Today we made what is now the yearly March trek up to Kenosha, WI for my first race of the season. Due to scheduling we decided the best race to do was the Masters 30+ race at 1:30pm. More and more I’m leaning towards doing the 30+ races. For the most part they seem a little calmer with less crashes (more on this later) so I was wanting to see how I would do in this race to see if I’m going to focus more on 30+ versus cat 3.
We arrived at 12:30 so I by the time I got registered, made a quick trip to McDonalds for the kids, and then got back and got the bike and myself ready I only had a half hour to warm up. After 2 seasons I’ve never settled on a warm up procedure. Sometimes I ride the trainer, others I just ride the roads. This time I opted for the roads. I spun around for about 20 minutes then headed back to the start finish. The previous race was running late so I headed back out for another 10 and then went back to the start. We watched the sprint for the 40+ race and then took our warmup lap.
I had read some reports from last week saying that the course was really rough. I don’t remember it being too bad last year but during the warmup I realized all the sealed cracks that run across the road sunk down a bit. This made for a jarring course.
I lined up with the 40 or 50 other riders and the race started. For the first few laps there were constant attempts of breakaways but the overall pace wasn’t too bad. I just tried to play it smart and hang in there. I kept myself in good position but tried not to jump at every attack like I sometimes tend to do.
About half way thru the race there was a group of 4 or 5 guys off the front. It seemed like it would be a good group to get up to since the ABR 30+ crit champion was in that group. Just as I was bridging up to that group, on the hill between turns 2 and 3, the supposed calmness of the 30+ racing was interrupted.
Now I still can’t explain how the 3rd guy in a 4 man paceline can just go down while going up a hill but he did. Next thing I knew there was a fellow human lying straight across the road right in front of me. I had no other option but to keep going. Translated that means my bike stopped when it hit his body and I kept going.
Well I guess my ninja skills came into play because I did a nice tuck and roll and landed on my right side. I got myself upright quick enough to see my bike still flipping around on the pavement. The next thought of course is please nobody hit me. Luckily nobody did.
I grabbed my bike, took the waterbottle and threw it in disgust. I had to twist my handlebars back and my left shifter was bent in. I then checked my front and rear wheels and everything seemed fine. Just as I was hopping back on the bike I saw my water bottle that I threw. I decided to go grab it. It was a good thing cause I realized that in the crash I lost my other bottle.
As I rode the backside of the course my intention was just to get back to the start and then call it a day. But then I remembered the free lap rule. I bolted for the start/finish and went ahead and swapped out my front wheel. I didn’t need to but I wasn’t sure what the actual rule was so I just wanted to make sure I could get my free lap.
There was 3 of us who got a free lap and as the field went by we jumped back in. The rest of the race I just tried to keep in a good position and be ready for the sprint. I wasn’t expecting anything out of myself for the final sprint since I haven’t even done one sprint yet this year. Sure enough I got myself in a good spot going into the last turn and then started the sprint. I managed an 11th place.
Overall I’m very happy with the result. I could’ve done without the crash. The bike seems to be just fine but my wrist is pretty sore and the hip is bruised. Hopefully I’ll be back on the bike tomorrow or Tuesday.
Thanks for reading.
Ron
I had read some reports from last week saying that the course was really rough. I don’t remember it being too bad last year but during the warmup I realized all the sealed cracks that run across the road sunk down a bit. This made for a jarring course.
I lined up with the 40 or 50 other riders and the race started. For the first few laps there were constant attempts of breakaways but the overall pace wasn’t too bad. I just tried to play it smart and hang in there. I kept myself in good position but tried not to jump at every attack like I sometimes tend to do.
About half way thru the race there was a group of 4 or 5 guys off the front. It seemed like it would be a good group to get up to since the ABR 30+ crit champion was in that group. Just as I was bridging up to that group, on the hill between turns 2 and 3, the supposed calmness of the 30+ racing was interrupted.
Now I still can’t explain how the 3rd guy in a 4 man paceline can just go down while going up a hill but he did. Next thing I knew there was a fellow human lying straight across the road right in front of me. I had no other option but to keep going. Translated that means my bike stopped when it hit his body and I kept going.
Well I guess my ninja skills came into play because I did a nice tuck and roll and landed on my right side. I got myself upright quick enough to see my bike still flipping around on the pavement. The next thought of course is please nobody hit me. Luckily nobody did.
I grabbed my bike, took the waterbottle and threw it in disgust. I had to twist my handlebars back and my left shifter was bent in. I then checked my front and rear wheels and everything seemed fine. Just as I was hopping back on the bike I saw my water bottle that I threw. I decided to go grab it. It was a good thing cause I realized that in the crash I lost my other bottle.
As I rode the backside of the course my intention was just to get back to the start and then call it a day. But then I remembered the free lap rule. I bolted for the start/finish and went ahead and swapped out my front wheel. I didn’t need to but I wasn’t sure what the actual rule was so I just wanted to make sure I could get my free lap.
There was 3 of us who got a free lap and as the field went by we jumped back in. The rest of the race I just tried to keep in a good position and be ready for the sprint. I wasn’t expecting anything out of myself for the final sprint since I haven’t even done one sprint yet this year. Sure enough I got myself in a good spot going into the last turn and then started the sprint. I managed an 11th place.
Overall I’m very happy with the result. I could’ve done without the crash. The bike seems to be just fine but my wrist is pretty sore and the hip is bruised. Hopefully I’ll be back on the bike tomorrow or Tuesday.
Thanks for reading.
Ron
No comments:
Post a Comment