Last weekend took a lot of self pushing to get myself to race on a large paved cheese grater. Pavement and me historically have not been friends, but on Sunday we called a truce and rolled it out. It was inevitable since I am spending 5-6 days a week on my road machine training for mountain bike racing. Yes I agree, it seems a bit odd to train on road bike, but in reality its because my training is more specific with precise physiological goals in mind. This type of race is a closed circuit about a 1.5 miles long that we raced in a counter clockwise direction. The duration is 60 minutes and on the last lap the promoter rings a bell and everyone who is in the lead group has one more lap of a chance to get to the front to sprint out the finish.
My awesome fiancee and my mom came out to watch me which definitely helped me feel safer if I needed to be scraped up off the pavement. The start of this race is much different than that of a mountain bike race because there is no small opening to the woods that you need to get to before your competitors. Instead it's a smoother take off, but still quick with all 56 racers looking to begin in the top third going into the first 50 degree turn. This style of racing requires more strategy and a very acute sense of when the group or individual begins to surge faster. Drafting is key on the road because the person who is leading the peloton is typically using 30% more energy than those in their draft or "on their wheel." Throughout this race the leader changed frequently as so did my position in the peloton. I counted myself going from the back end of the pack to the front about 6 times throughout the race.
I enjoyed the on and off pace that changed every few moments being able to know exactly where we stood in relationship to the race leader.
I felt good the entire race and once I got more accustomed to making turns with 4 riders wide my nerves were settled into learning as much as I could.
The final lap bell rang loud as we crossed the start line and I was in the middle of the pack as everyone surged forward. I muscled up through the climbs and gained a few positions closer to the leader, but at this point in the race I would have needed to be to the top 10 to have a chance to sprint for a place on the podium. Nearing the finish line I gave it another kick, picked off a few other racers and finished with the pack. Mission accomplished: Raced on the cheese grater, learned a lot very fast, realize the importance of having friends in the race and you better be near the front when that bell rings. We averaged 24 mph.
0 comments:
Post a Comment