My First Time (Racing) - Part 1 of 2

Here I am about to ride my first road race. My life-long dream is about to come true.

Trying to get any work done on Friday was nearly impossible. Race day was tomorrow and I had so much going through my head: race strategies, wondering if I would bail during the race and wondering if I could I keep up or would I get dropped? Everyone in my family seemed to be holding their breaths in anticipation as well, they all sacrificed a lot so that I could realize a life-long dream: to race competitively on a road bike team.

I was excited to wear the black and gold for the first time (Rob loaned me a Body Concepts jersey because mine hadn’t come in yet) and to top it all off I had found a black and yellow Livestrong helmet that was on amazing sale at Bicycles Plus while my wife was out on her first mountain bike training ride with one of our daughters.

The morning of the race was hectic with getting gear ready, packing up the family and making sure that I had the proper nutrition for before and after the ride. It was cold and damp with thick fog greeting us as we opened the garage door but nothing could deter my excitement, in just a couple of hours I would be racing!

Warming up in the rain.

We arrived at William Land Park and I began setting up the rim trainer while my family all worked to make sure that Jax was entertained and comfortable. It was incredibly cold and I wondered if I would have to cover up the BC jersey I wore so proudly with a jacket. That was answered soon enough as I ground away on the trainer and my body heated up. It even rained some as I warmed up but my concern was no longer for the cold or wet but for the slick road conditions I would encounter in this kind of weather.

With about 15 minutes to go I got off the trainer and headed towards the starting line to see if I could find my teammates.  Shortly after arriving, Patrick, Felix (who was on a wait list hoping to get in), and Randy showed up.  Randy had us take a lap around the track to talk how crits work and what our strategy would be and as we were riding John caught up to us. The strategy was to use the primes (a race within a race where small awards given to the first finisher on certain laps) as practice for our lead out so that we could give one of our riders a serious chance of winning on the final lap.



Felix was not able to race with us but stayed to support the team.

As we finished our practice lap and got back to the start line, almost everyone was already lined up. Felix found out that there had not been enough places available and he would have to sit the race out. He did stay and helped my family cheer the rest of us Body Concept Racers on.

John, Chris, Randy and Patrick of Team Body Concepts.

Just before the start Randy was able to squeeze into a spot close to the front with the rest of us staggered behind him. We waited as a cluster as the race official went over some basics of crits –things like “Be careful on the wet track”, “Hold your line in turns”, “There are going to be 2 primes” etc.

As the minutes ticked down to seconds for the race to start I, surprisingly, found that I wasn’t nervous.  I was focusing more on what we talked about during our strategy session and how I needed to be prepared to get off to a fast start so that I wouldn’t lose my teammates during the initial acceleration. I must have been REALLY focused because I don’t even remember how the race started. I could not go back and tell you if a bell had rung, a gunshot gone off or if someone had called the start by voice. All I can remember is the mass of bodies and wheels surging forward en masse and I was a part of it… to be continued in part 2.

The official gives a final run-down of rules just before the start of the race. I was riding in the Cat 4/5 35+ race.

For more images of the race visit: http://www.grovetribe.com/CalAggie2011Gallery.html

and be sure to check back in here tomorrow for more on the race!