RACE REPORT #6

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last race report, partly due to being busy, partly due to non-stellar results, but mostly due to the fact that I’m a huge procrastinator.

Last two weeks by the numbers
# of races I competed in…………………………………………………..3
# of races I missed………………………………………………………..1
# of worst finishes to date…………………………………………….…..2
Confidence I have in my crit riding ability………………………….....…..<0
Age of rider who got 4th at place Elma Road Race………………….…..15
# of upgrades to cat 2 rider………………………………………………1
# of weeks that took since start of season when I was a cat 4 rider…...…..5
# of riders in the history of my team who have done it faster………….......0


Two weekends ago on Saturday was the Elma Road Race. After the Elma Flats road race that I did early in the season my friend Nate and I rode the full course backwards. The hills involved must have grown in the fertile ground of my memory/imagination because I got there expecting a wall that I’d have to heroically struggle up in order to stick with the skinny climber types but all I got was a hill smaller than the one I live on. No complaints from me in that regard. The loop was 15 miles that we went around 4.5 times (the ½ is because we started just before the climb and finished at the top). It was very windy, fortunately the climb sheltered us from the wind going up and after coming down the course turned so that we had a tailwind on the backstretch. Turning to head back towards the climb left you facing a wall of wind that would generally slow the pack to a crawl as no one wanted to be up front pulling into those conditions, but it wasn’t a very long stretch.

The first two laps didn’t have too much action, a few attacks from idiots like myself, but nothing that stuck. Descending down the backside of the hill I liked to attack if only for the facts that going faster is fun, and going faster (~50mph) when you are less than a foot from the rider next to you is not fun. After the third time down I managed to get a pretty good lead but at the bottom there was a nasty head wind for a mile or so and they reeled me back in pretty quickly. When they caught me a counter attack went right away with 15 or so riders in it. In that group were riders from just about every team but mine meaning that either I better get in on the action something quick or we were going to have to chase the break down ourselves. The next two laps saw us working together pretty well as a break until we got near the bottom of the climb. Everyone wanted to win so pretty much everyone stopped pulling through. There were a few of us that kept rotating through but it was getting ridiculous and I wasn’t about to pull everyone to the finish line so we slowed way down. With three miles to go the pack which had been out of sight for the last lap was about 400 meters back and closing fast. We got to the base of the hill and started to climb with 1000 meters to go. I was concerned about getting caught so I went to the front and started tempoing up the hill. This shed a few people of the back immediately but several stuck on and with 200 meters to go two of them had enough gas to come around me and sprint to the finish, leaving me with third. The most impressive part of that finish in my mind was that the rider behind me, the one who took 4th place, is a 10th grader in high school.

Sunday was a criterium (crit), and I don’t like crits. I’m tempted to say that I don’t like crits and just leave it at that, but I won’t. They are generally short technical courses with lots of sharp turns. Basically they are races meant for the city that can be run by closing off one or more square blocks and then using that as the course. In this case it was one triangular block with the long side flat, the medium side a slight uphill and short side a slightly less slight downhill that formed a half mile course. Going from the downhill portion we would be going 30 plus mph which isn’t all that fast in and of itself, but doing that around a 120 degree turn gets a bit sketchy. Especially when you saw a rider getting hauled off in an ambulance from one of the races before yours (don’t worry though, those of you who know me well know that I’m invincible). The race was 50 minutes plus two laps, that is they start the clock at 50 minutes and when it gets to zero they say two more laps and you’re done. In the middle of the race will be primes (pronounced preems) where the first person to cross the start finish line gets a prize. Prizes ranged from cash, to bike gear, to a case of beer (some would argue that falls under the category of bike gear).

These races are shorter than road races but they are exhausting because from the word go it’s a cycle of sprint for all you’re worth to the turn, apply brakes/coast through the turn, sprint for all you’re worth again…

It gets pretty tiresome pretty fast and I consider it my weakest event as far as cycling races are concerned. No play by play on this one I’ll only say that less than a third of the riders who started the race finished it and I ended up in ninth place, my first finish outside the top five…sniff-sniff.

After the Elma Road race I had enough points to upgrade but I was going to wait until after the Tour de Walla Walla stage race next weekend. Then I found out that the cat 3 field for the race I wanted to do last Saturday was full but there was still room in the pro-1-2 field. Never one to miss an opportunity to screw myself I upgraded and then failed to find a ride to the race…oh well.

Sunday was another crit but this time I’m playing with the big boys. By big boys I mean at least a couple of local pro riders (not like Lance pro but still, they are people who get paid to ride their bike…they’re good) a whole lot of people who have been doing this a lot longer and training a lot smarter than me, several retired pros and this one guy (Kenny Williams) who dominates the local race scene pretty effectively and holds at least one current cycling world record…something to do with the 3000 meter pursuit. It’s a track event—you know, racing on the velodrome (not the palindrome mom). I made a couple of newbie mistakes like pulling the entire pack along behind me while chasing down a breakaway all by myself at the very beginning…This left me feeling like I was going to have to resort to my plan B.

Note: Plan B has two steps;
Step 1: Vomit
Step 2: Drop out of race

Fortunately I managed to avoid plan B, caught a bit of a second wind and managed to finish in the top third of the pack, but outside the top ten. I’m convinced that the best way to learn is by making idiotic mistakes once and getting your bootie handed to you. I’m well on my way.

Next Week, Tour de Walla Walla (yes I’m saying that with a straight face), my first stage race.