended up 11th in the 'ton, with, I believe, 3 men still in the break, so ~14th overall.
One of the benefits of keeping my nose in the wind for most of the race: I accidentally won a preme.
To the victors... wait a minute... To the preme winners...Race Level: A (~40 riders)
I was hoping to race this just for experience and training. I was impressed with the pack - usually, in C's, people keep their handlebars two or three feet apart. B's, might be one or two. A's were more like six inches, and, more importantly, no one was panicking.
While I was marvelling at this, someone put in a big acceleration. A teammate said that someone in front of me let another gap open up. All I (vaguely) recall is chasing... and chasing... and failing.
So, today I worked as hard as I could. I failed. But tomorrow... I'll be stronger.
(Actually tomorrow I'm taking a rest day, but I thought that was a good quote).
No comments:
Post a Comment