Terrible, awful, poor and abysmal are all antonyms for wonderful which best describe a number of elements of racing this past weekend. “Terrible” is in reference to the weather conditions that were experienced at Saturday’s Team Wisconsin Spring Classic. Low to mid-40 temps and a cold rain all lead to what would be a finger and toe numbing experience that resulted in only the hardcore racers showing up. The 50 minute race on a somewhat hilly course consisted of constant attacks from various participants all being pulled back by the host team since they had overwhelming majority in the field. Throughout the entire race I remained steady in the field and not making any attempts to get off the front. The race was very smooth and on the last lap I positioned myself well going into the first climb (two climbs per lap). Right before the turn to go up the hill the guy leading the field pulled off to the outside and stopped pedaling which seriously messed up my plan as I was coming into the corner carrying significant speed hoping to take the outside line and hold the speed through the corner. To my dismay this guy was cooked and wasn’t going anywhere while I had no choice but to brake and then sprint to catch up to the field pulling away. While I caught the field up the false-flat on the backside of the course I continued to hammer the pedals and passed a number of riders, then grabbing the wheel of two racers chasing the 5 riders that gapped the field. Through the final corner leading to the second hill I began my sprint passing the two in front of me and catching another 50 feet before the finish line. Nothing to complain about with that result after coming from behind!
Going back to the adjectives at the beginning, “awful” best describes my anaerobic conditioning at this point in time as I have been having a hard time reacting to moves in the field and further evidenced by my performance at Sunday’s Kettle Moraine Klassic road race. More consistent training is on the schedule to alleviate this problem and I’m working to boost my motivation and dedication to increase my anaerobic capacity.
“Poor” is in reference to my planning and preparation for Sunday’s race in which I thought I had everything ready to go and left on time, only to find out that when I am getting ready to warm up that I forgot all of my water bottles at home. Luckily a fellow racer loaned me one of his bottles and a teammate loaned me a second bottle. I would have been up a creek without a paddle if these two were not so generous. This all leads to the final adjective which is a descriptor of my decisioning during what was a 51 mile road race broken into 7 laps on a circuit course (note: also open to car traffic as this is an important piece of information later in the race). From the start of the race two riders went off on a break attempt that to my surprise, stayed away. That was until I attempted to cover the gap up to the break and join them. I easily moved away from the field, even getting out of sight for a period of time until I turned the corner to the finishing straight which was directly into the headwind. Trying to continue to hold a 25+ mph pace to catch the break I began to suffer and while only being about 200 meters to the two off the front, the field reigned me in. I made the ridiculous decision to attempt a breakaway in the early stages of a 51 mile race. Whoops! The remaining 6 laps were absolutely painful trying to maintain a spot in the front part of the field.
My abysmal decision was further compounded by the confusion that occurred as our Cat 3’s field was passed by the M1/2/3 field and the ensuing combination of fields for half a lap as the 3’s worked to pass them back. Because of the confusion a gap occurred off the front in which half of the Cat 3’s field pushed on ahead. This further put me into the pain cave as now I had to work to cover another large gap at the precise moment we had a tail-wind and our speed on the flat easily stayed above 30 mph. The rest of the race was just trying to hang on and position well for the finish. And that I did, I moved through the field and chose my position on the centerline and sat there. Unfortunately, even though a centerline rule is in effect, it is never enforce. Because of this a number of riders decided to improve their odds of winning and moved past me on my left and over the centerline. From there I was pushed to the middle and the field swarmed. Through the final tight corner an on to the finishing straight everyone made it through easy until after the little rise there was a car stopped blocking half the road (according to the officials, the full road could be used after the final corner). The immediate hard brake and swerve to the right left me with no momentum to begin to sprint and the race was over at this point. I simply sat up and rolled across the line. With such a bad race I didn’t even stick around to see the results all I know is that I was pack-fodder.
On the bright side, it was a beautiful day with slight overcast, mid-50 temps, and awesome scenery. The race was organized well, course was spectacular, everyone stayed upright and it was fun catching up with fellow racers I haven’t seen in well over a year! Next up is the La Crosse Omnium consisting of a road race, individual hill time trial, and a criterium. Should be another fantastic weekend hanging out with friends and family and racing with teammates.
