Vacaville Gran Prix 2008

The scene at the parking lot of the Gold’s Gym where we checked in at the race was exactly what every bike racer has come to expect. I was lucky and found a spot as it was already pretty full. As I walked over to the check in tent I felt the stares of all the other guys pumping air into the tires. Since I was still wearing jeans and a tshirt this first sizing up wouldn’t be the last.

The lady at the check in tent was delightful as she looked me up and down as if she’d be racing me later, then barked out, “Category?” After sorting all of this out I asked her another question, which was apparently too dumb for her to answer, so I walked back to my car. The day was most definitely off to a good start!

Once back at my car I started getting changed as I had about 40 minutes before the start of my race. There were two guys parked next to me that looked at me, my bike and then sort of grunted in my general direction. This was odd as it meant they approved of my being there. I honestly didn’t know what to do so I said “good morning” like I would if I were passing someone walking down the street. I don’t know what I was thinking, this immediately made them go back to whatever they were doing with their bikes, ignoring me.

I “warmed up” on the course because basically I’m far too lazy to carry my rollers to my car at 5:30am. And I put warmed up in quotes because after three laps I was no more warm than when my alarm went off. I’ve never really understood the whole warm up process. I’m sure its effective as professionals take it very seriously, but I don’t know, I just always seem to wish I had that bit of energy back if it gets tough later on. Plus, I assumed the first couple laps would be pretty pedestrian and I could use those to warm up. This, as I will get to later, was an incorrect assumption.

Starting to get pretty bored with these laps of the course I pulled over and asked one of the course marshals if we’d have a neutral lap or if we were racing from the gun. She didn’t know, but lucky for me a parent of one of the junior racers, who apparently thinks that having Jon B. styled facial hair is cool, over heard and made fun of me for caring about such a stupid question. Bike racing is full of such nice and caring people!

My concern going into the race was that I’d be crashed out by someone else. The good news from the day is this did not happen. Mainly this did not happen because I was only around the other sixty-two riders who started for about three laps. I never would have guessed that I couldn’t sit in for the race, but this does go to prove that I need to actually train a bit to race my bike.

When the start bell rang I was fully expecting everyone to roll away, clip in, and ride pretty casually for the first couple turns, this, as I alluded to before is not the way the race started. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen BMX racing but basically the start of a BMX race is pretty much the most important part of the whole thing. There is generally some sort of straight away that runs straight into the first corner. The racers go full out into the this turn so they can get the “whole shot” and take the lead. Apparently, the group of guys I was racing with today thought the finish line was on the other side of that first corner. By the time I got my right foot clipped in there was already a gap between myself and the wheel in front of me. I was literally racing for about 4 seconds before I had to close down a gap. This was not a good sign.

One of the guys lined up next to me at the start had lots of stories of past races and from listening to them I determined he’d probably be a good set of wheels to follow so that was my plan. Somewhere in the first lap he came by me so I wrestled some other guy off his wheel so I could take my place. I sat there for about another lap until he decided he wanted to move up about 10 places in one turn. When he did this I was amazed at how easily he did it and then I was amazed at how filling that bike length of a hole that was left in front of me just wasn’t happening. That was right about the beginning of the end for me. A few other guys came around me, a few others were annoyed that I seemed to be soft pedaling, which I wasn’t. Once I was fully dropped I decided I’d just ride as hard as I could until they either lapped me or it was over. I rode about another 7 laps or so before the official pulled me off the course. She thanked me for cooperating. I thanked her for putting an end to the pain. Apparently this was hilarious as a lady off to the side laughed at the joke. Or at me. Who really knows.

Basically the things I learned from this race are as follows:
- I am fat and need to get into shape.
- It wasn’t nearly as scary as I thought it’d be. (Keep in mind I was only in it for a brief bit.)
- I should start at the front. Even though those guys are racing faster the speed yo-yos less.
- Did I mention get into shape?
- I need to think of more cycling related jokes so that if I do get dropped again I have something quick to say as I ride by the people along the course who awkwardly try to give you encouragement.

And, apparently this race was some championship of some series so I'm also going to blame the speed on that. I needed at least one excuse right!?