My First Time (Racing) - Part 2 of 2

The race begins and the road grit flies! The Cal Aggie Criterium had plenty of racers and tight quarters.

As we got started off the line I had a slight delay as I missed my first attempt to click my left foot into the pedal.  I have never been good at the road pedals, dating back to when they first came out in the late 80’s (when they were a lot harder to get out of and I fell a lot more). Anyway…  I quickly recovered and caught up to Patrick.  Everything was going fine on that first lap until we hit the first big turn.  According to John, a fellow BC racer, that first left turn is 120 degrees followed by an immediate 90 degree right turn.  With the course being wet and oily, it was tricky to slam on the brakes and negotiate the turn while trying to spring out of the turns as fast as possible.  A mistake I would make more than once going into these turns is that I would forget to shift to an easier gear.  This left me trying to accelerate hard out of a turn while trying to push a gear that was too hard to pedal.  Still, I managed to get out of the turn fast enough to maintain my position behind Patrick, all was well. 




Pushing to rejoin the pack after the crash.

 On the second lap we came to the big left turn again.  Everything seemed to be going fine when a racer to the front left of Patrick went down.  Initially I didn’t think anything of it and thought we were going to miss him.  Then Patrick started to go down in front of me.  I didn’t want to do a big swerve because I didn’t know who was beside me so I did more of a subtle shift to the right and tried to pass as quickly as possible. I remember bracing myself, hoping that I could glide by without getting caught up in the crash. I eked by and found myself upright and my thoughts went back to the race.  I took a quick peripheral glance to my left to make sure I could proceed through the turn without running into anyone.  I saw some riders down, but I couldn’t make out the details.  All I knew was that the path was clear and I had to catch up.  After finishing the turns I got low on the bike, shifted to my fastest gear, and started cranking.  Shortly after passing the start/finish line I was back with the group. 

Now was the really frustrating part of the race.  How do I close back in on John and Randy?  With the slick roads slowing everyone down in the turns, the group wasn’t strung out yet.  During each straight, I would get within range of John and Randy and would back off thinking that I should conserve energy and I could slowly work my way up the last few bike lengths.  However, that backfired because every time we hit the big left turn, the group would bunch up and I would lose the progress I made coming out of the turns.  I tried the right side and then I tried the left side with the same results every time.  This was getting old and even more frustrating is that I thought it would be pretty obvious how many laps were left, but I could never find the person holding the sign.  Maybe I was suffering from “first race tunnel vision”? 

I also did not realize that the bell ringing indicated the primes or the final lap.  From dabbling in mountain bike racing a few times last year, where everyone was ringing some sort of bell on every lap, I just assumed that it was the crowd cheering on the racers.  Most of the final lap was uneventful because I didn’t know it was happening until we came out of the turns for the final straightaway.  All of the other racers jumped out of their saddles and started sprinting.  At this point, it was too late for me to try and counter with a sprint of my own so I just worked on maintaining my position within the group and bringing my first race to a safe finish. I was hit by the wall of anti-climax, my first race was over somehow and my body felt as if it had not yet even begun.



What? The race is over???

 I was left with mixed feelings.  I was happy to have participated in and finish my first race, better yet that I was still in one piece.  However I was also frustrated because, other than making up ground after the crash, I never worked hard during the race.  I had all that energy bundled up, ready to explode, but nothing happened.  If there was another category I could have raced in immediately after, I would have done it. As it was my racing was done for the day.


I did a cool down lap with John and Randy and we talked about the race for a bit.  Randy gave me some tips -I should work the middle more and to try and make up ground between the sets of turns.

My wife -in my big day-glo jacket- and I talk after the race.

At the end of the cool down lap I saw my wife with the camera.  I was happy to see her and pulled over to tell her about the race. As we walked she told me how she had been puzzled that I never looked as if I was attacking, she told me I looked as if I was just sitting back almost the entire race.  I explained the issues I encountered and she pointed out that I needed to trust my strength more. We agreed that next time I need to attack more and not worry about the possibility of burning out and getting left behind.  She could tell that I had not even touched my reserves of strength and stamina. She told me that I was absolutely buzzing with unspent energy.

Jax is not quite sure what to think of my new paint job. "Daddy? That you?"

 We rejoined the rest of the family and I rescued my 15 month old from the stroller only to have him give my road grime covered face a strange look. I think it took him a minute to even realize it was me under my new paint job. After spending a few more minutes with the family I met up with John to talk more about the race and we checked in with Patrick to see how he was doing after the crash.
 

Patrick showed off his war wound but when my wife asked him if he needed medical attention he shrugged it off, showing a lot more concern for any damage that may have been taken by his bike.  I am not sure where Randy went; last I saw he was talking to some other racers that he knew.

I packed up my family and we talked about the race all the way home and it has been our main topic of conversation ever since. My wife found that she enjoyed her day at the races and that she couldn’t be prouder of me for working so hard and finally making it to where I wanted to be.





In retrospect, I am happy I did the race and I can’t wait for the next one. I may have felt unsatisfied at first but now that I think about it, that one race taught me a lot. More than I ever could have learned from a book or from sitting around listening to someone else talk about it. Nope, I had finally stopped talking about racing. Now I am doing it!

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! 

Cal Aggie Criterium: First Race Anticipation

This weekend will be my first road race at the Cal Aggie Criterium in Sacramento.  Up until Monday, I knew the race was coming, but I didn’t think much of it.  Then it hit me.  OMG, I am racing this week!  I am both nervous and excited. 

I am nervous for several reasons.  The race is a crit, and crits can be a dangerous.  Will I perform well?  Am I going to do something stupid?  While I am still nervous I have managed to settle a lot of the nerves by thinking about team strategies, visualizing how those strategies might play out in a crit, and imagining myself in different roles in that strategy.

As for the excitement, there is nothing I can do about that but embrace it.  I have been enjoying being a part of the Body Concepts Race Team and I can’t wait to get out there with the rest of the team and start racing!

2011 Cal Aggie Crit Course Map

The Cal Aggie Criterium will be held –Rain or shine!- at William Land Park in Sacramento in January 29, 2011. Registration will be located at the south end of the course near the end of Sutterville and Freeport. The morning of registration will open at 7 am and will close about 15 minutes before each race. USAC license is required and they will be available at the race. One-Day licenses will be available for Cat 5 men and Cat 4 women.

If you want to see who is racing (Yep, I’m on the list!): https://www.sportsbaseonline.com/events/tools/registered-athletes/index.xhtml?categoryId=37135&conversationId=959448

If you want to see how a favorite racer fared (God, please don’t search me! My first race won’t be pretty…), then check out this link: http://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2011-

Official Race Flyer: http://ncnca.org/sites/default/files/01/07/2011%20-%207:55pm/cal%20aggie%20crit%20flyer%202011.pdf