They haven't posted results yet, but I don't need to look at them to tell you that this stage race did not go as planned. The whole thing was made of 3 stages, 2 on Saturday, a crit in the morning and a TT in the afternoon with a Road Race on Sunday. My chances of getting a good result went out the window about 3 months ago when I asked myself, "Should I buy another set of wheels to take to races just in case?" and I answered my own question with, "Naw. It'll be fine."
Stage 1: 20 Mile Crit
If that set up wasn't good enough, allow me to spell it out, on the second lap I flatted and pulled myself over to the right side of the group. The pace at this point was a blistering 20mph and one of the local Oakland guys yelled at me to get back in, that I could make it. I was speechless because my only thought was that he really thought that 20mph was making me abandon. Weird! Sort of luckily we were about 3/4 of the way through the lap and so I walked up the finish line where I was told by the official if I didn't finish the race I couldn't go on for the rest of the week. Without extra wheels I wasn't sure what my options were and the nice guy in the fancy USAC polo informed me that I could go to my car, fix the flat, come back and get in the race. Since all I needed to do was finish they'd just tack the time I was out on my time at the end. Not optimal, but better than making a charitable donation to VeloPromo (race promoters) and having the rest of the weekend to discover beautiful Madera, California. I think I was out for about 6 laps once I finally got back. Partially due to my car being very far away and cycling shoes not being made to run or walk in and because the first tube I put in has a valve that is only long enough for a co2 pump to inflate. Of course I would discover this in a time of haste! So, two tube changes later, a freshly inflated tire and I'm back in the race, to tail gun it for like 9 more laps.
Stage 2: 10 Mile Individual Time Trial
When I think back to the time trial there are only a few things that I think are worth noting.
1) I forgot my heart rate monitor strap at the hotel so I rode the old fashioned way. I think this actually turned out to be better as I wasn't trying to consciously stay at any certain numbers. When I felt good I got on top of it, when I could feel fatigue I'd adjust and try to recover just a bit.
2) Turn 2 was less than 90 degrees. I discovered this as I hit turn 2 at 28mph, setting it up perfectly if it were 90 degrees and almost ending up in the left hand ditch because I ran out of road.
3) There were a lot of dudes with really expensive TT bikes and wheel sets. Unfortunately for me the California State TT Champ was 3 riders behind me at the start and he caught me with about 3 miles to go. That guy was flying!
4) We started at 30 second intervals. I caught two guys. I got caught by 4, but they were all on TT bikes and that's my excuse.
5) The first half of the course was flat, the back half was false flat with a headwind. While my results probably aren't impressive (I haven't seen my official time) I felt pretty strong and was happy to keep my speed relatively high through the back section.
6) My girlfriend said I looked faster than most people she saw crossing the finish line. I don't know if that's true or if she's just sweet. Probably the later.
Stage 3: 68, no wait, they changed it from what was advertised, 51 mile Road Race.
Since this was my first RR I really didn't know what to expect. Turns out RR are pretty much exactly like group rides with a real finish line at the end. In order to have parking we had to have a neutral section of about 5 miles to get up to the course. From there some guy jumped immediately. Nobody reacted and he stayed away for about 3/4 of the first lap. It wasn't a terribly difficult course and I never felt like we were really pushing it until about a quarter lap to go, but the field seemed smaller so I'm assuming we shelled some guys.
The course had two distinct features. The first was a long section of road that should not be described as paved. It should be described as gravel with some sort of hardening element poured over it. This section probably made up less than 1/4 of the course but it seemed like forever when we were on it. It provided a great place to move up in the group as most people would try and coast over the really bad sections. I was able to follow wheels to the front each time. Bottles were flying all over the place as they were getting ejected from the cages. Luckily I was able to avoid them. I can't understate just how rough this section was. My hands hurt after the race and I think my crotch will be sore for a few more days.
The other distinct feature was a set of 4 steep rollers that led there way to the finish. I thought for sure we'd all stay together through the rough section and then the rollers would be where it split the group up on the last lap. As we came through the first lap I was at the front and decided to take a good long pull to try and keep the pace high as it had been dropping because nobody wanted to do any work. I stayed on the front up the next roller that led into the feed zone and for about a mile or so after that. When I'd had enough, I pulled off, flicked my elbow and nobody came by me. When I looked back the guy on my wheel looked like death and was just following me wherever I went on the road. I literally had to take my hand off the bar and wave him through. I think he "pulled" for about 3 pedal strokes before getting off. I don't think I was setting the kind of pace that was shattering the field, but I do think it goes to show that we didn't have enough guys at the front keeping it constantly high enough to cause more attrition. The way that guy looked, I'm pretty sure 3 or 4 more guys putting in good pulls would have seen him go backwards. Too bad it never happened.
I'm not sure if I can blame the finish of the race on bad luck or on myself for being in a bad spot. We came off the rough section and I was in the top 15 or so and right as we hit the bottom of the first roller a guy shot on my right shot out of the group on the left where he did not have space. I had to hit my brakes pretty hard and swerve to the left to avoid him. I'm glad that I saw it coming and was able to save the crash but it threw off the rhythm I was in with the group and instead of riding over the first roller I was sort of thrown into chase mode to get back onto the wheel in front of me.
We went over the first as a group, I was about half way back and a guy came by me flying on the left side. If you time a set of rollers like this just right you can carry so much momentum from the down side of the last on into the next that you can get over them really fast with almost no effort. I assumed this guy had caught that timing just right and so I jumped out and followed his wheel. This is the part where I'm not sure if I can call it bad luck or just blame myself for doing this but I read his speed totally wrong. About half way up this roller he blew up and when he did he left me with nowhere to go but sit behind him. I yelled "GO, GO, GO!" to try and encourage him but he was done. He literally just sat up. I couldn't get around him on the right because I had the group going by and we were already shoulder to shoulder. The only option I had left was to wait for the entire group and chase back on.
I went over that 2nd roller about 2 bike lengths behind the main group. I glanced over my shoulder and saw a bunch of dudes had been strung out. I was pissed but thought I still had time to catch back on if I didn't panic. I basically sprinted the downhill carrying as much speed as I could get to hit the next one. When we went over the top I was back in contact and trying to see a line to get myself through the group. I chose to go to the left because it seemed a bit thinner. I'm not sure if this was right or not, but once I saw a line I hit in and kept charging through. At this point we were on the 4th roller in which the finish line was just on top of. This one sort of stair stepped so it had a tiny little false flat in the middle. As I was going up through the group I saw 3 guys that were shoulder to shoulder and the middle dude was starting to get really squirrely. This made the set of guys between them and me all stop pedaling to see what was going to happen. This didn't help my cause any as I had to go even wider to get around them. Just as I passed these guys we hit the false flat section and to my right I hear what is now becoming a familiar sound of carbon fiber and skin on pavement. I glanced over and saw the guy sliding but I kept going. I don't know exactly what happened but I'm assuming the ended up half wheeled with another guy and they hit. The guy he ran into didn't go down, but with the sound his rear Zipp 404 was making, he was definitely going to have a trip to the bike shop in his future. As he crossed the line the sound was getting worse and he start to put on an incredibly impressive verbal display of cursing. The officials at the line shouted, "Watch your language!" But really? I'd be cursing like that too if some fool just wrecked my wheels because he couldn't ride his bike in a straight line. After the crash the road seemed to open up a little bit. I think most people get freaked out when that happens and get overly cautious. I probably passed about 5 more guys.
The RR didn't go exactly how I wanted it to, especially the finish, but I guess that's bike racing. I was really glad that I didn't give up when I got caught behind that dude, stayed calm and chased back in to still salvage some sort of result. I was sort of surprised at how slow the race felt at times. My computer said we averaged 23mph but it also froze for a while so we may have been faster than that. I guess it's encouraging that to realize that after 50 miles I still had enough in the tank to accelerate through the field like I did. It must either be experience or lack of down right aggression towards other riders that I keep finding myself with good legs but in the wrong spots. I feel like I'm fast enough to win these races, or at least see myself on the podium. I think I just have to putting together the pieces so I'm in the right spot to give myself a real chance.
Overall Recap:
I guess the first stage doesn't really count since I rode a total of 10.75 laps and after the flat made no effort what so ever, but I did everything I could to bury myself in the TT and the RR and am happy with how my legs felt and responded, especially since it's still early March with a LONG season ahead.
I'm also starting to think my ambition to upgrade in a month might have been a little over zealous. While I think I'm one of the faster 4s in the area, I don't think I'm a future 2 riding with the 4s so I'm not going to just ride the group off my wheel to victory. It's still my goal to be a 3, but it might just take me a bit longer to get there than I thought.
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