Posts Tagged ‘bike race’

Today was a great day for a bike race – cold, wet, and miserable.

It gets you in the right mental mindset rather quickly when you’ve got spray and mud from the road in your face in the first mile of the race.  The race went well and I was really happy to get back to racing.  The team had planned to try to get me into a breakaway group in lap 3 of 4, and I saw my moment of opportunity and took it by attacking the field to bridge up to a rider that had gotten away solo.  The two of us were joined by three other riders that bridged up, and we had a 5 man break going that at one point got probably 45 seconds ahead of the main field.  Unfortunately we eventually got reeled in as is common in Cat 4 racing.  I managed to make it over the last big hill with the front group and rolled into the finish near the front of the pack for about a 15th place finish.  Not bad considering I’m not a sprinter and I’ve only been back on my bike for a month or so.  My legs feel good and I could have gone another lap or two without a problem, but I definitely need to get in a few more intervals to see if I can increase my top power a hair.  Overall, I feel pretty happy with my conditioning currently and how the day’s race went.

Among the more notable events on the day was a teammate’s total bike implosion caused by a jammed chain.  If you look closely, the chain is mangled, the front derailer is snapped in half, the rear derailer is in pieces, the derailer hanger is bent, spokes are broken… at least he stayed upright.

So what’s the result of 44 miles of riding in the rain on dirty roads look like? Something like this:

It was also great to catch up with some friends from UO, including Chris, who was also filthy.

I’ve been going through my standard pre-race preparations today and realized that for someone not familiar with racing, it’s really anything but standard.  So here’s the rundown – for a two hour race, it’s easy to spend far longer just getting ready.  At the same time, it gives you a lot of time to focus, visualize, and prepare.

Things actually started off yesterday when I spent over an hour cleaning every tiny crevice on my bike and removing grease and grime.  I also adjusted the shifting, checked the brake pads, adjusted the brakes, and spent over an hour with teammate Joel at his place re-dishing, tensioning, and truing my rear wheel.  Thanks Joel!  Without a bike stand currently, braces on the unfinished basement ceiling came in handy.

Then this-morning I went to the team ride and did an easy 40 miles with a few short efforts thrown in.  Ideally, this will wake my legs up and they’ll be fresh tomorrow morning with lots of jump in them.

Then after some final tweaking of the drivetrain, I spent part of the afternoon shoveling bark dust with my aunt.  This part wasn’t so productive as far as race prep goes.  In fact, I’d recommend against it the day before a race.

Next up, packing the race bag and laying out clothes.  I pack enough sets of racing gear to be ready for pretty much any type of weather – from warm and sunny to cold, windy, and raining.  I also pack extra tubes, chain oil, food, gatorade, extra water, and a change of clothes for after the race.  And of course the most important part – you always have to keep a mental checklist of whether or not you’ve got your shoes and your helmet.  You can almost get by without everything else.

Next up, the leg shave.  If you’re a cyclist, you completely understand why cyclists shave their legs.  If you’re not, you think we’re pretty much nuts.  Yeah, there may be a slight aerodynamic advantage, but in reality if you race road, shaving is a necessity because if you crash, you do not want to deal with hair getting in the way of bandages.  Plus it’s considered bad form among road cyclists if you don’t.  I usually keep my legs trimmed during race season, but only shave before races.  Part of it is mental – it’s a great time to focus on the race.

Now this is what the day before the race is supposed to be about – sitting with the legs up in a recliner.

And while you’re at it, get an iPod playlist ready for your race-day warmup.

The last step for me is making some pasta before bed.  I make a fairly large batch – enough to have some for a late 2nd dinner plus leftovers for breakfast.  In the morning I eat the pasta, and if I’ve got the time, I make some eggs as well.  I always seem to feel good in races after eating eggs, even if it’s only a placebo effect.

Everyone’s race prep varies a little bit – but mine is pretty consistent from race to race.  Yeah it’s probably too thought out and a bit of overkill, but it’s totally worth it if you get a good result the next day.

I’m racing this Sunday.  It crept up on me a bit because I knew the race was the first Sunday in March, but I forgot that February is a short month and March begins on Sunday.  This race will be the first of the Banana Belts, a series of 3 races on the loop around Haag Lake to the Southwest of Forest Grove, Oregon.  The bike is currently in winter mode, but will be undergoing some maintenance and adjustments to be race-ready in the next several days.

This race is particularly notable for me not only because it’s my first of the year, but because it’s a one year anniversary.  More on that later.  In general, something interesting ALWAYS happens in the Banana Belts.  It’s the site of my biggest win, my dumbest showing off, and my worst crash (all in various different races over the past several years).

Three years ago, I had plans to attack off the front of the race in the last lap with friend and then teammate Scott Jones.  He wasn’t feeling it, so I rolled casually off the front of the race across the dam, and then attacked with everything I had at the base of the hill that followed.  I managed to solo in the last 8 miles of the race for the win after building up a minute lead on the field.  Now that’s a great feeling.

Two years ago, I was feeling really strong and spent the majority of the race attacking off the front of the field, just waiting for someone to come along.  I’d allow myself to almost get caught, then attack again.  I finally drifted back into the pack and was ready to go again when I flatted.  Race over.  Figures.

Then, last year – this same race one year ago.  For some background, there’s one corner on the course when going clockwise that comes off a downhill into a sharp 100+ degree corner that’s off-camber (slanted against the direction of the turn) that leads onto a dam.  It’s a beast, and has aptly been dubbed the “damn” corner.  I’ve always been a confident descender and comfortable cornering, so laps 2 and 3 I was a the front of the field taking the corner at high speed.  I was feeling confident going into the final lap and used the corner as a way to try to get away from the field to see if I could somehow manage to win the race.

I hit the corner maybe 50 yards ahead of the field and things were going according to plan until my rear wheel started hopping.  I got it back under control and had the corner made until the hopping started again, due to what I found later was a wheel failure.  Two seconds to react – probably 35 MPH headed straight at a guardrail.  I downed myself at the last possible moment, and remember very well my body’s reaction to the large force exerted on it – the adrenaline just froze my body up for a good 10 seconds.  I get back up and can’t find anything particularly wrong, other than that I hurt everywhere.   Race officials seem amazed I’m standing.  I’m incredibly frustrated with myself and just want to finish the race.  I’m allowed to get back on my bike and finish, but only after medical checks me over.  I finish the race and still manage to beat a fair number of racers somehow.

After the race.  Something isn’t right, but I can’t quite figure out what.

Three days later, the pain in my hand has not gone away, and I go to a doctor to confirm that it is indeed broken.  That’s mostly all that’s wrong though.  A nice bruise and swelling on my thigh.  Almost no road rash.  Apparently I’ve learned to crash well, considering how bad it could have been.

So that really hindered my racing aspirations for my last year of collegiate racing, which basically ended up not happening.  I wasn’t completely down and out though.  I could still fit the aerobars pretty well with a splint on my hand:

But other than time trialing, normal racing and even normal riding/reaching the brakes just didn’t happen.

Looking back, I’m glad things turned out the way they did, as the series of events that made up my spring into summer eventually resulted in the 6 month marketing tour that has to have been one of the highlights of my life.

But now, it’s back to racing.  One year later, I’m going to show that corner who is boss.