Drew Raced Bikes!

Hello readers,

This Saturday is winding down after a full day of bike racing.  Shrek 3 is on T.V. and I have a belly full of bacon, avocado, spinach, and mushroom pizza.

I finally got to put my Specialized SL3 Pro to work today.  It was my first race day of racing for the 2011 season and I had a blast.  I actually got to race twice!  Nine times out of ten all three categories of Pros, Cat. 1's and Cat. 2's race all combined in one race.  Today, however, the race organizers ran a separate race just for the Cat 2's.  That race had about 40 entrants, including myself and friend John Salskov (the "v" is silent).  John is who helped me find a place to live for my extended stay here in AZ and I really like riding and racing with him because we are so evenly matched.  The 2's race was 45 minutes long on a course of approximately 1.5 miles in length.  We lined up to do 12 laps of racing on a nice day, not too hot but a bit windy.  The course was pretty fast with only two 90 degree turns around one circuit and some bends and twists to make up the difference.

There were a few good attempts at breakaways, two of the most promising were ones I made it into.  The first one had all three big teams represented and me making up the fourth.  It was looking promising until the rider from the biggest and strongest team got a flat tire just as we entered one of the two 90 degree turns.  It was not a slow leak either, his tire completely blew off of his tubular wheel and it was a good bit of bike handling for him to keep his machine upright.  The move then quickly was brought back because the big team was left out.  The second move I was hoping for and made it into was again with four guys and again having the teams represented.  The second time we just found ourselves unevenly matched and a couple of the guys just did not have the legs to roll as fast as needed to stay away.  Any lack in cohesion out of a four man group like that means its pretty well and doomed.

This brought us down to the last lap of the race and the whole field was all together.  I positioned myself well in the top five positions so as to be able to respond to any hard moves as we approached the finish.  With about 1200 meters left in the race everyone was looking around for someone else to make a move for them to follow.  This meant that by the time we were at 1K to go the pack was lined out five wide across the whole road.  With a little too much confidence and a lacking in patience because it was my first race of the season I was the one to make the first move.  I used my ability for a instant and intense acceleration and was able to get a good 10 or 12 seconds on the field which was now chasing hard.  Unfortunately, my fitness is not yet at a place where I can follow through on the acceleration with a hard enough pace to make it an entire kilometer without an organized and hard chasing pack.  I stayed out front for a good 700 meters, though it was a steady climb back up my cassette as my legs asked for easier and easier gears.  When the more patient of my competitors came past with 300 meters to go I had already emptied my tank and was swept up in the sprint for a 12th place finish.  As Jens Voigt says "If you try 100 times it maybe works 10 times but if you never try it never works, guaranteed." I did however come across the line first for one of the mid race prize laps and brought home a case of PBR!  It was a good confidence builder and great tactical reminder race and I had a blast.

The second race was the usual combined Pro/Cat. 1/Cat. 2 race and had about 60 guys at the start line, including a fair number of guys who like me had raced with the 2's earlier.  That race was less exciting because about 10 minutes into this 75 minute race a strong breakaway of 8 guys rolled away from the field and was working together much better than the main group.  There were a couple attempts at a chase group and I got in one of those and chased another one down.  I raced the second time with a "race harder not smarter" attitude after it was obvious I would not be racing for the win.  This maybe seems counter intuitive but I am at these early season races to gain strength and fitness so a good self flogging session is appropriate.  It was hard.  I thought about quiting more than once.  I did some really great work.  I had fun pushing my body to the razor edge of its capabilities.  There is a lovely satisfaction  in making it to the final lap of the race and going to the front to have 50 guys lined out single file behind and you know they are hurting, otherwise there wouldn't be gaps opening!  Good times.

In all, it was 120 minutes of solid work and a great day on the bike and I must say, the bike is really nice. It was like the bike was on rails going through corners and when you stand on the pedals not one ounce of power is lost.  At the same time the force from the cracks and bumps in the road disappear somewhere in the gorgeous carbon frame.  I almost have a good enough relationship with this new bike for it to tell me its name, I can't wait to find out.   : )

Tomorrow is a pancake flat criterium on an old car race track.  I only get to race once tomorrow in the Pro/1/2 field so I plan on making it count. Strength, smarts, and PATIENCE!!

Ride on readers, Ride on.

-DC