Back in high school I started riding my bike to work at the old grocery store nearly very day of the week. Eventually, by 50 lb Sears bike wasn’t cutting it so I bought a spiffy, Schwinn entry level racing bike and started riding that instead. Jeff had been doing a lot of riding, and in the summer of 1986 (or so) I went on a 40 mile ride with him around Sebago Lake in Maine. That was more than I usually did and there was these things called “hills” that I hadn’t seen on Cape Cod. I started to ride more miles and eventually the summer before my senior year I joined Jeff in Worcester for a open criterium race (a short, few block loop that you go around many times). The following summer I did short race at the start of the summer with the intention to do more.
Fast forward 20 years later and my intentions to race more continue to go unexecuted. Until this winter, that is. I decided this winter that I would race this summer. Most of the events in Western NY are USCF licensed events, so I sent in my application and check to get a racing license for the summer season. I figured once I did that, I would be committed. I had been going to the gym a couple times a week to ride in a spin class (good stationary bikes are available in the spin classes). I would ride when the weather got above 40 which is my minimum because I can’t seem to control my body temperature below that (I sweat and then freeze). I joined the Genesee Valley Cycling Club (GVCC) this spring, which is a racing club that holds training races every Thursday night. Once April arrived, I started to get out and ride regularly.
The first race on my schedule was the down at Bristol Mountain (a local ski mountain). The race course is a 17 mile loop around and over the mountain. There is a decent of climbing with a 1 mile 7% - 10% grade hill and a 3 mile 8% - 12% grade hill in the loop. They usually mark 7% grades on the highway with those signs of a truck going down a hill or if you watch the Tour de France, the 1 mile and 3 mile climbs would be a Category 4 and Category 2 climbs, respectively. Up here in Rochester, we have some hills just south of town (near RIT, where I work) but nothing quite as steep and long as these. My race would be around the loop twice. The week before the race I went down and road the course to see what I was in for. I got around OK and that was my first goal. I was in DC for the first two days of the week and when I got back I did my first training race with the club to relearn about riding at 35-40 mph with 40 riders inches away from you.
Race day came and I was there bright an early. My race (Category 5, the entry category for male riders and a different category system from the ones that describe hills) had about 75 riders in it and was the largest race by far. I was in the front third of the group for the first half of the first lap where we tore it up at an average of 35+ mph. When we got to the first and smaller hill, I went to change gears and derailed my chain. This was a serious bummer because I had 30+ riders behind me and all you can do is raise your hand and coast to a stop while hoping that someone doesn’t have their head down and smack right into you. The chain was a bummer for two reasons: first, I would fall totally off the back of the pack (and then some) and secondly, I had the same thing happen a few weeks before and I apparently didn’t fix the problem. On that other night, I essentially broke my chain by bending it so bad when it got wedged between the cranks and frame. I thought I had tuned the derailer so this wouldn’t happen again. Anyway, once I was clear. I jumped off and got the chain back on ASAP. But, at this point the pack was up the hill and around the bend. I got on and jammed it up the hill, passing a 4-5 riders that had already fallen back. On the back stretch, I passed 4-5 more riders and on the big hill 4-5 more. As I came down the big hill (55+ mph decent) I could just see the lead group about a mile off, but that would be the last that I would see of them. A group that size rolls like a freight train where a single rider has a lot of air to push.
On the front side of the second lap, I found a rider I saw at the GVCC training race a few nights before. I asked him if he wanted to work together and catch some more riders. Slowly my group grew from 2 to 6 as we scooped up some riders that just couldn’t keep up with the pace of the pack. When we got to the small hill again, I shifted gears carefully and burned up the hill. When I got to the top I realized I had dropped my little group, but they would catch up after a few miles (again, a group can typically ride much faster than a solo rider). On the big hill, we got separated as the Pro race (which started 1/2 hour before us) lapped us. The pace care honked and I slid over as they passed. Once they were by me, I realized that I was alone again. Only this time, my group was ahead of me, slightly off the back of the Pro group. I wasn’t able to catch them before we started the decent to the finish and they went like hell down the hill.
In the end, I finished 41st out of 55 that finished which means around 20 did not finish. Overall, I was happy that I kept my cool and was strong on the hills. I don’t know what would have happened if I hadn’t lost my chain, but I would like to think I could have made the first lap with the lead pack. Anyway, I will keep doing the Thursday night training races and learn how to manage my energy and strategy. The next big race is the Rochester Twilight Criterium which is downtown on a really interesting and winding course. It is a totally different type of race with a lot of technical turns and slight grade.
Posts
