Anyway, the Sublimity Circuit Race didn't go as well as I'd anticipated. The course was awesome. Tons of climbing and a huge decent with no crashes or flats (that I saw). That being said, I almost would have enjoyed it more riding it by myself then trying to 'race' 91 other people.
The race started out with 91 racers (Cat 4/5 combined), 30 of which we promptly dropped on the first hill. From there it was a simple process of waning off the last bunch until we worked ourselves down to a group of about 25 or so. I have to admit, I did have fun when we were coming over the last hill when a group attacked off the front. Sitting 30 people back I couldn't do anything but just sit and watch. Tearing down the 5-mile downhill stretch I caught up to the pack (about 25 riders or so) and looked back and couldn't see anyone: no other racers, no car, just trees and road. I'd made the break. There were a few other break attempts but we reeled them in pretty quickly. As I looked around me I realized my teammate hadn't made the break. I knew he was sitting a little farther back in the pack than I was so he probably didn't make it but still, he wanted to do well out there. Oh well, that's racing, right? Surprisingly, next time I looked around he was right there. I didn't miss him the first time around, he made a solo break to bridge the gap between the two groups (pretty ballsy if you ask me).
Anyway, back to the pack. About 4 miles from the finish the pace significantly dropped off. Now I'm not talking 3-4mph, I'm talking about a drop from ~20mph down to 9! Now I understand backing off the pace a little while to eat, drink and empty water before the finish but this kind of a pace is completely ridiculous!! Looking back at the trip data I had a minimum speed of 8.19mph--completely unacceptable. Now maybe I'm just used to cyclocross races and riding as hard as you can for 45 minutes but it seems like if you're in a race you should be RACING the entire time you're out there.
Ok, I'm over THAT part of the race. If people want to ride slow then so be it. I'll just make sure I'm in the front next time so I can push the pace if I so desire.
Now the part of the race that REALLY pisses me off-the finish. As you can probably figure out by now, I didn't do as well as I wanted. I'll admit a large part of this is my fault and not being aggressive enough in moving up in the pack and diving into every little opening. That being said, these Cat 5 racers need to learn some etiquette. If there's a faster racer, MOVE OVER when they call out that they're passing on one side! Going into the final 200m I KNEW I had the legs to finish it. I'd written off first because one guy had an excellent solo break coming up the kicker before the finish but I KNOW I could have placed top 3. Instead I was stuck with the mid-teens for multiple reasons: slow people moved to the left (wtf, left, really!?), racers are throwing their bikes all over the road and I got forced over the centerline after which I let up, costing me 3 spots. Oh well, it's done. I'm pissed I didn't get my upgrade and now I have to wait another 3 weeks before I can get back out there and earn my way out of Cat 5. My goal for Cat 3 by the end of the season is still on, I just need to ride more aggressively toward the front and I'll be there next time someone decides to take off.
Below is a screenshot of my race data. Red is heartrate, green is speed and blue is elevation. I know it's kind of hard to read without all the values but you get an idea of the rapid rates at which we slowed down. Oh yeah, max speed on the day was 48.80mph, not too bad for not really trying.
No comments:
Post a Comment