Posts Tagged ‘Cycling’

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.