NFR - Race Report #9

[RidgeRider]

This past weekend was a first for me. I have put in significant miles over a weekend on past Saturday and Sunday's before, but never two races on a weekend. It is a pretty common way to spend Saturdays and Sundays for many racers, but for those of us who have families I think it is much less common, for obvious reasons.

Saturday was a well attended road race in Zamora, CA, north and east about 45+ minutes by car from where I live in Lincoln. There were three race time slots (morning session, late morning, and early afternoon) and four races going in each time slot as each group was started 5 minutes after the previous group. I was racing in my first category 4 race, with the Masters 35+ age group so I could race with some teammates for nearly the first time. There were 5 of us in the field representing my local bike shop and 100 racers in the race.

The course was a 10 mile circuit of country roads with one tricky 100 degree narrow turn and fair to decent pavement. The start/finish line was at the front gates of Bariani Olive Oil company farm  http://www.barianioliveoil.com/index.php and the roads we raced on were sandwiched in between I5 and Highway 505. There were several rolling hills and about a 1 minute 'stepped' hill that left you with about 1.5 miles to the finish as you crested the final part of that climb with about 2-3 miles of a false flat that led you to that final hill, so saving your energy, as always, for that portion of the course was paramount.

The whistle blew at 11:05AM and we were off. Chris, Dan, Jarrod, Phil and I all got off the line together and were positioned in the first 40 riders. As we made our second right hand turn to the road that paralleled I505, Jarrod started using the space on the right side of the solid line, normally a breakdown lane, to move past some riders and to move up a bit so I followed. I would continue to use this space to move to the front each lap and to use this section to recover.

As we took a right onto E-10, we would hit three rollers and several down hill sections where we were forced to brake a lot to avoid running into the back of the riders right in front of us. The speed was good but not overly taxing through this section as the hard work was still to come. As we made our 100 degree right on the road that led to the final climb the accordion effect occurred and we all had to hit it hard (meaning pedal hard!) through that narrow turn to catch onto the back of the rider in front of us and the pace and effort leading to the final climb of each lap would increase. By the time we reached the climb we were winded, but still fresh, well at least for the first two laps.

After cresting the hill we wind up on a flat, but sort of rough, road to the finish with some light winds and the pace stayed a bit brisk. On my third lap I nearly went down after trying to move up to the front on the right hand side and got caught in some gravel and fish tailed to the point where I almost went down. I lost about 30 spots on that attempted move and had to work to get back up to where I wanted to be and by the time we hit the top of the hill, I was feeling the previous effort to get back to the front. I was able to recover on the frontage road again but the lead in to the climb and the climb itself had taken its toll. By the time I got around to the hill the final time, while my mind said get to the front, my body wanted to do as little work as possible and I paid for that mistake and lost touch with the back of the lead group as I crested the hill...probably 10 yards. It was the longest 10 yards I have ever seen as I tried to get it back but couldn't. By the time I made my way the last 1.5 miles it had stretched to 75 yards and I was not going to be sprinting for a podium but finishing instead about 20 secs or so behind the leaders. On the final approach to the finish line, there was crash of about 4+ riders who got tangled up, so it was possibly a blessing in disguise that there was a gap to where I was, as I was able to maneuver through the crash and finish in 45th out of 100.

Chris did an awesome job and came in 10th! Jarrod was just ahead of me in 43rd, Dan was in the 50's and Phil was just behind him.

I got to tell you it was a lot more fun to race with teammates. I felt pretty good about the result and more importantly some additional knowledge was gained about positioning for that final 2 miles of the race.

The best part was getting over any fears I had of staying competitive with the younger guys and being in a lower category race. I now expect results to continue to improve and am excited about racing this weekend at Warnerville!

I love this racing stuff.  :dft009:

[finnster01]

Good stuff Jack,
and a nice performance against those younger lads. You'll outfox them in the end, I know it. :54: You just need a flat track because I bet you are carrying  a lot more mass than those other leprechauns.

Keep 'em coming and look very much fwd to the next report.

[TheDaddy]

Great read RR :045:

Can i ask ,As a team do you encourage each other and ride as one or do you set out a game plan ?

Sorry if im asking the bleeding obvious but ive only ever seen this type of racing on Tv ie tour de france.

Good Luck at Warnerville.

[RidgeRider]

Great read RR :045:

Can i ask ,As a team do you encourage each other and ride as one or do you set out a game plan ?

Sorry if im asking the bleeding obvious but ive only ever seen this type of racing on Tv ie tour de france.

Good Luck at Warnerville.

TheDaddy, we did set out sort of game plan for this race since it was our first one together. Chris, Dan and Jarrod are under 40, while Phil are both north of 45, in fact Phil is 54. Phil and I agreed to race in this race so we could race as a team since the other can't race with Phil and I in the 45+ category. I would rather race with the team and share the experience even if I have to race with guys who are younger than me. Bigger challenge I guess.

We actually had a team meeting Friday night with my cycling coach along with some other racers to discuss the course and had somewhat of a plan before the race. Thing is, once the race begins, all plans are blown to hell and you end up improvising the whole way....sort of what it must have been like to see Charlie Parker or Sonny Rollins play live. If you have a bigger team, at my level, you can still try and control the race and it does happen. Like a bigger team might send somebody on a break, and then put as many of their teammates on the front to block so nobody can chase. That happens even at my level. What you see in the Tour de France is so tightly controlled that nearly every move is planned but more importantly controlled through race radios. None of that goes on really at my level.

I would say this, my team rode as individuals, for the most part, on Saturday but we looked for each other and tried to ride together in case their was a move made so we could react. We will need to do more riding together to get better at this aspect of racing. Hopefully that helps a little.

[HatterDon]

Two comments:

1. Zamora, CA? I picture a town filled with petulant, half-deaf men always cupping their ears.

2. I did NOT expect a Sonny Rollins/Charlie Parker reference from you, Mr. Jack. You have leapt up in my estimation yet again.

[RidgeRider]

Two comments:

1. Zamora, CA? I picture a town filled with petulant, half-deaf men always cupping their ears.

2. I did NOT expect a Sonny Rollins/Charlie Parker reference from you, Mr. Jack. You have leapt up in my estimation yet again.

Thanks Hatter. One thing I should point out in my Jazz analogy is that my goal in racing is to become a Sonny Rollins/Charlie Parker type, in the sense of becoming a master at the improvisation that is the peloton. Knowing when to attack and when to play it cool, and where to be and where not to be, who to follow and who to avoid. You need the basics: fitness, tactics, skill, and confidence, much like a musician, and the experience to know how to read what is going on and how to react. A great musician, can do this in a session with other great musicians. I think improvisational jazz or any music with improvisational components is a great analogy to the life of the peloton....there is some basic structure but the creation in the moment is what gives it it's uniqueness and unpredictability and why winning would be such an achievement.

[Jimpav]

Thanks for the report RR.

Looking forward to next weeks instalment.